There are many misconceptions about what a trauma release looks and feels like. One person may experience a rush of tears while another might breathe a little easier. There is no right or wrong way to soften and release, and I welcome you to join me to explore the signs.
What Is A Trauma Release?
A trauma release is when your body releases stored tension, stress, or protective holding patterns.
When you experience reminders of a traumatic event in daily life, your body may tense, shake, or you could feel the need to run away. This is trauma in your body reacting as if the event were occurring in the present moment. You can also hold your body (and your breath) as a way to prevent certain emotions from surfacing.
If we don’t allow our experiences to fully flow through us as they happen, they can remain in our bodies so we can process them when we’re in a safer environment. It isn’t our fault this happens because there are many reasons we may not feel safe enough to release. It could be our environments, or maybe we were raised to avoid feeling our emotions, or we haven’t been in a position in our lives to focus on our healing.
This is entirely okay, and I welcome you to send yourself kindness for how your body has protected you and that you can find release when you’re ready. I welcome you to explore my guide to How Trauma is Stored in Our Bodies for supportive practices and a deeper look into how tension arises in our bodies after trauma.
One supportive way to release trauma is through somatic and body based practices like yoga. Because of the nature of this work, I welcome you to include as many support options as possible for the most well-rounded care plan. To explore more about trauma-informed yoga, including research to support yoga’s role in releasing trauma, I invite you to read the 6 Pillars of Trauma-Informed Yoga.
What Happens When You Release Trauma From Your Body
When you release trauma, you may notice your triggers don’t affect you physically as much as they used to. Your muscle tension eases, and you overall feel more at peace in your body. (Source from Attune Philadelphia Therapy Group.)
This is a huge victory for survivors of trauma because you may feel you can’t logic your way out of certain triggers.
Yoga is an accessible avenue to release this stored trauma. This holistic healing practice brings you back into your window of tolerance, the state of your nervous system where you feel neutral and safe to manage daily life. The longer you feel regulated and safe in your body, the easier it is to return to this state.
I welcome you to learn more about your nervous system after trauma and ways to find regulation in my Guide to Nervous System Healing.
How to Support Trauma Releases
There are many ways to explore a trauma release, and you’re welcome to include as many options as you like.
Below are a few options for trauma release:
- EMDR therapy and other forms of talk therapy
- Somatic exercises
- Yoga or trauma-informed yoga
Sourced from Choosing Therapy.
5 Signs You’ve Experienced a Release
Trauma release is an individual experience, so it’s okay if you don’t have the same outcomes as others.
The five most common signs you may have just had a trauma release during your yoga practice include:
- Less physical tension
- A greater sense of calm
- Breath switches from short and jagged to longer and slower
- You feel at peace, calm, or less stressed
- You may have an emotional release
My Personal Experiences with Trauma Release as a Sexual Trauma Survivor
I’d like to give you insight into my personal experience with trauma release during my healing journey for your reference. I’m not saying these exact scenarios will happen in your practice, but I personally like to read about other’s experiences along with research, so I thought I’d share!
Signs I’ve had a trauma release:
- Physically felt weight lift from me.
- Felt tension dissolve in my shoulders, hips and jaw
- Crying (lots of it sometimes)
- Tension releases from my stomach, face, pelvic floor, jaw, or sometimes all over
- Sometimes I’ll feel like I just sat in a hot tub with how relaxed my body feels
- More positive emotions and less racing thoughts
- An overall sense of lightness, calm, and inner peace
I’d like to mention that I didn’t experience my first trauma release until I practiced yoga for several years. This could be because I didn’t know trauma release existed or that trauma can impact our bodies, and I wasn’t practicing yoga with this as my goal, it just happened.
The first time I experienced this, I was confused, scared, and immediately went to my phone to search what happened. I discovered this was part of the healing process and led to my journey of becoming a trauma informed yoga teacher.
I welcome you to enter your yoga practice knowing a trauma release might or might not happen and you’re not doing anything wrong if you don’t experience one. You may have nothing to release that day, hold more stress and can’t settle into your practice, or other reasons.
