Why Warm Hugs Are So Powerful: The Neuroscience of Touch, Safety, and Emotional Regulation

New neuroscience explains why warm hugs feel so regulating. Learn how touch, temperature, and safety support emotional regulation and body awareness.

When was the last time you received a hug that felt truly grounding? Not rushed. Not polite. But warm, steady, and enveloping. The kind that settles your breath and softens something inside.

Many people know intuitively that hugs are good for mental health. Research has long linked affectionate touch with lower stress, improved mood, and greater emotional resilience (Burleson & Davis, 2013). What newer neuroscience research helps explain is why certain hugs feel profoundly regulating, especially warm ones (Morrison, 2016).

Warmth is not just comforting. It is one of the brain’s earliest signals of safety, protection, and belonging. New findings suggest that warm touch does more than soothe emotion. It strengthens our sense of body ownership, our felt sense of being inside ourselves, which supports emotional regulation, grounding, and connection (Rhoads et al., 2025).

For individuals experiencing touch deprivation, trauma, or chronic stress, this research offers both validation and direction. It points toward sensory-based interventions that support nervous system repair and embodied healing.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we integrate this emerging neuroscience into trauma-informed therapy for individuals and couples navigating issues around safety, intimacy, sexuality, and connection.

Touch Deprivation and the Modern Nervous System

Many people today experience significant touch deprivation, even in relationships. Work from home culture, digital connection, chronic stress, and unresolved trauma have all contributed to reduced safe physical contact.

You might notice signs such as:

     — Feeling disconnected from your body
    — Difficulty relaxing even when things are going well
    — Longing for closeness while also feeling guarded
    — Feeling emotionally flat or ungrounded
    — Discomfort with touch despite craving connection

These experiences are not personality flaws. They reflect a nervous system that has learned to survive without consistent tactile signals of safety.

Human beings are wired for contact. Long before language develops, the nervous system learns through temperature, pressure, and proximity. Touch is not optional for regulation. It enhances our ability to feel real, present, and connected.

Warmth as One of Our Most Ancient Safety Signals

Temperature is one of the earliest senses to develop. In the womb, warmth signals safety. After birth, warmth accompanies feeding, holding, and caregiving. Over time, the brain links warmth with protection, bonding, and regulation.

Neuroscience shows that warm touch activates brain regions involved in:

     — Emotional regulation
    — Interoception, or the ability to sense internal states
    — Attachment and bonding
    — Body ownership and self-awareness

Recent research suggests that warm hugs enhance the brain’s integration of sensory information, helping individuals feel more securely located in their bodies. This sense of body ownership supports grounding, emotional clarity, and presence  (Rhoads et al., 2025).

In other words, a warm embrace does not just feel nice. It helps the nervous system answer a fundamental question: Am I safe here?

What Is Body Ownership and Why It Matters

Body ownership refers to the brain’s ability to recognize the body as one’s own. It is the felt sense of inhabiting your own body.

When body ownership is strong, people often report:

     — Feeling grounded and present
    — Greater emotional clarity
    — Improved capacity to tolerate stress
    — Easier access to pleasure and intimacy
    — A stronger sense of identity and self-continuity

When body ownership is disrupted, as is common in trauma and dissociation, people may feel detached, numb, or unreal. Emotional regulation becomes more difficult because the nervous system lacks a stable internal reference point.

Research shows that a warm touch enhances the ability to sense internal signals, such as heartbeat, breath, and emotion. This internal sensing helps anchor the mind in the body (Sciandra, n.d.).

For individuals who struggle with dissociation or chronic anxiety, this is especially meaningful. Feeling oneself from the inside is foundational to mental health.

Why Trauma Complicates Touch

For many people with trauma histories, touch is complex. The nervous system may associate closeness with danger rather than safety.

This can show up as:

     — Tensing or freezing when touched
    — Feeling overwhelmed by physical closeness
     — Conflicting desires for intimacy and distance
     — Shame or confusion around touch needs
     — Difficulty trusting bodily signals

Trauma-informed therapy does not force touch. Instead, it helps the nervous system relearn safety gradually through choice, pacing, and attunement.

Understanding the role of warmth and safe contact allows therapy to incorporate sensory-based interventions that respect boundaries while supporting regulation.

The Neuroscience of Warm Hugs and Emotional Regulation

Warm touch engages the parasympathetic nervous system, particularly pathways associated with social engagement. This system supports:

     — Slower heart rate
    — Deeper breathing
    — Reduced cortisol
    — Increased oxytocin release

Oxytocin plays a key role in bonding, trust, and emotional soothing. Warmth enhances oxytocin’s effects by reinforcing the brain’s association between temperature and safety.

Studies suggest that warm touch strengthens body ownership, thereby improving emotional regulation. They can sense emotions without becoming overwhelmed and remain present rather than dissociating (Price & Hooven, 2018).

This has important implications for mental health care, especially for conditions involving anxiety, trauma, attachment wounds, and intimacy difficulties.

Implications for Therapy and Mental Health Care

The findings around warm touch and body ownership point toward sensory-based interventions that support healing at the nervous system level.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, this translates into approaches such as:

     — Somatic therapy that builds interoceptive awareness
    — Trauma-informed EMDR and parts work
    — Guided resourcing exercises that use warmth imagery
    — Attachment-focused therapy for couples
    — Psychoeducation around touch and nervous system safety

For couples, understanding the role of warmth can transform intimacy. A warm embrace held with attunement can become a powerful regulating ritual rather than a source of pressure or misattunement.

