How the Body Experiences Trauma

Being raised in the country, we were largely self-sustaining when it came to our food. That way of life also cultivated a diligent work ethic and required consistent physical labor to maintain our thirty-two-acre farm—habits that were, in many ways, a necessity to feed a household of eight in the 1960s.

Looking back, I believe the health of the soil and the quality of organically raised meat and vegetables did more than nourish us physically; they helped establish a resilient foundation within my body. This embodied foundation may be one reason I have been able to “beat the odds” statistically when it comes to negative health outcomes, despite having a high ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) score. For me, this has become a powerful example of how the body can hold wisdom and capacity for resilience alongside trauma.

Dr. Gabor Mate’ an expert in the field of trauma recovery describes trauma as “not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.”

In her new book ‘The Biology of Trauma’ Aimie Apigian, MD identifies five precise steps that unfold as instinctual and universal responses to overwhelming experiences. This response pattern is automatic and happens outside our conscious control.

• Startle – an inner state of hyper-vigilance
• Stress – an inner state of high energy
• Wall – an inner state of powerlessness
• Freeze – an inner state of paralysis
• Shutdown – inner state of heaviness

It’s important to understand the difference between stress and trauma. Every body has its own unique critical line of overwhelm—the precise point at which growth-producing stress turns into overwhelm, challenge becomes too much, and stress transforms into trauma.

We cross this critical line for two primary reasons: when we experience too much stress too quickly, or you receive too little resources for too long. Both create an internal sense of powerlessness. Every tissue in the body has a breaking point—including yours. We are not broken for having limits; we are human.

• Disassociation – The wisdom of distance; Our body’s way of creating distance when physical escape isn’t possible. Prevents us from experiencing overwhelming feelings.
• Immobilization – The wisdom of stillness; Being unable to take action, begins with the freeze and continues into the shutdown, which is a whole body response.
• Energy Preservation –  The wisdom of powering down; to preserve energy, rather than fighting to survive, the body surrenders as it enters into the freeze.

Trauma isn’t only an emotional experience—it reaches all the way down to our cells. It can affect mitochondrial function (our cellular energy production) and activate a cellular “danger response,” shifting the body away from growth and repair and toward conservation and survival.

The body requires safety, time, and the right resources to repair. In many cases, that support does not arrive, and a person may become stuck in a state of functional freeze—A nervous system survival response where an individual remains outwardly productive—managing work and daily responsibilities—while internally experiencing emotional numbness, dissociation, or profound exhaustion. It is a “shut down” mode, operating on autopilot to cope with chronic stress, anxiety, or trauma.

Neuroception is our nervous system’s constant, background assessment of safety and danger—continuously calculating whether our capacity meets the demands we are facing. You can think of capacity like a personal bank account: experiences of safety make deposits, while real or perceived danger creates withdrawals.

A practical starting point is learning to tune into your own neuroception by gently asking, Does this activity, conversation, or relationship drain – or restore my inner resources?
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”  ~ Proverbs 4:23

This kind of real-life assessment can offer valuable insight for supporting your body’s homeostasis—its ability to maintain balance even under stress—and for preventing yourself from crossing the critical line of overwhelm.

Our neuroception is always working to protect us, often running on overtime and sometimes detecting danger where none exists. We can not override it, but we can learn to work with it by slowing down, listening to our body and spirit, and intentionally restoring capacity after periods of energy output.
It’s a gentle self-love practice of giving back to ourselves that which was lost.