{"id":22047,"date":"2023-10-14T21:44:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T13:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/?p=22047"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:51:10","slug":"how-trauma-is-not-just-in-your-head-or-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/how-trauma-is-not-just-in-your-head-or-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trauma is Not Just in Your Head or Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"\"><p>What I found out about trauma is this:\u00a0<strong>Trauma isn\u2019t something that is just in your head or mind. It\u2019s\u00a0<span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">not just a past memory.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">In fact, it is stored in the habitual reflexive state of your nervous system. It is in your heart, head, your stomach, arms, legs..all the sensory information that got coded. They manifest in an overreactive response to stress today: racing heart, shallow breathing, nausea, indigestion, trembling hands, blurred vision, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"cvGsUA direction-ltr align-center para-style-body\"><span class=\"OYPEnA text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\">For trauma recovery, it helps to remember:\u00a0<\/span><em><strong><span class=\"OYPEnA text-strikethrough-none text-decoration-underline\">not just your head or mind, every part of your body was there in the past<\/span><\/strong><\/em><span class=\"OYPEnA text-strikethrough-none text-decoration-none\"><em><strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22033\" src=\"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head.jpg\" alt=\"How trauma is not just in a past memory in your head or mind \" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-65x65.jpg 65w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-220x220.jpg 220w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-162x162.jpg 162w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-160x160.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-348x348.jpg 348w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-404x404.jpg 404w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-520x520.jpg 520w, https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Trauma-Isnt-Just-in-Your-Head-86x86.jpg 86w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2><br \/>Why Knowing That Trauma is Also Stored in the Body Matters<\/h2>\n<p>If we believe that trauma to be just a past memory, we would try to resolve our issues in the mind or head\u2026or even through the feelings that arise as we recall what took place. This being the case, we would seek the help of a counsellor, coach or practitioner \u2013 those who are trained in talk therapy to help us process our thoughts and feelings. Certainly, talking about our issues rather than bottling our emotions can help us feel better.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, with the realisation that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/how-eft-tapping-can-help-when-the-body-keeps-the-score\/\">trauma could also be stored in the body<\/a>, it would help if we take the extra step of addressing the sensory information that got coded; so that our nervous system no longer automatically reacts in the same habitual way. Hence, it makes perfect sense to address past trauma using practices that are somatic or movement based. Practices such as yoga or dance therapy,\u00a0 are known to help the body release excess tension and for the body to feel more at ease.<\/p>\n<p>However, while movement-based practices are great, they may not directly address what is going on psychologically especially where there has been past trauma. Which is why after having explored different forms of healing and therapy modalities myself, I\u2019d like to recommend my discovery for using this as a core solution:\u00a0<em>EFT tapping<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>The Case for EFT Tapping and for Addressing Past Trauma\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/eft-tapping\/\">EFT tapping<\/a>\u00a0is a therapeutic modality that helps the body\u2019s energy system to be restored. It involves using the finger tips to tap on specific meridian points on the face and body for emotional release and processing of thoughts and beliefs. It may not be a miracle cure but EFT tapping innately combines many elements: somatic, mindfulness, TCM meridian system, neuroscience and western psychology. As it is evidence-based, it has been found that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/how-eft-tapping-can-help-when-the-body-keeps-the-score\/\">EFT tapping can help when the body keeps the score.\u00a0<\/a><br \/><br \/>From being a skeptic, I am now very passionate in sharing how EFT tapping can benefit someone. It\u2019s a wonderful self-help technique that also offers opportunities for deep transformation to take place.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The memory of the past trauma may remain but the emotional and sensory charge can be nullified from applying transformational EFT tapping.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Ultimately, mind-body-spirit wellness is better attained with doing EFT tapping and also adding somatic or movement exercises such as yoga or dance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>By freeing yourself from the chains of the past at mind-body-spirt levels, you are better able to be in the present and to truly move forward.\u00a0\u00a0<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/discovery-call\">Apply for a discovery call with me<\/a>\u00a0if you\u2019d like to find out more about how we can work together in letting go of past trauma.\u00a0<br \/><br \/><em>Love and abundance always,\u00a0<\/em><br \/><em>Evelyn Lim<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What I found out about trauma is this:\u00a0Trauma isn\u2019t something that is just in your head or mind. It\u2019s\u00a0not just a past memory. In fact, it is stored in the habitual reflexive state of your nervous system. It is in your heart, head, your stomach, arms, legs..all the sensory information that got coded. They manifest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,29,421],"tags":[466,500,501,502,459],"class_list":["post-22047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abundance-law-of-attraction","category-emotional-healing-eft","category-energy-healing","tag-eft-tapping","tag-featured","tag-somatic-healing","tag-somatic-therapy","tag-trauma"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelynlim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}