For individuals healing from trauma, learning to experience warmth safely can support reconnection with the body over time.

Addressing Touch Deprivation with Compassion

If you find yourself longing for touch but unsure how to access it safely, that longing itself is meaningful. It reflects a nervous system seeking regulation and connection.

Therapy offers a space to explore questions such as:

    — What does safety feel like in my body?
    — How does my nervous system respond to closeness?
    — What boundaries help me stay present?
    — How can I rebuild trust in physical connection?

Touch deprivation is not resolved through willpower. It requires understanding, pacing, and education on the nervous system.

Why This Research Matters for Relationships and Intimacy

Intimacy is not only emotional or sexual. It is sensory. Warmth, proximity, and pressure all communicate safety or threat to the nervous system.

When partners struggle with mismatched touch needs, misunderstanding often follows. One partner may crave closeness while the other feels overwhelmed. Neuroscience helps reframe these dynamics not as rejection but as differing nervous system states.

Learning how warmth and touch affect regulation allows couples to develop new forms of connection that feel safer and more fulfilling for both people.

A Gentle Path Forward

Warm hugs remind us of something deeply human. Safety is felt, not argued. Regulation emerges through connection, not control.

As neuroscience continues to illuminate the roles of touch, temperature, and body ownership, mental health care is evolving toward approaches that honor the body's wisdom.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we integrate these insights into trauma-informed, neuroscience-based therapy that supports nervous system repair, relational healing, sexuality, and intimacy.

Feeling grounded in yourself is not a luxury. It is a biological need.

Reach out to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts, and start working towards integrative, embodied healing 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 

1) Burleson, M. H., & Davis, M. C. (2013). Social touch and resilience. In The Resilience Handbook (pp. 131-143). Routledge.

2) Crucianelli, L., Metcalf, N. K., Fotopoulou, A., and Jenkinson, P. M. (2013). Bodily pleasure matters. Velocity of touch modulates body ownership during the rubber hand illusion. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 703.

3) Gallace, A., and Spence, C. (2010). The science of interpersonal touch. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(2), 246 to 259.

4) M5) orrison, I. (2016). Keep calm and cuddle on: social touch as a stress buffer. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 2(4), 344-362.

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

6) Price, C. J., & Hooven, C. (2018). Interoceptive awareness skills for emotion regulation: Theory and approach of mindful awareness in body-oriented therapy (MABT). Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 798.

7) Rhoads Ph D CZB, M., Murphy, M. A., Behrens, P. T., CZB, M. L., Salvo, P. T., CZB, R., ... & CZB, D. (2025). Grounded in Touch: The Science Behind Anxiety Relief and Human Connection. Journal of Transformative Touch, 4(1), 1.

8) Sciandra, F. Embodied Wisdom: An Exploration of Interoception.

Before Words: How Preverbal Trauma Shapes the Brainstem and What It Takes to Heal

Learn how preverbal trauma stored in the brainstem affects emotional regulation, attachment, and the nervous system, and discover somatic and relational ways to heal.

Before Memory: The Invisible Blueprint

There is a kind of trauma that happens before memory. Before language. Before we have words for fear or safety, it lives not in stories, but in sensations. It is stored in the brainstem and shapes the body at a level so deep that it can feel impossible to access. This is preverbal trauma, and for many people, it becomes the invisible blueprint that determines how they respond to stress, form relationships, regulate emotions, and navigate intimacy.

Do you often feel overwhelmed by emotions you cannot explain? Do you shut down when you feel closeness or conflict? Do you experience chronic anxiety, dissociation, or a sense that something is wrong without knowing why? These can be signs of trauma that happened long before you had language to understand it.

Preverbal trauma is not a life sentence. Modern neuroscience and somatic therapies now offer ways to work directly with the brain regions that house these early imprints. At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in healing developmental trauma through nervous system repair, somatic therapy, EMDR, attachment-based work, and experiential neurobiological interventions that reach the brainstem.

This article will help you understand what preverbal trauma is, how it shows up in adulthood, and the therapies that can gently bring the nervous system back into connection and safety.

What Is Preverbal Trauma and Why Does It Affect the Brainstem?

Preverbal trauma refers to overwhelming emotional or physical experiences that occur in the first months or years of life, when the brain is still forming its basic wiring for safety, connection, and regulation.

This can include:

      — Inconsistent caregiving
     — Medical trauma
      — Neglect
      — Prenatal stress
     — Early attachment disruptions
      — Exposure to chaos or violence
      — Early hospitalizations
      — Caregiver depression or addiction

Because the thinking brain and memory systems are not yet developed, the trauma becomes stored in the brainstem and lower limbic structures, which control basic functions such as:

     — Heart rate
    — Breathing
    — Startle responses
    — Sleep
    — Muscle tension
    — Regulation
    — Threat detection

Preverbal trauma is encoded through sensory patterns, autonomic responses, and implicit memories, not through narrative memory. This is why people often say, “I do not know why I react this way” or “Something feels off, but I cannot explain it.”

From a polyvagal perspective, early trauma alters the development of:

     — The vagus nerve
    — The social engagement system
    — The ability to self-regulate
    — The capacity to form secure attachment

When the brainstem stores threat, the body continues living as if the past is still happening.

How Preverbal Trauma Shows Up in Adults

Because preverbal trauma is stored outside of conscious awareness, its symptoms often look like personality traits or lifelong patterns. Many people do not recognize these symptoms as trauma-related because they are all they have ever known.

