When the Body Remembers: Understanding the Link Between Trauma and Chronic Pain and How Somatic Therapy Heals from Within

Discover the neuroscience behind the connection between trauma and chronic pain. Learn how somatic therapy helps regulate the nervous system, release stored tension, and restore mind-body balance. Written by trauma and somatic therapy specialists at Embodied Wellness and Recovery.

The Hidden Connection Between Trauma and Chronic Pain

Have you ever wondered why your body continues to ache even when medical tests show nothing is wrong? Why do old injuries flare during times of stress, or why does tension seem to live in your neck, jaw, or stomach? For many people, chronic pain isn’t just a physical condition; it’s the body’s way of communicating unresolved emotional wounds.

Modern neuroscience and somatic psychology suggest that chronic pain and trauma are deeply intertwined. The body remembers what the mind tries to forget. When trauma is left unresolved, it doesn’t simply vanish; it embeds itself in the nervous system, shaping posture, muscle tension, and pain perception for years to come.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in helping clients understand and heal the relationship between trauma, chronic pain, and the nervous system. Through somatic therapy, EMDR, and other body-based approaches, clients learn to listen to their bodies’ wisdom and release the stored patterns that perpetuate suffering.

How Trauma Gets Trapped in the Body

When you experience something overwhelming, such as emotional neglect, abuse, an accident, or even ongoing stress, your body activates the fight, flight, or freeze response. This survival mechanism floods the system with adrenaline and cortisol, preparing you to act or escape. But if the threat feels inescapable, the nervous system can become stuck in that state of hyperarousal or shutdown.

In other words, the trauma response doesn’t end when the event ends. The body remains in a constant state of hypervigilance or collapse. This dysregulation may manifest as:

     — Chronic muscle tension or migraines
    — Stomach pain or gastrointestinal issues
    — Lower back pain without a structural cause
    — Autoimmune flare-ups
    — Fatigue or insomnia

Research shows that trauma changes the way the brain processes pain. The amygdala (fear center) stays overactive, while the prefrontal cortex (rational brain) becomes less able to regulate emotions or sensations. The insula, which helps you perceive internal body states, can also misfire, amplifying the sensation of pain even when there’s no new injury.

The result? A body that keeps sounding the alarm long after the danger has passed.

Chronic Pain as a Nervous System Issue

Many people with chronic pain feel dismissed by traditional medical approaches. They’re told their pain is “all in their head” or simply handed medication to manage symptoms. But chronic pain isn’t imagined; it’s embodied. It’s the language of a nervous system that never got the message that it’s safe again.

From a polyvagal perspective, chronic pain reflects a dysregulated autonomic nervous system. The vagus nerve, which connects the brain to major organs, plays a crucial role in regulating stress responses. When trauma disrupts this system, the body may oscillate between sympathetic overactivation (anxiety, tension, inflammation) and dorsal vagal shutdown (numbness, exhaustion, despair).

Somatic therapy aims to restore flexibility to this system, helping the body return to a state of regulation where healing can occur.

What Is Somatic Therapy?

Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach that helps clients reconnect with their physical sensations, emotions, and inner resources. Instead of focusing solely on cognitive processing, it emphasizes the felt experience, or how emotions manifest in the body.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, somatic therapy sessions may include:

     — Body awareness and tracking: Learning to notice tension, breath, and internal cues without judgment.
    — Grounding and orienting: Reconnecting with safety through present-moment awareness.
    — Pendulation: Gently moving between states of discomfort and calm to expand the nervous system’s capacity for regulation.
    — Resourcing: Identifying internal and external supports to stabilize the body during emotional processing.
    — Gentle movement or breathwork: Releasing stored activation and restoring flow through the musculature and fascia.

Over time, this work helps the body discharge old survival energy, completing what the trauma response was unable to finish. Clients often notice not only emotional relief but also reduced physical pain, improved sleep, and greater resilience.

The Neuroscience of Somatic Healing

Neuroscience confirms what many somatic therapists have long observed: the body and brain heal together. When clients tune into physical sensations with curiosity and compassion, the insula and anterior cingulate cortex, regions involved in emotional regulation and interoception, become more active.

This mindful awareness fosters neuroplasticity, enabling the formation of new neural pathways. The prefrontal cortex can once again modulate the amygdala, calming hyperarousal and reducing pain perception. Over time, the nervous system learns that it is safe to relax.