It’s also possible to not have a big release, but overtime you might notice you feel a little less tense or stressed. The term “trauma release” gets a lot of hype, but not all healing looks like big moments, but rather small, noticeable shifts over a period of time.
How To Promote Trauma Release During Your Yoga Practice
The most important part of any practice is that you feel safe. It’s important you have grounding and resourcing strategies. My post about Somatic Yoga for Beginners explores this in more detail if you wish to learn more. When you can return to a state of presence, you can support yourself during moments of overwhelm or know when to pause or end your practice.
I invite you to explore the tips below if you’re new to exploring yoga as a supportive healing modality to support trauma release.
- Practice yoga you enjoy. I welcome you to do the type of yoga that brings you the most joy. Some students love restorative and Hatha yoga, which are well known for soothing your nervous system. In the beginning of my healing journey, I only did Vinyasa (and experienced my first trauma release in this style class.) There are no rules to what calms you.
- Practice in an environment you feel safest and most comfortable. If you love public or online live classes because of the sense of community and closeness, that might be your style. Or you might prefer solitude so you can focus on yourself and your body.
- Explore trauma-informed yoga. This isn’t a style of yoga (like Hatha, Vinyasa, or Yin) but a way of teaching those styles. Teachers put special care into classes that avoid triggering cues, poses, language, music, props, sequences and more. The purpose is to make you feel as safe as possible during class. Without safety and feeling like you have embodied choice, it can be much more difficult to find release. I welcome you to explore Trauma-Informed Yoga Fundamentals for an in-depth guide to this style of yoga and if it’s a healing modality that interests you.
- Give yourself grace and patience. It may take a while of consistently practicing to experience a release. Your body may not be used to calming practices and mindfulness, which is completely understandable after trauma. Like any practice, it seems like nothing is changing in the beginning, then you realize how far you’ve come when you look back on your journey.
- Only explore if you feel ready. You don’t need to jump into any practice you’re not ready for. I welcome you to take all the time you need and know there are plenty of supportive resources to explore when you’re ready. Your pace is the best pace.
- Explore affirmations. Affirmations give extra support to allow you to finally release what no longer serves you. In my personal practice, I use two affirmations that allow me to feel safe enough to let go. I welcome you to use these as inspiration or use directly during your practice.
- This isn’t mine to carry.
- I’m safe to let go.
- If you want more affirmation inspiration, I welcome you to read this blog post for 49 healing chakra affirmations.
Practicing Beyond Release
It can be tempting to explore certain exercises or practices that mention release, and there’s nothing wrong with this. Where we may face frustration is thinking that if we do the right number of the right practices, we will release trauma.
Our bodies are much more complex than needing a few exercises, and healing often involves our nervous systems and creating feelings of genuine safety. It’s also about creating flexibility in our nervous systems so we can handle stress more easily, instead of never feeling stressed again.
Healing often involves multiple healing avenues with support that serves us as individuals. This is because we’re all so wonderfully unique and the exact modalities that support one person may not support another. I say this because some might get so caught up in specific exercises, reading comments about how everyone felt a big release, and they didn’t. They might think they did something wrong, or that they’re incapable of healing. This couldn’t be more false. Our bodies can be different every hour, our life circumstances are all different, and what feels relaxing to one person can be activating to another.
I welcome you to take your time on your healing journey, knowing that what supports you will be entirely unique to you, and that’s okay. The more you tune into yourself, explore what you prefer, and leave out what you don’t, the more supported you’ll feel on your journey.
Practices for Your Nervous System
Healing isn’t linear, and I’ve learned to explore trauma healing through the lens of changing seasons. One of these seasons is embodiment and release, and when we’re ready to let go of our protective layers (just like how Autumn leaves fall) we make room for new growth. If you’d like to discover your current healing season and supportive practices for your nervous system’s current state, I invite you to explore my free Healing Seasons Quiz (no email required for results).
Free, Gentle Classes that Honor Trauma Healing
If you’d like to begin practicing classes that explore embodiment and release, I invite you to explore my free trauma-informed yoga library, the Cozy Corner. Classes tend to your nervous system, release held tension, and deepen your mind-body connection with somatic and trauma-informed guidance, all while honoring the unique experience of sexual trauma healing. I welcome you to learn more below to get started.
