How Trauma is Held in the Body

"Trauma is not simply a memory in the mind, but a set of bodily sensations, a set of reactions and feelings that have not been fully processed. The body holds the experience until it can be felt, understood, and released." ~By Eugene Gendlin

Image from Freepix

I learned Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT) through the guidance of my teacher, Leslie Ellis, whose work illuminated something I now hold as core truth: trauma isn’t just a psychological experience—it’s something that lives in the body. It settles into the tissues, into the nervous system, into the subtle spaces we often don’t have words for. FOT helped me understand that trauma isn’t always something we can think our way through. It asks to be felt, to be met, to be slowly and gently released.

In FOT, we listen to the body’s language—sensations, emotions, images, subtle knowings that might not make logical sense but carry deep truth. Trauma leaves its imprint on the mind and in the body’s felt sense: a tight chest, a heavy belly, a frozen stillness we can’t quite shake. These aren’t just symptoms—they’re messages. Invitations. The body’s way of asking us to come closer, to pay attention.

Often, what’s left unresolved during a traumatic moment—grief, fear, shame—doesn’t just disappear. It finds a home in the body, where it waits. Sometimes for years. In FOT, we approach these places with care. We don’t rush. We don’t force. We slow down, offer presence, and begin to listen. When the body feels safe enough, these emotions can begin to soften. They can move. They can be witnessed.

One of the ways trauma often holds us is through the freeze response—the body’s protective mechanism in the face of overwhelm. That frozen state can linger, long after the danger is gone. It can feel like being stuck, numb, disconnected. FOT gently supports the thawing of this freeze. We bring awareness to where the energy is locked, and with time, warmth, and presence, we begin to feel flow return. Life begins to move again.

At the heart of FOT is the belief that the body is not just where trauma lives—it’s also where healing happens. The body is wise. It remembers what the mind forgets. And when we learn to listen to its quiet signals with compassion, we open the door to a deeper kind of healing—one that touches every layer of our being.

Healing doesn’t always come in big moments. Sometimes, it’s in the soft noticing. The subtle shift. The breath that finally reaches the belly. The moment you feel something start to loosen. This is the power of presence. And the medicine of Focusing :)