Common signs include:

1. Chronic anxiety with no apparent cause

The nervous system is always “on guard” because the brainstem learned early on that safety cannot be assumed.

2. Dissociation or emotional numbing

The body disconnects to avoid sensations it never learned to regulate.

3. Difficulty forming secure relationships

People may feel unsafe with closeness, overwhelmed by intimacy, or confused by connection.

4. Shut down responses during conflict

Instead of communicating, the body freezes. This is brainstem dominance.

5. Fear of expressing needs

If early needs were not met, the adult nervous system does not trust that needs will be cared for.

6. Somatic symptoms

Chronic tension, digestive issues, migraines, jaw clenching, and body-based anxiety are common.

7. Feeling “wrong” or defective

A deep, preverbal sense of unsafety often becomes internalized as self-blame.

8. Unexplained grief or emptiness

The body remembers what the mind never encoded.

These symptoms are not character flaws. They are the nervous system’s attempt to protect you based on its earliest blueprint.

Why Traditional Talk Therapy Often Falls Short

Talk therapy works best when the problem is stored in language, memory, and conscious understanding. Preverbal trauma lives in the body and in the primitive brain, so talking often does not reach the root of the issue.

People often say:

     — “I understand the problem, but nothing changes.”
    — “I feel stuck in patterns I cannot explain.”

     — “Talking about it makes sense, but my body still reacts.”

This is because the brainstem learns through sensation, movement, rhythm, and relationship, not through words. To heal preverbal trauma, therapy must include somatic, relational, and neurobiological elements.

How to Heal Trauma Stored in the Brainstem

Healing preverbal trauma is deeply possible. The key is to approach the body gently, slowly, and with attuned support.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we use a combination of modalities that reach the deeper layers of the nervous system.

1. Somatic Experiencing and Body-Based Therapies

Somatic therapy helps clients track internal sensations in small, manageable doses. This supports:

     — Increased interoception
    — Improved regulation
    — Completion of stuck survival responses
    — Integration of implicit memory

The body begins to communicate in ways that words never could.

2. NeuroAffective Touch

NeuroAffective Touch is explicitly designed for developmental and preverbal trauma. Through slow, attuned contact, the therapist connects with the implicit nervous system to support:

     — Regulation
    — Trust
    — Safety
    — Attachment repair
    — Brainstem calming

This works directly with the part of the brain where preverbal trauma is stored.

3. EMDR with Early Attachment Protocols

EMDR can be adapted for clients with early trauma through:

     — Resourcing
    — Bilateral stimulation

     — Early childhood templates
    — Attachment-focused EMDR
    — Somatic interweaves

These approaches help integrate nonverbal emotional memory.

4. Polyvagal Informed Therapy

Polyvagal techniques help strengthen the social engagement system and shift the nervous system toward safety.

This can include:

     — Breath patterns
    — Vocalization
    — Eye contact attunement
    — Grounding rhythms
    — Gentle movement

When the vagus nerve feels supported, the brainstem signals shift.

5. Parts Work and Internal Attachment Repair

IFS and parts work help clients connect with the preverbal self that never received the co-regulation it needed.

This work helps the adult self become the source of:

     — Safety
     — Compassion
    — Reassurance
    — Connection

This internal repair is powerful for those who have never experienced secure attachment in infancy.

6. Relational Therapy and Co-Regulation

Preverbal trauma is relational injury. The antidote is relational repair.

Healing happens through:

     — Attuned presence
    — Emotional consistency
    — Steady pacing
    — Co-regulated interactions
    — Deep listening

A regulated other helps regulate the parts of the nervous system that never learned to regulate themselves.

7. Sensory Integration and Brainstem Calming

Activities that soothe the lower brain are essential, such as:

    — Rocking
    — Weighted blankets
    — Warm compresses
    — Rhythmic breathing
    — Sensory grounding

    — Gentle self-touch

These can help the nervous system shift out of stored threat responses.

Real Hope for Deep Trauma

Although preverbal trauma lives in the oldest part of the brain, it is also one of the most responsive to somatic and attachment-based therapies. The brainstem is plastic throughout life. With the proper support, it can learn safety, regulation, and connection.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in this kind of deep healing. Our trauma-informed clinicians work through the body, the nervous system, the relational field, and the brain’s natural capacity to reorganize.

You can develop a new internal blueprint, one built on safety, trust, and connection. You can learn to feel secure inside your own body. You can create relationships that feel nourishing instead of overwhelming. You can cultivate a sense of steadiness that was never available early on.

Preverbal trauma is powerful, but the human capacity for repair is even more profound.

Reach out to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts, and start working towards integrative, embodied healing 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

1) Badenoch, B. (2018). The heart of trauma: Healing the embodied brain in the context of relationships. W. W. Norton.

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

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

“We Mode” and the Nervous System: How Shared Joy and Connection Boost Mental Health and Happiness

Explore the neuroscience of the we mode and learn how shared joy, connection, and positive group experiences improve mental health, reduce loneliness, strengthen resilience, and enhance overall well-being.

“We Mode” and the Nervous System: How Shared Joy and Connection Boost Mental Health and Happiness

Have you ever noticed how different you feel when you are laughing with a friend, singing in a group, sharing a meaningful conversation, or participating in an activity with others who share similar values? That warm, grounded, connected feeling that seems to soften anxiety and lift your mood is not random. It is biological. Neuroscientists call it “we mode,” a shared state of connection that strengthens the nervous system and enhances well-being.

