From Survival to Safety: Reconnecting With Your Body After Trauma

For many of us who’ve experienced trauma, whether through childhood experiences, abuse, medical trauma, or disordered eating, feeling safe in our bodies can be one of the hardest parts of healing.

The body becomes a place of tension, shame, and disconnection. You might not even realize how much you’ve learned to leave your body until you try to come back to it.

Healing from trauma isn’t just about reducing anxiety or managing flashbacks. It’s also about the slow, often unspoken process of rebuilding a relationship with the body that carried you through it all.

Trauma Teaches the Body to Stay On Guard

Trauma lives in the body. It shapes how we move, breathe, eat, rest, and even how we take up space. For some, the body becomes something to escape through checking out, staying overly busy, hyper-focusing on appearance, or controlling food.

You might feel:

• Disconnected from hunger, fullness, or other physical cues
• Restless or unsafe even in calm moments
• Like your body is “too much” or “not enough”
• Shame tied to how your body looks, moves, or exists in the world

None of these responses mean you’re doing something wrong.
They are adaptations. Survival strategies. The ways your body kept you safe in unsafe situations.

Reconnection Is the Work (Not Perfection)

Healing isn’t about suddenly loving every inch of your body. It’s about softening the grip shame has held for so long. It’s about getting curious again—about what your body feels, needs, and wants.

If you're working on self-acceptance, this guide on self-worth can help.

You might notice healing when:

• You take a deeper breath and let your shoulders drop
• You listen to your body without judgment
• You choose clothes that feel good—not just ones that look “acceptable”
• You move your body in ways that feel supportive, not punishing
• You feel a flicker of gratitude for how your body’s gotten you through

These are not small things. These are milestones.
They are signs you are slowly coming home to yourself.

Body Image and the Nervous System Are Connected

Feeling safe in your body starts with helping your nervous system feel safe, too.

That might look like:

• Grounding exercises (like planting your feet or naming what’s around you)
• Mindful movement—yoga, stretching, walking without a goal
• Working with a somatic or body-based therapist
• Relearning that rest is allowed, food is okay, and pleasure is not shameful

When your body becomes a safer place to live, how you see yourself often starts to shift too, not overnight, but slowly, gently, and over time.

Explore tools for grounding and body-based healing in this somatic therapy resource.

You Deserve to Feel at Home in Your Body

Your body isn’t broken or something that needs to be fixed.

It’s wise. It adapted to protect you, and it’s still here, trying to keep you safe.

The healing process isn’t about perfection. It’s about offering yourself the safety, compassion, and care you may not have received before. It’s about creating a relationship with your body that feels rooted in respect, not criticism.

This journey can be slow and nonlinear. Some days will feel easier than others. But step by step, you can begin to feel more at home in yourself, not just in your thoughts, but in your physical body, too.

You are allowed to rest. You are allowed to take up space. 

And you are absolutely allowed to heal—gently, fully, and in your own time.

Looking for more support?

I am currently accepting therapy clients in Charlotte, NC, as well as virtually in both North and South Carolina. If you want a space to feel seen, grounded, and reconnected, I’d love to walk alongside you.

Are you a therapist?
I offer supervision and consulting, and I’ve created The Therapist Toolbox — a growing resource library filled with practical, ready-to-use tools for your clinical work.

I also share relatable, gentle mental health content over on Instagram at @sometimesatherapist.