Just as painful memories are stored in the brain, other experiences also become trapped in the body, according to experts. When these experiences are traumatic events that had an overwhelming effect on us, we may not even remember them, but our bodies do.
“If you are experiencing strange symptoms that no one seems to be able to explain, they could be arising from a traumatic reaction to a past event that you may not even remember,” Peter Levine wrote in “Waking the Tiger.” Mr. Levine is a psychologist with a doctorate in medical and biological physics.
How Does All of This Work?
When faced with a threat, the body activates the fight-or-flight stress response, a survival mechanism that puts the body into a high-energy state to either confront or flee from the danger. Ideally, this surge of energy gets discharged through action. However, Mr. Levine says that if one cannot fight or flee, this energy can become trapped in the body long after the traumatic event. He calls it “frozen residue of energy.”
Zena le Roux
Author
Zena le Roux is a health journalist with a master’s in investigative health journalism and a certified health and wellness coach specializing in functional nutrition. She is trained in sports nutrition, mindful eating, internal family systems, and applied polyvagal theory. She works in private practice and serves as a nutrition educator for a UK-based health school.