But many people struggle to access that sense of connection.
Do you ever feel isolated, even when surrounded by people?
Do you crave meaningful relationships but find it hard to initiate them?
Do stress, trauma, or self-doubt make you withdraw from others instead of reaching toward them?

These experiences are common, especially in cultures that emphasize independence and individual achievement. Yet human beings are wired for connection. The nervous system depends on meaningful relationships to regulate, heal, and thrive. “We mode” is one of the most powerful ways to shift from disconnection to belonging.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we help clients understand the science of connection and intentionally cultivate the relational experiences that support mental health, emotional resilience, and healing from trauma. This article explores what “we mode” is, why it matters, and how you can invite more of it into your life.

What Is “We Mode”?

“We mode” refers to a shared emotional state that emerges when people connect through positive, meaningful, or synchronized experiences. It is the felt sense of “us,” a moment when individual nervous systems harmonize and create safety, joy, or resonance through human presence.

Examples of “we mode” include:

     — Laughing together
    — Singing, dancing, or playing music as a group
    — Participating in team sports
    — Engaging in creative activities with others
    — Sharing a heartfelt conversation
    — Meditating or breathing in sync
    — Working collaboratively toward a shared goal
    — Experiencing deep presence with a partner or friend

“We mode” creates a sense of belonging, resonance, and emotional coherence. It is the opposite of isolation.

The Neuroscience of “We Mode”

When we share positive emotional experiences with others, several powerful neurobiological systems become activated.

1. The Social Engagement System (Ventral Vagal Activation)

Shared connection cues safety to the nervous system and supports emotional regulation, groundedness, and calmness.

2. Oxytocin Release

Oxytocin, the bonding hormone, increases dramatically during shared positive experiences, creating trust, warmth, and closeness.

3. Mirror Neuron Activation

Our brains begin to synchronize with the emotions and movements of those around us, fostering empathy and attunement.

4. Dopamine and Reward Circuits

Experiencing joy together heightens pleasure and motivation, reinforcing social connection.

5. Lower Cortisol Levels

Connection reduces stress hormones and decreases inflammation, improving overall health.

The result is a state of emotional and physiological coherence that nourishes the body and mind in ways that individual experiences often cannot.

Why Disconnection Hurts

Humans are biologically wired for community. When we feel separate, isolated, or unsupported, the nervous system shifts toward survival states such as:

     — Hypervigilance
    — Numbness
    — Withdrawal
    — Anxiety
    — Overwhelm
    — Rumination

These states are not moral failings. They are biological responses to a lack of co-regulation.

Trauma, attachment wounds, and chronic stress make we mode difficult to access because the body may not trust connection. Many clients at Embodied Wellness and Recovery arrive feeling lonely, disconnected, or frozen in self-protective patterns. Rebuilding the capacity for “we mode” helps restore regulation, relational safety, and emotional resilience.

How We Mode Supports Mental and Physical Health

We mode has wide-ranging benefits across psychological, emotional, and physical domains.

1. Improved Mood and Emotional Resilience

Shared experiences activate brain circuits linked to joy, motivation, and emotional stability.

2. Reduced Anxiety and Stress

Co-regulation through connection quiets the amygdala and lowers cortisol.

3. Greater Sense of Belonging

Feeling part of something larger is essential to mental well-being.

4. Strengthened Immune Function

Studies show that meaningful social connection boosts immune response and longevity (Vila, 2021). 

5. Improved Self-Worth and Confidence

Being witnessed and valued by others reinforces identity and self-esteem.

6. Enhanced Cognitive Function

Connection supports neuroplasticity, memory, and executive functioning.

7. Better Relationship Skills

Experiencing “we mode” helps individuals build emotional attunement and relational safety.

How Trauma Interferes with “We Mode”

Trauma creates patterns of protection that make connection difficult. Individuals who have experienced early attachment wounds, relational trauma, or chronic stress may:

     — Distrust closeness
    — Feel anxious in groups
    — Struggle to feel present with others
    — Disconnect during emotional conversations
    — Avoid pleasure or play
    — Fear vulnerability
    — Sense a lack of belonging

These responses are adaptive survival strategies. They are not character flaws. Trauma teaches the body to guard against others because connection once felt unsafe or unpredictable.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we help clients gently restore their capacity for connection using somatic therapy, attachment work, EMDR, and nervous system healing. “We mode” becomes more accessible as safety grows.

How to Cultivate We Mode Intentionally

“We mode” does not require large groups or extroversion. It simply requires shared presence.

Here are ways to experience it intentionally:

1. Engage in Shared Movement

Dance classes, yoga, hiking, walking with a friend, or even stretching together.

2. Create Rituals with Loved Ones

Evening check-ins, shared meals, morning coffee dates.

3. Participate in Group Activities

Book clubs, workouts, meditation groups, creative workshops.

4. Seek Out Shared Joy

Watch something funny, play a game, and cook together.

5. Practice Co-Regulation

Breathe together, place a hand on each other’s back, or sit in synchronized stillness.

6. Reduce Digital Distraction

True “we mode” requires presence.

7. Join a Supportive Community

12-step groups, therapy groups, or spiritual communities foster resonance and a sense of belonging.

8. Prioritize Relational Repair

Healing old attachment patterns opens the nervous system’s capacity for shared joy. Even small moments of connection can shift the body out of survival and into relational safety.