Somatic therapy doesn’t simply manage pain; it helps the body relearn safety, releasing the chronic muscle contractions and inflammatory responses that maintain suffering.

Why Trauma-Informed Care Matters

For individuals with trauma histories, traditional physical treatments like massage or chiropractic care can sometimes feel invasive or even re-traumatizing if the body isn’t ready. Somatic therapy offers a gentle, non-invasive alternative that honors the client’s pace.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, our trauma-informed approach ensures that every session centers on consent, empowerment, and safety. Clients are guided to develop internal resources before exploring distressing sensations or memories. This helps prevent overwhelm while supporting integration at both the emotional and physiological levels.

A Holistic Approach to Chronic Pain

Healing chronic pain isn’t just about addressing the physical body; it’s about repairing the relationship between body, mind, and emotion. That’s why we integrate EMDR, mindfulness, and relational therapy into somatic work.

This integrative model supports:

     — Nervous system repair through Somatic Experiencing and EMDR resourcing
    — Emotional release through safe exploration of stored sensations
    — Relationship repair by addressing attachment wounds that perpetuate tension and fear
    — Sexual and emotional intimacy restoration, when pain or trauma has disrupted connection

When trauma healing and body awareness come together, clients rediscover a sense of ease, vitality, and wholeness.

Asking the Right Questions

If you’re struggling with chronic pain, it can help to pause and ask yourself:

      — When did my pain first begin? Was it around a time of loss, conflict, or emotional stress?
      — Do I notice my symptoms worsen when I feel anxious or triggered?
      — Have I spent more time treating the symptoms of my pain than exploring its emotional roots?

Sometimes, the body holds answers that words cannot reach.

Hope Through Somatic Awareness

Chronic pain can make life feel small, restricting movement, joy, and connection. But within your body lies the map to healing. Through somatic therapy, you can learn to listen to what your body is communicating rather than trying to silence it.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we guide clients through a process of reconnection and regulation, helping them feel safe in their bodies again. As the nervous system stabilizes, both pain and emotional distress tend to soften. The goal isn’t just the absence of pain; it’s the presence of vitality, agency, and inner peace.

Pain as a Messenger

Chronic pain is more than a medical condition; it’s often a messenger of unhealed experience. Somatic therapy offers a compassionate and scientifically grounded path toward understanding those messages and transforming them into wisdom.

Your body isn’t betraying you; it’s asking to be heard. And with the right guidance, it can finally exhale.

Contact us to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of somatic practitioners, trauma specialists, and relationship experts. Start your journey toward embodied connection and freedom from pain today.

📞 Call us at (310) 651-8458

📱 Text us at (310) 210-7934

📩 Email us at admin@embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

🔗 Visit us at www.embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

👉 Check us out on Instagram @embodied_wellness_and_recovery

🌍 Explore our offerings at Linktr. ee: https://linktr.ee/laurendummit

References

Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.

Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.

Gaslighting, Emotional Abuse, and Boundary Repair: Reclaiming Your Voice After Manipulation

Learn what gaslighting is, how emotional abuse impacts the nervous system, and why setting boundaries is essential for recovery. Explore neuroscience-backed strategies to restore self-trust and resilience with support from Embodied Wellness and Recovery.

When Reality Is Questioned

Have you ever been told, “You’re imagining things,” even when you were certain of what you experienced? Have you walked away from a conversation questioning your memory, your perception, or even your sanity? This is the disorienting experience of gaslighting, one of the most insidious forms of emotional abuse.

Gaslighting erodes trust in yourself, making it harder to set boundaries and protect your emotional well-being. For many, the result is shame, confusion, and isolation. Understanding what gaslighting is and how it works is the first step toward repair and recovery.

What Is Gaslighting?

The term “gaslighting” comes from a 1944 film called Gaslight, in which a husband manipulates his wife into doubting her own reality by dimming the gaslights in their home and denying that the lights are flickering.

Today, gaslighting refers to a pattern of emotional abuse in which one person intentionally distorts facts, denies events, or dismisses feelings to make another person question their own perception of reality.

Common Gaslighting Phrases:

     — “That never happened.”
    — “You’re too sensitive.”
    — “You’re remembering it wrong.”
    — “You’re crazy. Everyone agrees with me.”

Gaslighting is not just a disagreement. It is a deliberate attempt to destabilize someone’s sense of self, often used to maintain power and control in relationships.

