How Past Trauma Shows Up In The Body

So much of what shapes our experience of life lies beneath the surface of our awareness. Emotionally challenging experiences, that we couldn’t fully process at the time they occurred, can become buried within us where they can cause problems down the track.

In these experiences, it may not have been safe to fully feel what was happening at the time, so the psyche pushes it down to be dealt with later. However, that ‘later’ often doesn’t come.

Two of the common strategies our psyche uses to protect us are suppression and repression.

Suppression occurs when we have some conscious awareness that we are avoiding our emotions, but don’t have the tools or the space to process them. An example of this is in a crisis situation where we feel intensely afraid, however we push down our fear to take care of others around us and handle this situation.

Repression is an unconscious process. This happens when the feelings are so overwhelming that they’re pushed down to protect us, giving us the ability to survive the moment. For example, a child may witness their parents having explosive arguments. The fear is too much to process, so it’s buried outside of their awareness so they can keep functioning.

Both mechanisms are intelligent adaptations, however without the ability to be released and processed at some point, these emotions can remain in the body as stuck energy, where they can manifest as emotional and physical symptoms.

When the Past Lives in the Body

Unprocessed emotions have a way of surfacing through the only channels available when words and awareness are not an option - the body and mind. They can show up as:

• lingering depression or anxiety that feels disconnected from present circumstances

• irritability or mood swings without clear reason

• muscular tightness, chronic pain, or fatigue

• headaches, migraines, and tension in the nervous system

• hormonal and menstrual imbalances

• digestive difficulties

• insomnia and restlessness

• recurring allergies and unexplained somatic conditions

These are not random symptoms, like you might think (or be told by your doctor). If there's no clear medical reason for the symptoms, they’re likely echoes of past experiences that need to be acknowledged, released and healed. 

Fortunately, the healing journey doesn’t have to mean endlessly rehashing the past and revisiting old wounds. Instead, it means opening to the possibility of seeing those experiences through new eyes.

The Illumine Method™ is a safe, guided process that creates the opportunity for this kind of emotional reprocessing and release. In an Illumine session:

• painful memories can be gently illuminated in the light of awareness,

• insights can arise naturally, offering new ways of understanding the past,

• and, in time, even the most difficult experiences reveal their hidden gifts.

This is where transformation happens. The very events that once weighed you down begin to be seen as potent opportunities for growth, self-compassion, and authenticity.

The Hidden Gift Within Healing

Healing doesn’t erase the past, but it changes our relationship with it. Instead of carrying old pain beneath the surface of your awareness, it's brought into the light where it transforms into a new kind of wisdom. Instead of living in a state of contraction, you open into the possibility of what life can be.

Every step of this process is a return to wholeness, to freedom, and to the most authentic version of you.

Samantha Dawn is a Therapist, Coach & creator of The Illumine Method™. She specialises in Life Transitions & Direction, Trauma Resolution, Weight Loss, Emotional Eating, Anxiety & Relationships.

Samantha consults in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia and online. Book a consult with Samantha here.