“We Mode” at Embodied Wellness and Recovery

Connection is at the center of healing. At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we integrate:

     — Somatic therapy
    — Attachment-focused EMDR
    — Parts work
    — Polyvagal-informed treatment
    — Relational psychotherapy
    — Group work
    — Community-focused healing

“We mode” is not just a concept. It is a living experience we cultivate through attunement, presence, and relational safety. Through this work, clients learn to feel more grounded, more connected, and more capable of joy.

A Path Back to Connection

In a world where disconnection is typical, “we mode” offers a powerful antidote. It restores emotional balance, strengthens the nervous system, and reminds us of our inherent social nature. Shared joy and collective presence are not luxuries. They are essential to human health.

When we connect intentionally, we create the conditions for resilience, well-being, and deep emotional fulfillment.

Reach out to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts, and start working towards integrative, embodied healing 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 

1) Cacioppo, J. T., & Patrick, W. (2008). Loneliness: Human nature and the need for social connection. W. W. Norton.
2) Keltner, D. (2016). The Power Paradox: How we gain and lose influence. Penguin Books.
3) Porges, S. W. (2017). The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The transformative power of feeling safe. W. W. Norton.

4) Vila, J. (2021). Social support and longevity: Meta-analysis-based evidence and psychobiological mechanisms. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 717164.

How NeuroAffective Touch Heals Dissociation: A Neuroscience Approach to Somatic Fragmentation

Discover how NeuroAffective Touch supports healing from dissociation, somatic fragmentation, and unresolved trauma by integrating body-based safety, nervous system repair, and relational regulation.

How NeuroAffective Touch Heals Dissociation: A Neuroscience Approach to Somatic Fragmentation

Dissociation can feel confusing, frightening, and profoundly isolating. Many people describe it as “being here but not here,” “watching life from the outside,” or “feeling disconnected from my body.” For others, it shows up as numbness, zoning out, emotional deadness, or losing time. These experiences are not a sign of weakness. They are the nervous system’s attempt to survive overwhelming experiences that the body could not process at the time.

But dissociation does not only affect thoughts. It affects the body. It fragments physical sensations, emotional presence, and a core sense of self. Trauma disrupts the relationship between mind, body, and identity, leaving people feeling scattered, unsafe, or disconnected inside their own skin.

This is where NeuroAffective Touch becomes uniquely powerful. Unlike talk therapy alone, which often cannot reach the implicit memory systems where trauma is stored, NeuroAffective Touch works directly with the nervous system to restore safety, integration, and embodied presence.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, NeuroAffective Touch is integrated into our trauma-informed approach to help clients restore connection, wholeness, and self-regulation from the inside out.

What Is NeuroAffective Touch?

NeuroAffective Touch is a somatic, relational, hands-on therapeutic modality developed by Dr. Aline LaPierre. It is grounded in developmental neuroscience, attachment theory, and polyvagal principles. The method uses skilled, respectful, attuned touch to regulate the nervous system and repair early attachment injuries.

Unlike massage or bodywork, NeuroAffective Touch focuses on emotional and relational development. The touch is slow, intentional, and supportive. It offers the body an experience of co-regulation and safety that may have been missing during crucial early periods of life.

NeuroAffective Touch communicates safety where words alone cannot.

Why Trauma Creates Dissociation and Fragmentation

Trauma overwhelms the brain’s capacity to regulate emotional and physiological states. When the nervous system cannot escape, fight, or seek safety, it may default to dissociation.

Dissociation serves as a biological protective mechanism by:

     — Numbing overwhelming sensations
    — Disconnecting from emotional pain
    — Distancing from the environment
    — Reducing awareness to tolerate threat

Although dissociation can protect a person in the moment, chronic dissociation impairs daily functioning. It disrupts:

     — Emotional regulation
    — Stable sense of self
    — Physical presence
    — Connection with others
    — Ability to feel safe
    — Capacity for intimacy

Many people with early trauma describe feeling “cut off” from their bodies or “floating through life.”

NeuroAffective Touch offers a pathway back.

The Neuroscience Behind Somatic Fragmentation

Somatic fragmentation occurs when the nervous system organizes itself around survival rather than connection. Trauma disrupts integration in several key areas:

1. The Polyvagal System

Trauma often forces the body into dorsal vagal shutdown, leading to numbness, collapse, and disconnection.

2. The Amygdala and Limbic System

Overactivation keeps the body on alert, leading to hypervigilance and emotional overwhelm.

3. The Prefrontal Cortex

Trauma reduces access to executive functioning, making grounding and presence difficult.

4. Implicit Memory Networks

Trauma is stored nonverbally in the body, not in words. These memories must be processed through sensation, movement, and relational attunement.

5. Attachment Pathways

Early relational trauma creates disrupted internal maps that shape emotional regulation, touch tolerance, and relational safety.

NeuroAffective Touch specifically targets these systems through the language of the body.

How NeuroAffective Touch Helps Heal Dissociation

NeuroAffective Touch supports dissociation recovery by working directly with the nervous system and the body’s relational wiring.

1. It Restores Safety Through Co-Regulation

Trauma often occurs without the presence of a supportive adult. Attuned touch gives the body an experience it may never have received: a safe, nurturing, regulated presence.

2. It Reconnects the Body and Mind

Touch helps reintegrate sensory, emotional, and physical awareness. Clients begin noticing sensations they previously had no access to.