The Neuroscience of Gaslighting and Emotional Abuse

Why does gaslighting feel so destabilizing? Neuroscience shows that our sense of reality is co-constructed in relationships. When someone close to us denies our perception, it activates the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, and floods the nervous system with stress hormones, such as cortisol.

— Chronic Doubt: The prefrontal cortex, which regulates reasoning and decision-making, struggles to integrate conflicting information when trust is undermined.
     — Nervous System Dysregulation: Constant invalidation keeps the body in fight, flight, or freeze mode, which can cause anxiety, depression, or physical symptoms like headaches and digestive issues.
      — Attachment Wounds: Gaslighting often occurs in intimate relationships, making the betrayal even more painful because the very person who should provide safety becomes a source of threat.

This is why victims of gaslighting often report feeling “crazy,” exhausted, or unable to trust themselves. The problem is not a lack of strength. It is the predictable effect of emotional abuse on the brain and body.

Questions Victims of Gaslighting Often Ask Themselves

     — Why do I feel guilty when I try to stand up for myself?
    — Why do I keep second-guessing my own memories?
    — Why does my partner, parent, or boss make me feel so small?
    — Am I the problem, or is something else happening?

These questions are not signs of weakness. They are the natural consequences of emotional manipulation that targets your trust in your own reality.

The Role of Boundaries in Repairing from Emotional Abuse

When gaslighting has eroded your confidence, establishing boundaries becomes both essential and challenging. Boundaries are not walls. They are clear signals of what you will and will not allow in your relationships.

Steps Toward Boundary Repair:

1. Name the Behavior
Recognize when gaslighting is happening. If someone consistently denies your reality or minimizes your feelings, call it what it is: emotional abuse.

2. Ground in Your Own Experience
Use phrases like “I remember it differently,” or “This is how I experienced it.” Grounding yourself in your perspective reinforces your trust in your own perception.

3. Limit Exposure When Needed
If someone repeatedly refuses to respect your boundaries, create distance when possible. Emotional safety is as important as physical safety.

4. Seek Supportive Witnesses
Sharing your experiences with safe, empathetic people, whether trusted friends or a therapist, helps counteract the isolation and self-doubt that gaslighting creates.

5. Rebuild Nervous System Safety
Somatic therapy, breathwork, and EMDR can help regulate your body’s stress responses and restore a sense of internal safety and well-being.

How Therapy Supports Recovery from Gaslighting

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we recognize the impact of gaslighting not only on the mind but also on the body and our relationships. Clients often arrive feeling anxious, ashamed, or disconnected from their own intuition.

Our therapeutic approach integrates:

     — Somatic therapy to release stress stored in the body.
     — EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to reprocess invalidating experiences.
     — Relational repair to rebuild trust in self and others.
     — Neuroscience-informed practices that strengthen resilience and restore connection between mind, brain, and body.

Through compassionate, trauma-informed care, clients learn to reclaim their voice, set healthy boundaries, and cultivate relationships grounded in respect and authenticity.

Asking a Different Question

Instead of asking, “Am I crazy?” a better question is: “Who benefits when I doubt myself?”

When you begin to ask this, you can see that gaslighting is not about your weakness but about someone else’s attempt to control. From there, the work of recovery shifts to reclaiming your worth, your voice, and your trust in your own reality.

Reclaiming Your Reality

Gaslighting is one of the most damaging forms of emotional abuse because it attacks the foundation of trust in yourself. But neuroscience confirms what lived experience shows: with support, the nervous system can heal, boundaries can be rebuilt, and relationships can become sources of safety rather than fear.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we help individuals and couples navigate the impact of emotional abuse and rediscover their capacity for connection, intimacy, and resilience. By repairing boundaries and restoring nervous system regulation, you can step back into your life with clarity and strength.

When you're ready to reconnect with that more profound sense of meaning, we're here to walk alongside you. Contact us today to schedule a free 20-minute consultation and begin your journey toward embodied connection, clarity, and confidence.

📞 Call us at (310) 651-8458

📱 Text us at (310) 210-7934

📩 Email us at admin@embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

🔗 Visit us at www.embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

👉 Check us out on Instagram @embodied_wellness_and_recovery

🌍 Explore our offerings at Linktr. ee: https://linktr.ee/laurendummit

References

Brown, B. (2015). Rising strong: How the ability to reset transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead. Spiegel & Grau.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.