The human body has an incredible capacity to recall experiences both positive and negative. With that being said, trauma can manifest in different parts of the body, affecting physical and emotional well being. When someone is met with a real or imagined threat, the resulting fear, rage or numbness will be reflected in the body. Some traumas can be hard to put into words and to even identify but have just as much impact on the nervous system as more overt forms of violence. Gas lighting in childhood by an authority figure, can be just as debilitating as say, combat related trauma. This latent trauma stored in the muscles and nervous system can alter the quality of one’s life for years to come.

Trauma relief is the process of discharging these stored negative emotions from the body. It involves allowing yourself to experience deep feelings that you may have suppressed. This may take time to build trust between you and the massage therapist to get to the point of being able to experience these type of releases.

The goal of trauma release is twofold;
1. To acknowledge and validate these emotions
2. to facilitate the release and allow the mind and body to return to homeostasis.

One survey suggested that over 70% of the respondents had experienced at least one traumatic event with 30.5% experiencing 4 or more. This survey is almost 14 years old. My guess is that the numbers are much higher due to the numerous added stressors of this day and age...

* WMH ( World Mental Health) survey 2012