3. It Heals Developmental Attachment Injuries

Gentle touch communicates attunement, presence, and care, which support the repair of early relational wounds.

4. It Supports Emotional Regulation

Slow, intentional touch stimulates the ventral vagal system, promoting calmness and resilience.

5. It Rewrites Implicit Memory

Trauma stored in the body is accessed and reorganized through therapeutic touch and relational presence.

6. It Reduces Shame and Self-Blame

The experience of being cared for at a nervous system level counters deep shame narratives that trauma often leaves behind.

7. It Supports Integration and Wholeness

Clients often describe feeling “more in their body,” “more real,” or “able to feel again.”

What a Session Looks Like

NeuroAffective Touch sessions are gentle, slow, and deeply collaborative. Clients remain fully clothed. Touch may be applied to areas associated with developmental attachment, such as the upper back, arms, hands, pelvis, or feet.

Sessions may include:

     — Grounding and sensory tracking
    — Guided breath awareness
    — Hands-on support to specific regions of the body
    — Relational attunement and co-regulation
    — Verbal reflection to integrate physical experiences

The goal is always safety, choice, and honoring the client’s pace.

Who Can Benefit from NeuroAffective Touch?

Individuals experiencing:

     — Dissociation
     — Somatic numbness
    — Emotional shutdown
    — Chronic freeze
     — Complex PTSD
    — Developmental trauma
    — Attachment wounds
    — Difficulty with embodied presence
    — Fragmentation or inner disconnection
    — Difficulty tolerating emotional closeness

Often find NeuroAffective Touch deeply transformative.

How NeuroAffective Touch Fits into Trauma Treatment at Embodied Wellness and Recovery

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, NeuroAffective Touch is integrated with:

     — EMDR therapy
    — Attachment-focused EMDR
    — Somatic Experiencing
    — IFS and parts work
    — Polyvagal-informed therapy
    — Mindfulness and breath-based regulation
    — Trauma-informed relational psychotherapy

This integrative approach helps clients rebuild safety, connection, and emotional resilience at both a cognitive and cellular level.

Trauma may fracture the body’s sense of wholeness, but the nervous system is capable of profound repair when given the right conditions.

A Pathway Back to Yourself

Dissociation and somatic fragmentation are not signs of weakness. They are evidence of the body’s incredible ability to survive. NeuroAffective Touch offers a compassionate, neuroscience-informed pathway to reconnect with your body, restore emotional presence, and rebuild inner coherence.

With attuned support, the body can learn to feel safe again. The mind can return home to the body. And the fragmented parts can integrate into a grounded, connected whole.

Reach out to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts, and start working towards integrative, embodied healing 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 

1) LaPierre, A. (2021). NeuroAffective Touch: Healing through the body in psychotherapy. W. W. Norton.
2) Porges, S. W. (2017). The pocket guide to the polyvagal theory: The transformative power of feeling safe. W. W. Norton.
3) Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we become (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

Attracting Healthy Love by Rewiring Your Autonomic Nervous System: A Neuroscience Approach to Secure Relationships

Learn how your autonomic nervous system influences who you are attracted to, why you repeat unhealthy relationship patterns, and how somatic and trauma-informed practices can help you attract and sustain healthy love. Discover neuroscience-based tools used at Embodied Wellness and Recovery to regulate your nervous system, transform attachment patterns, and create emotionally secure relationships.

Attracting Healthy Love by Rewiring Your Autonomic Nervous System

Why does love feel so different for each person?
Why do some people find themselves repeatedly drawn to emotionally unavailable, unpredictable, or unsafe partners?
Why does part of you crave deep connection, while another part shuts down, gets anxious, or feels overwhelmed when love becomes real?

These patterns are not reflections of weakness or poor judgment. They reflect the autonomic nervous system. The body chooses partners long before the mind does. Attraction is often shaped by familiarity, not necessarily by what is healthy.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we help clients understand the neuroscience behind their attachment patterns and learn how to regulate the nervous system in ways that support secure, stable, nourishing love. When your nervous system feels safe, you stop being drawn to chaos, intensity, or inconsistency and begin to feel attracted to partnership that is emotionally steady and supportive.

Why We Attract the Same Unhealthy Patterns

If you find yourself asking questions like:

     — Why do I keep choosing partners who emotionally abandon me?
    — Why am I only attracted to people who are unpredictable or difficult to read?
    — Why do secure partners feel boring or unfamiliar?
    — Why do I lose interest when someone treats me with kindness?
     — Why does my anxiety spike in healthy relationships?

The answer often lies in autonomic conditioning. The nervous system seeks out what it has learned to interpret as familiar, even if early experiences of emotional inconsistency, rejection, chaos, or neglect shaped that familiarity.

Trauma research shows that the nervous system stores implicit memories of what love felt like in childhood. If love was inconsistent, confusing, or painful, the body may unconsciously recreate that pattern in adulthood.

This is not self-sabotage. It is survival learning.

The Autonomic Nervous System: Your Internal Compass in Love

The autonomic nervous system has three main pathways that shape how you respond to intimacy:

1. Ventral Vagal State (Safety and Connection)

In this state, your body feels calm, stable, open, and capable of emotional presence. You can tolerate intimacy, vulnerability, and healthy dependence. This is the foundation of secure attachment.

2. Sympathetic State (Fight or Flight)

When early attachment wounds are activated, the body may shift into anxiety, fear, or hypervigilance. You may feel panicked by closeness, desperate to keep someone from leaving, or easily triggered by emotional ambiguity.

