Body Memory + Somatic Recall

When people talk about “body memory,” they are talking about one of the most misunderstood — and most real — aspects of trauma. Many survivors of sexual trauma, especially those harmed in childhood, notice something confusing:

Their mind may forget details. But their body does not forget the experience.

This is not imagination. This is not “overreacting.” This is how the nervous system stores overwhelming events when the mind cannot handle them.

At Little River Psychological Services, we help survivors understand how the body remembers, how these memories show up later in life, and how to gently release what the body has been carrying.

What Is Body Memory?

Body memory refers to the way traumatic experiences are stored in the nervous system, muscles, breath, sensory pathways, and even posture. Unlike regular memories — which are stored verbally and logically — traumatic memories are stored somatically (Van der Kolk, 2014).

These memories may show up as:

• Tension in the pelvis or chest
• Difficulty breathing
• Sudden fear without explanation
• Discomfort with being touched
• Nausea or dizziness triggered by reminders
• Frozen or numb sensations
• Startle responses
• Heart racing
• Feeling “small,” “frozen,” or “not here”

Survivors often say:

• “My body reacts before my brain does.”
• “Something in me remembers even when I don’t want it to.”
• “I don’t know why I shut down around intimacy — it just happens.”

This is body memory at work.

How Trauma Is Stored in the Body

Trauma overwhelms the nervous system. When the brain cannot fully process an experience, the body takes over to keep the person alive.

This process includes:

The Freeze Response

If fight or flight are impossible, the body shuts down into freeze:

• Muscles go limp
• Heart rate slows
• Sensation becomes numb or distant
• The mind disconnects

This protective state is often activated during sexual trauma, especially for children (Schauer & Elbert, 2010).

Implicit Memory (Nonverbal Memory)

Traumatic experiences are stored without words — in sensations, emotions, and reflexes (Siegel, 2012). These memories can be triggered by:

• Smells
• Sounds
• Tone of voice
• Facial expressions
• Physical closeness
• Certain rooms or lighting
• Sexual contact
• Touch near specific areas of the body

Muscle Memory

The body remembers positions of fear or helplessness:

• Shoulders tensing
• Closing knees
• Holding breath
• Curling inward
• Going rigid

This is not conscious behavior — it is survival memory.

Hormonal + Autonomic Imprints

Trauma can alter how the body releases cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones (Yehuda et al., 2015). This can lead to long-term:

• Hyperarousal
• Sleep disturbance
• Digestive issues
• Chronic pain
• Fatigue
• Reproductive health concerns

Sexual trauma often leaves a deeper imprint because it involves the body’s most vulnerable systems.

Why Body Memory Is Common in Sexual Trauma Survivors

Sexual trauma involves:

• Physical violation
• Overwhelming sensory input
• Loss of control
• Threats to survival
• Shame
• Secrecy
• Powerlessness

When trauma is interpersonal — especially at the hands of a caregiver or partner — the body learns:

“Safety is unpredictable.” “My body is not protected.” “I must be ready at all times.”

This creates long-lasting patterns such as:

• Hypervigilance
• Difficulty relaxing
• Feeling unsafe in one’s own skin
• Sexual avoidance or discomfort
• Over-accommodating others
• Chronic tension in the pelvic floor
• Startle responses
• Anxiety during intimacy
• Emotional shutdown

Many survivors experience these symptoms for years without realizing they are trauma responses.

How Body Memory Shows Up in Black & Indigenous Survivors

The body carries not only individual trauma — but collective and historical trauma.

For Black communities:

Generations endured sexual exploitation, medical experimentation, and violence during enslavement and Jim Crow. Bodies were controlled, violated, and punished. This history shapes:

• Distrust of institutions
• Difficulty naming sexual trauma
• Body shame rooted in survival
• Hypersexualization in society
• Silence around harm within families

Trauma responses learned through survival became woven into family and community patterns.

For Indigenous communities:

Boarding schools, forced sterilization, MMIWG violence, and generational displacement left deep wounds. The land holds memory, and so do the bodies of its people.

This history shapes:

• Distrust of outsiders
• Silence around abuse
• Shame rooted in colonization
• Disconnection from land-based healing
• Loss of cultural teachings around body sovereignty

When we understand these histories, we understand that for many survivors, body memory is also ancestral memory.

Recognizing Body Memory in Your Life

Survivors may notice:

• Feeling triggered by certain touches
• Feeling younger or smaller during conflict
• Physical pain during intimacy
• Feeling “not in your body”
• Anxiety that seems to come out of nowhere
• Sudden emotional flooding
• Feeling frozen or unable to move
• Avoidance of certain places or people
• Memories returning during sex, medical exams, or arguments

These experiences can be frightening — but they make sense.

Your body is not betraying you. It is trying to protect you.

Healing Body Memory

Healing somatic trauma requires slow, compassionate, body-based work.

At Little River Psychological Services, we help survivors reconnect with their bodies through:

Somatic Awareness

Learning to notice sensations without judgment.

Grounding Practices

Breath, movement, and sensory tools that bring the body into the present.

Re-establishing Safety in the Body

Teaching the nervous system: “It is safe enough right now.”

Rewriting Body Narratives

Reconnecting with parts of the body that hold shame or fear.

Boundary + Consent Work

Helping survivors reclaim bodily autonomy.

Dream-Based Healing

Dreams often carry somatic fragments of trauma. Understanding dream symbolism can help survivors process body-held memories in a safe, indirect way.

Culturally Rooted Healing

For Black clients: community, storytelling, spiritual grounding. For Indigenous clients: land-based practices, ceremony, and ancestral teachings.

Healing does not erase trauma — it rewrites your relationship with your own body.

If You Need Support Now

• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME or CONNECT to 741741
• Native Text Line: Text NATIVE to 741741
• BlackLine: 1-800-604-5841
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call/text 988
• RAINN (Sexual Assault Hotline): 1-800-656-4673
• IHS Suicide Prevention: https://www.ihs.gov/suicideprevention

References

Schauer, M., & Elbert, T. (2010). Dissociation following traumatic stress. Zeitschrift für Psychologie/Journal of Psychology, 218(2), 109–127.

Siegel, D. J. (2012). The Developing Mind (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score. Viking.

Yehuda, R., Daskalakis, N. P., et al. (2015). Biological factors associated with resilience to trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry, 172(7), 617–629.