Foundational Trauma Skills for the Body (Part 1)

This article is Part 1 in a 2-part series about somatic trauma skills you can learn to help you navigate trauma in your body. Part 2 is here. Sign up here so you don’t miss anything!

If you’re reading this, you probably know what it feels like to be in a trauma response. The drop in the stomach, the dry mouth, hands and feet going cold. No matter where we’re from or what our history is, a trauma response in the body is largely felt the same way.

A trauma response happens when something in the present activates a strong imprint of the past and our body, mind, and emotions respond like the trauma is current and still happening.

The trauma response can feel uncontrollable because it activates a stronger response than we think we "should" have in the situation. We want so badly for it not to be happening that we would do almost anything to minimize and dismiss it.

The truth is that small stresses quickly snowball to make us feel out of control, and the body's response can feel urgent and overwhelming.

People with trauma are often accused of overreacting when we're not actually in conscious control of how our body, emotions, or mind respond. Trauma affects function — physically, cognitively, and emotionally — no matter how much we don’t want it to.

It doesn’t go away by wishing or willing it to. That’s why it often feels like there's nothing we can do about it. We want to stop the ride and get off, only we don't know how.

Over time, it's easy to feel hopeless and suffer a loss of self-esteem, because we seem to "overreact" to everyday stress with such severity. It looks like we don’t have perspective or self-control. But it's not us, it's unresolved trauma wreaking havoc in our systems.

So how do we get out of the trauma response? How can we navigate it so that it doesn't overwhelm us? We slowly grow our capacity to be with the trauma.

It sounds counterintuitive to go towards the trauma when your body, mind, and emotions are screaming at you to run away. But by learning to sit with what is already here, bit by bit, we gently befriend our responses and learn to tend attentively to our own needs.

It’s an intrinsically healing process.

If we don't learn how to navigate our trauma responses, we are likely to go to war with ourselves. We get frustrated and self-critical. We feel angry that we're here, feeling this way, yet again. The overwhelm seems like an endless loop and we experience a heavy sense of futility.

It's easier not to recognize the trauma response and try to push it away. Trust me, I tried that for a long time.

I would minimize or even ignore my body's reactions, and try my very best to control my emotions. I would force my mind to think about something else, instead of accepting and attending to what I was actually experiencing.

At the time, it was easier to deny my needs than to recognize the unresolved trauma I was carrying and acknowledge that I needed help.

It takes tremendous courage to stop minimizing our pain and to acknowledge the price we are paying for our unresolved trauma.

When we decide that we want to feel better, and we're willing to do something different, it's often hard to know where to start.

That’s why I want to share with you the basic foundations of trauma navigation, a set of skills that come from the work of Peter Levine.

These skills are a trustworthy foundation for beginning to shift how we relate to our trauma responses. They will teach you how to gently meet your body in a trauma response, instead of overriding it, or forcing it into hiding, and wishing it would go away.

I'm going to share them in order of difficulty, starting with the easiest. I recommend you try them out one at a time. Get a sense for how they feel in your body.

And when you find yourself starting to slip into a trauma response, reach for them and put them into practice. Let them support your nervous system and your body. Give yourself what you need.  

Foundational Trauma Skills for the Body (Part 1)

This week, we're going to cover the trauma navigation skills of containment, orienting, and grounding. Next week, we'll explore resourcing, titration, and pendulation. (Sign up here, if you haven't already, so you don't miss anything!)

Let's explore.

1. Containment

The simplest trauma navigation skill is containment, also known as "healthy consensual repression."

This is the skill you use when you are not in a place to directly address what's coming. Maybe you're driving, or taking care of your children, or in the middle of a work presentation.

Instead of letting the trauma response take over, you put a container around the trauma in the moment, like a shield. You contain it.

It’s like dropping a force field around the trauma response, and using your will to turn the volume down.

You can also say something like, "I love you, but I can't deal with you right now. I will pay attention to you later, I promise. Please give me some time and I will be back to take care of you."

The trick with containment is that you actually have to do what you say you will. This is why it's "healthy" repression. You are basically negotiating with your body to address what's coming up, when you have the space to do so.

For this to work, you absolutely need to honor your word and make time to do so, as soon as reasonably possible. But in the moment, containment can work wonders.

Especially if you build self-trust so your body, mind, and emotions know with certainty that you will show up later to attend to what's arising. Then, when the time is right for you, you can practice the other trauma navigation skills.

In the moment, containment can feel like running away or repressing the trauma, but in fact we're just delaying it. Containment isn't containment if you don't come back later and attend to yourself. That's called repression, and repression is only going to make things worse.

Basically, containment is saying to yourself that your trauma response is only one part of your experience. It tells your nervous system that you are the one with the choice and power to decide when and how you work with the trauma.

2. Orienting

Trauma takes us out of the present moment, which is why I often call it time travel. One minute we are here, and the next we are trapped in a flashback or intrusive memory. Often, we're not quite sure what just happened. It can be a very disembodying experience.

Trauma responses originate in the nervous system. Orienting helps us bring the nervous system back to the present. The process reminds our mind, body, and emotions that we are safe enough, in the moment. It communicates to us that it's okay for us to be here.

Trauma responses can involve a lot of dissociation (or feeling like we’re out of our bodies), which often happens with surprising speed.

We dissociate because it wasn't safe for us to be in our bodies during the traumatic event. But although that may have been true for us back then, it's not true for us anymore. Orienting is the quickest, fastest way to bring us back to the present.

Orienting is also very simple.

Relax the eyes, and let the world come to you. Notice where you are right now. Take in your environment. Look in front of you, but also turn your head slowly to the right and the left. Notice what's here. Now look up, above you, and also down to the ground. I suggest also turning to look behind you — even if there's a wall. This lets your nervous system know that you're in a safe enough space and not in danger.

Orienting is a strong habit that gently coaxes our awareness back to the moment. Each time we dissociate, we learn how to bring ourselves into the now. With practice, it becomes second nature.

3. Grounding

Grounding involves learning to bring ourselves back into the body. It's a natural follow-up to orienting, because once we feel safe enough to be here, we can start to feel sensations in our bodies again.

While some types of grounding you may have tried before involve visualizing yourself connected to the Earth in some way, like through roots or a cord, this type of grounding is different.

The kind of grounding I’m sharing about here is more embodied than that.

With grounding, we’re thoroughly connected to the five senses. Instead of seeing connections outside of us, we come back to the body and notice what we're sensing.

What do you see? What do you hear? What is the taste in your mouth? What do you smell? What is the temperature? What are the sensations on your skin from your clothes or what you're in contact with? How do your feet feel on the floor or the Earth?

Grounding anchors us to sensations, which calms and soothes the nervous system. By focusing on the tactile and other senses, we bring ourselves back to the present through our body. We focus awareness on our senses and use sensations as a tool to deepen our presence.

Shifting focus in this way tends to interrupt the trauma response and regulate dissociation. It's a great way to come back to ourselves and come home to the body.

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I hope learning about these trauma skills will encourage you to practice them.

Next, I'll be exploring the other three foundational trauma skills for the body — resourcing, titration, and pendulation. I'll also have a resourcing meditation audio to share that I don't want you to miss, so sign up here to get updates straight to your inbox (if you haven't already).

And finally, sharing is caring. So if you know someone who might benefit from reading this, I hope you'll share it with them.