3. Dorsal Vagal State (Freeze or Shutdown)

If the connection feels overwhelming or unsafe, the body may collapse into numbness, disconnection, or withdrawal. You may lose interest quickly, feel shut down during conflict, or detach emotionally.

When the autonomic nervous system learns unsafe patterns early in life, it may interpret healthy, stable love as unfamiliar. It may interpret intensity, emotional distance, or inconsistency as a sign of connection.

This is why rewiring the autonomic nervous system is essential for attracting healthy love.

How Trauma Shapes Attraction and Relationship Patterns

Trauma does not only affect how you think. It affects how you feel, sense, and interpret the world.

Neuroscience shows that:

     — The amygdala becomes sensitized to familiar emotional patterns
    — The vagus nerve influences attachment and connection
    — The prefrontal cortex goes offline during triggers
    — The nervous system can misread healthy love as unsafe
    — Old relational templates guide attraction automatically

You may feel drawn to partners who replicate old wounds because the nervous system confuses familiarity with safety. This can show up as:

     — Feeling more drawn to partners who are emotionally unpredictable
    — Losing interest when someone is available and attuned
    — Confusing chemistry with chaos
    — Mistaking anxiety for passion
    — Tolerating emotional inconsistency because it feels known

The nervous system learns love through repetition. To attract healthy love, the body must learn a new template for safety.

Rewiring Your Nervous System to Attract Healthy Love

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, our work integrates somatic therapy, Attachment Focused EMDR, polyvagal theory, and trauma-informed relationship work to help the nervous system rewire patterns at their root.

Below are the core components of the transformation process.

1. Increasing Autonomic Awareness

The first step toward secure love is learning how to identify your nervous system states.

Questions we explore with clients include:

      — Does your body tighten or relax around emotionally available partners?
      — Do you mistake intensity for connection?
      — What sensations tell you that you are shifting into anxiety or withdrawal?
      — What does safety feel like in your body?
      — What triggers your nervous system in relationships?

Awareness creates choice.

2. Building Somatic Safety

Healthy love requires the ability to feel safe in connection. Your body must learn how to tolerate closeness without going into fight, flight, or freeze.

Somatic practices we use include:

     — Grounding and sensory awareness
    — Diaphragmatic breathwork
    — Orienting
    — Bilateral stimulation
    — Co-regulation exercises
    — Interoceptive tracking

When the body feels safe, you naturally gravitate toward partners who feel safe too.

3. EMDR to Heal Attachment Wounds

Attachment-Focused EMDR helps process childhood memories that shaped your nervous system’s template for love. When these wounds are healed, the emotional charge that pulls you into unhealthy relationships fades.

Clients often say that unhealthy patterns suddenly feel less appealing, while steadier partners become more interesting and emotionally attractive.

4. Repatterning Attraction Through Consistency

The nervous system learns through repetition.
We help clients create new emotional experiences of:

     — Steady attention
    — Healthy boundaries
     — Emotional attunement
    — Reliability
    — Repair during conflict

Over time, your body begins to interpret these qualities as the new baseline for connection.

This is the foundation of secure love.

5. Aligning Relationships With a Regulated Nervous System

A regulated nervous system helps you:

     — Choose partners who can meet you emotionally
    — Identify red flags sooner

     — Communicate without panic or shutdown
    — Stay present during conflict
    — Trust consistency
    — Cultivate deeper intimacy
    — Create secure attachment

Healthy love is not built from the mind alone. It emerges from a nervous system that feels safe.

Why Doing This Work Matters

Suppose you have been drawn to emotionally avoidant partners, chaotic relationships, or relationships that leave you anxious, depleted, or confused. In that case, your nervous system may be holding on to old emotional imprints that need attention.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we understand that love begins in the body.
By helping clients regulate their nervous systems, heal early attachment wounds, and experience emotional safety, we create the conditions for meaningful, stable, and mutually supportive relationships.

Attraction can change.
Your patterns can transform.
And your nervous system can learn a new way to love.

Reach out to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts, and start working towards integrative, embodied healing 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 

1) Levine, A., & Heller, R. (2010). Attached: The new science of adult attachment and how it can help you find and keep love. TarcherPerigee.

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

3) Schore, A. N. (2012). The science of the art of psychotherapy. W. W. Norton and Company.

Heart-Brain Coherence: A Neuroscience-Backed Path to Healing Trauma Through Somatic Therapy

Struggling with nervous system dysregulation from unresolved trauma? Learn how heart-brain coherence, grounded in neuroscience, can support healing through somatic therapy. Discover how Embodied Wellness and Recovery helps you regulate your emotions, restore connection, and reclaim your well-being.

Heart-Brain Coherence and How It Applies to Somatic Therapy

Do you often feel overwhelmed, anxious, or disconnected—and can’t seem to calm your body no matter how hard you try? Do you struggle with emotional triggers, chronic stress, or patterns in your relationships that leave you feeling dysregulated or unsafe in your own skin?

If so, you’re not alone. These are common signs of nervous system dysregulation, a physiological imprint of unresolved trauma that lives not just in the mind but in the body.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in helping individuals heal from trauma, addiction, and intimacy wounds using neuroscience-based somatic therapy. One of the most powerful, research-backed tools in this approach is a state called heart-brain coherence.

What Is Heart-Brain Coherence?

