How Somatic Therapy Can Help Heal Trauma and Calm the Nervous System
Trauma doesn’t just affect your thoughts or emotions—it leaves a deep imprint on your body. Whether you’ve experienced a single overwhelming event, a series of ongoing difficult experiences, or childhood situations that were too much to process, trauma can have a lasting impact on your nervous system.
As Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, says: "Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness."
When something is too much for your nervous system to handle, and there’s no one there to support you, the body holds onto that stress. This leads to feelings of fear, tension, numbness, or even physical pain that can last for years.
Somatic therapy is a powerful way to help your body release the stress it’s holding onto. Through approaches like Somatic Experiencing (SE) and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), I work with clients to calm the nervous system, release stored tension, and create a renewed sense of safety in their lives.
I’m Amy Hagerstrom, a therapist based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Through somatic therapy, an approach that incorporates both the body and the mind in the healing process, I help people work through trauma, ease chronic pain, and calm anxiety and constant emotional overwhelm.
If you've ever felt like...
you're carrying tension in your body that never quite lets up,
you're always on edge, waiting for the next thing to go wrong,
you can't fully relax, no matter how much you try,
or wondered why...
certain situations leave you feeling completely drained,
small disagreements make you shut down or overreact,
you can’t seem to move past old memories that still feel raw,
you're in the right place... and somatic therapy might just be the puzzle piece that's been missing.
Understanding Trauma: It’s Not Just in Your Mind
Trauma can take many forms, but the body processes it in a similar way. When something overwhelms your system, your body reacts instinctively to protect you. Trauma can fall into three main categories:
A single overwhelming event: This could be an accident, natural disaster, or sudden loss. Your body and mind are shocked into survival mode, and that energy can remain trapped long after the event.
Ongoing difficult experiences: Situations like a toxic relationship, chronic stress, or long-term health challenges can leave your nervous system in a constant state of alert. This leads to a buildup of stress that can feel impossible to shake off.
Childhood experiences that were too much to process: Trauma experienced in childhood has a lasting impact because both the nervous system and the brain are still developing. During this critical period, overwhelming experiences are harder to process, and without an empathic adult to help, the body and brain store that stress. This early wiring shapes how we respond to stress and challenges throughout life.
In all these situations, trauma happens when your brain and body stay stuck in survival mode after the event. In the moment, your body responds to survive—fight, flight, freeze, or collapse—but sometimes, instead of returning to balance, it remains in that state long after the danger has passed.
Why Trauma Affects Your Body
Trauma lives in the body, not just the mind. Even if you’ve worked through the emotional or psychological aspects of your experience, your body may still be holding onto the stress of what happened. You might notice signs like:
Constant tension or physical pain that doesn’t seem to have a clear cause
Feeling on edge or anxious, even in situations that aren’t dangerous
Emotional numbness or a sense of disconnection from yourself and others
Big reactions or shutting down in response to things that, on the surface, seem small
Emotional or physical reactions that don’t seem connected to the current situation
These symptoms are signs that your nervous system is still stuck in survival mode, unable to fully process and release the trauma. Even if the event is long in the past, your body reacts as if the threat is still present.
This is why somatic therapy is so effective—it focuses on the nervous system and helps your body release the stress it’s been holding onto, allowing you to feel safe again.
How Somatic Therapy Works: Connecting the Mind and Body
Somatic therapy focuses on the connection between the mind and body. Unlike traditional talk therapy, which mainly addresses thoughts and emotions, somatic therapy invites you to tune into your body’s physical sensations and use that information to heal.
The body stores trauma in ways the mind can’t always access. This is why you might feel tense or restless even if you can’t pinpoint why. Somatic therapy helps you:
Listen to your body’s signals: Through gentle guidance, you’ll begin to notice where your body is holding tension or stress.
Release stored energy: By focusing on physical sensations and practicing mindful awareness, your body can let go of the trapped energy that’s been keeping you stuck.
Reconnect with your body: Trauma can make you feel disconnected from your physical self. Somatic therapy brings you back into a sense of wholeness, where your mind and body work together.
Resource and find ease: By identifying what brings you a sense of calm and comfort, you can learn to incorporate those practices into your life, helping your nervous system feel safer and more balanced.
The Power of Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Somatic Experiencing is one of the foundational practices I use in my work. Developed by Peter Levine, SE is a body-based therapy that helps release the trapped energy from trauma. Instead of focusing on the story of what happened, SE helps you pay attention to how your body is responding in the present moment.
In SE sessions, we explore the physical sensations connected to your trauma and work to gently release the energy. This process helps your nervous system reset, moving out of fight, flight, freeze, or collapse and into a calmer, more balanced state.
What makes SE unique is that it doesn’t require you to relive or retell your trauma in detail. We focus on your body’s current sensations and use them as a guide to help your nervous system find its way back to a place of safety.
Many clients find that Somatic Experiencing helps them release long-held tension, pain, and anxiety. It also helps them connect with their needs during moments of overwhelm, reducing triggers and creating a greater sense of ease in daily life and pressured situations.
It’s a gentle yet effective way to heal from trauma and regain a sense of control.
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP): A Unique Approach to Healing
The Safe and Sound Protocol is another therapeutic tool I offer. It’s a non-invasive therapy that uses filtered music to stimulate the vagus nerve, which is part of the body’s “rest and digest” system. The vagus nerve helps you feel safe and connected to yourself and others.
SSP is especially helpful for people who feel anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected from their emotions. The beauty of SSP is that it doesn’t require a lot of talking or processing. It works by calming your nervous system, which in turn makes it easier for you to engage in everyday life without feeling triggered.
Many clients choose to combine SSP with Somatic Experiencing, finding that the two therapies work together to promote greater balance and ease. Somatic Experiencing helps regulate the nervous system by releasing stored energy from trauma, while Safe and Sound Protocol further supports this by creating a deeper sense of safety.
Why Focus on the Nervous System?
Trauma leaves your body stuck in survival mode, even after the danger is gone. Your brain’s amygdala acts like a threat detector and sometimes sends signals to your nervous system to react—fight, flight, freeze, or collapse—even when the "threat" is just a reminder of the trauma.
You may not always know why you’re triggered or shutting down, and it can take a long time to return to feeling more stable. When your body is in a heightened state or assuming it's in danger, it's naturally hard to relax. You might notice:
Feeling easily triggered by reminders of past trauma
Overwhelmed in social situations
Stuck in chronic pain or tension, especially during stress
Somatic therapy helps retrain your amygdala to recognize when you're safe, allowing your nervous system to shift out of survival mode. Over time, you’ll notice:
Feeling less reactive and more in control
A greater sense of ease and calm
More capacity to handle stress and overwhelming emotions
A Gentle, Holistic Approach to Healing
One of the things I love most about somatic therapy is that it’s gentle. There’s no pressure to relive your trauma or retell your story. In fact, retelling can sometimes retraumatize. Instead, we focus on what your body is feeling right now and take small steps to help your nervous system release the stress it’s been holding onto.
You don’t have to push yourself to move faster than what feels comfortable. Somatic therapy works at your pace, and we focus on creating a safe, supportive environment where your body can heal.
Could Somatic Therapy be Your Key to Lasting Relief?
Trauma doesn’t have to define your life. Through somatic therapy, you can begin to release the stress your body has been holding onto and move toward a more balanced, peaceful state. Whether you’ve experienced a single overwhelming event, ongoing difficulties, or childhood trauma, your body has the capacity to heal.
You deserve to feel safe in your body, and this approach offers the tools to help you get there. Click here to learn more about how somatic therapy can support your path to feeling more connected and resilient.