Heart-brain coherence is a measurable state in which your heart rate variability (HRV)—the variation in time between heartbeats—becomes smooth and synchronized. In this state, the signals from your heart to your brain shift from chaotic to harmonious, influencing brain function, emotional regulation, and overall resilience.

In simple terms, when your heart rhythm is steady and coherent, your brain functions better. You feel calmer, think more clearly, and respond rather than react.

Why Trauma Disrupts Heart-Brain Communication

When you've experienced trauma—especially developmental trauma, relational neglect, or chronic stress—your nervous system adapts to survive. These adaptations can include:

     – Hypervigilance or constant fight-or-flight mode
    – Shutdown or emotional numbness (dorsal vagal freeze)
    – Difficulty trusting or connecting with others
    – Reactivity in close relationships
    – Chronic anxiety, depression, or addiction patterns

Over time, these patterns get hardwired into your autonomic nervous system, affecting not just your emotions but also your heart rate patterns and the messages your heart sends to your brain.

Neuroscience shows that the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart (McCraty et al., 2009). When those signals are dysregulated due to emotional distress or trauma, the brain receives mixed messages, impairing cognitive function and emotional resilience.

The Science Behind Heart-Brain Coherence

The HeartMath Institute has led decades of research into the science of heart-brain coherence. Their studies show that cultivating this state can:

     – Improve mental clarity and decision-making
    – Increase emotional self-regulation
    – Reduce stress and anxiety
    – Enhance immune system function
    – Foster feelings of connection and safety

From a somatic therapy lens, heart-brain coherence helps clients learn to regulate their physiology in real time—a critical skill for trauma recovery.

“The heart and brain are in constant communication, and the quality of this dialogue deeply influences how we think, feel, and behave.”
— Institute of HeartMath

How Somatic Therapy Uses Heart-Brain Coherence

Somatic therapy is an evidence-based approach that helps people heal through the body—not just through talking. At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we guide clients in developing body-based awareness, emotional regulation, and felt safety using techniques that support heart-brain coherence.

Some of the somatic tools we use include:

     – Coherence Breathing: A slow, steady breath pattern that synchronizes heart and brain rhythms.
    – Heart-Focused Meditation: Directing awareness and gratitude to the heart center to activate the parasympathetic (calming) nervous system.
    – Polyvagal-Informed Touch and Movement: Helping the body feel safe enough to downregulate survival responses.
    – EMDR and Trauma Resourcing: Integrated with somatic awareness to help discharge trauma stored in the body.

Through these practices, clients learn to anchor in safety, retrain their nervous systems, and build new neural pathways for regulation, resilience, and connection.

The Role of Safety in Trauma Recovery

In trauma recovery, safety isn’t just a concept—it’s a felt sense in the body. Until the nervous system believes it is safe, the brain remains on high alert, interpreting cues of danger even when none are present.

Heart-brain coherence helps establish this foundational safety by shifting the body out of survival mode. With practice, individuals begin to trust their own inner signals again—learning to feel safe feeling.

This shift makes space for deeper healing in other areas:

     – Building intimacy without fear
    – Navigating conflict without collapse or aggression
    – Releasing the need to self-soothe with substances, food, or overwork
    – Reconnecting with one’s purpose and aliveness

Healing the Disconnect: Why This Matters for Intimacy and Addiction

Many clients we support at Embodied Wellness and Recovery are healing not only trauma but its ripple effects—intimacy disorders, attachment wounds, and addiction. These issues are all symptoms of a more profound disconnection from the self and the body.

By restoring coherence between the heart and brain, we help clients come home to themselves. From this place of internal alignment, it becomes possible to build relationships based on presence, emotional availability, and embodied love.

A Daily Practice: Try This 3-Minute Heart Coherence Exercise

1. Sit or lie down comfortably.

2. Place a hand over your heart.

3. Inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, focusing on your breath.

4. As you breathe, imagine your breath flowing in and out of your heart.

5. Once steady, bring to mind a feeling of gratitude, compassion, or love.

6. Stay with this feeling for a few minutes.

This simple practice can rewire your nervous system, one breath at a time. Over time, it helps you become less reactive, more present, and deeply in tune with your body’s wisdom.

You Are Not Broken—Your System Is Just Doing Its Job

If you’re struggling with dysregulation, addiction, or painful relationship patterns, know this: your nervous system is not broken. It’s trying to protect you based on past experiences. But with support, attunement, and somatic practices that promote heart-brain coherence, healing is not only possible—it’s your birthright.

How Embodied Wellness and Recovery Can Help

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in trauma-informed, somatic therapy that integrates the latest findings in neuroscience with deep, compassionate presence. Our team of top-rated therapists and somatic practitioners are trained in modalities like EMDR, polyvagal-informed therapy, and somatic experiencing to help you:

      – Regulate your nervous system
      – Heal from unresolved trauma

      – Cultivate meaningful connection and intimacy
      – Move from survival to safety, from protection to presence
Whether you're navigating trauma, addiction, or relationship difficulties, our team walks alongside you as you reconnect with your body, your breath, and your truth.

🧘‍♀️ Ready to experience a more coherent, regulated you?

Contact us today to schedule a free 20-minute consultation with our team of skilled therapists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts to learn more about our somatic therapy sessions. Let’s begin your journey back to yourself.

📱 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 (APA Format)

McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D., & Bradley, R. T. (2009). The coherent heart: Heart-brain interactions, psychophysiological coherence, and the emergence of system-wide order. Integral Review, 5(2), 10-115.

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

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