When I first began trauma therapy nearly five years ago, I thought healing meant talking through my experiences until they no longer held power over me. While traditional talk therapy was essential to my recovery, it was the addition of somatic therapy and energy work that created the most profound breakthroughs in my healing journey. My work with Reiki master Jennifer Dennison opened my eyes to how trauma lives in our bodies and how we can heal it through the mind body connection.
Understanding Somatic Therapy: Healing Through the Body
Somatic therapy recognizes a fundamental truth that many traditional trauma therapy approaches miss: our bodies hold the memory of traumatic experiences long after our minds have processed them. As trauma survivors, we often carry emotional pain as physical tension, chronic illness, or unexplained symptoms that resist conventional treatment.
During my conversation with Jennifer on the Let's Heal podcast, she shared her own journey into healing work. Her body began manifesting what she called “the plagues” – a series of physical ailments including boils, diverticulitis, and uncontrollable shaking. Traditional medicine couldn't address the root cause because these symptoms were her body's way of expressing unprocessed trauma.
“Reiki seemed to really help me understand where I was holding this trauma in my body because it was releasing that trauma. It was the trauma was being released during the sessions for me.”
The Science Behind the Mind Body Connection
What makes somatic therapy so powerful is its recognition that trauma isn't just a mental or emotional experience. It's a whole-body phenomenon. When we experience trauma, our nervous system becomes dysregulated, often remaining in a state of hypervigilance or shutdown long after the danger has passed.
Energy healing and somatic approaches work together to address this dysregulation at its source. Rather than trying to think our way out of trauma responses, these modalities help us reconnect with our body's innate wisdom and capacity for healing.
How Energy Work Supports Trauma Recovery
Energy work, including reiki healing therapy, operates on the principle that everything in the universe vibrates at specific frequencies. Trauma can create energetic blockages or lower our vibrational frequency, keeping us stuck in patterns of fear, shame, or survival mode.
When Jennifer described how “Reiki introduces a high vibrational energy to your body so that could be incorporated into our systems,” she was explaining how energetic healing can literally shift our internal state from one of trauma activation to one of peace and restoration.
My Personal Journey with Somatic Therapy
Session One: The Physical Release of Generational Trauma
My first session with Jennifer was unlike anything I'd experienced in traditional trauma therapy. As we worked together, I found myself literally coughing up what felt like dark energy that had been trapped in my body. This wasn't metaphorical. It was a physical release of generational trauma that had been passed down through my family line.
The experience taught me that somatic therapy isn't just about understanding trauma intellectually; it's about allowing our bodies to release what they've been holding. Native American chanting began playing during our session, and Jennifer's spiritual guides joined us in the work. This combination of holistic healing approaches created the perfect conditions for deep transformation.
Session Two: Healing Through Spiritual Connection
Perhaps the most profound aspect of combining somatic therapy with spiritual healing occurred during my second session. While working on healing my relationship with my grandfather – my first abuser – I had a vision of him as a five-year-old child before he himself had been traumatized.
This wasn't something I could have accessed through traditional talk therapy alone. The combination of energy work and somatic approaches allowed me to experience healing at a soul level, seeing beyond the harm to the humanity that existed before trauma shaped destructive patterns.
Integrating Multiple Healing Modalities
What I've learned through my trauma recovery journey is that no single approach works in isolation. The most effective healing happens when we combine multiple modalities that address different aspects of our experience:
Traditional Trauma Therapy
Talk therapy remains essential for processing experiences, understanding patterns, and developing coping strategies. It provides the cognitive framework for understanding our trauma responses.
Somatic Therapy Approaches
Body-based healing modalities help us release trauma that's stored in our nervous system and tissues. This includes massage therapy, craniosacral work, movement practices, and breathwork.
Energy Healing
Energetic healing addresses the vibrational aspects of trauma, helping to clear blockages and raise our frequency to support healing and growth.
Spiritual Healing
For many trauma survivors, reconnecting with spirituality – however we define it – becomes an important part of recovery. This might include meditation, prayer, or working with spiritual guides.
Practical Applications for Trauma Survivors
Here are four key ways that somatic therapy and energy work can enhance your trauma recovery:
- Nervous System Regulation: These approaches help calm an overactivated nervous system, creating the safety needed for healing to occur naturally.
- Emotional Integration: Sometimes emotions get trapped in our bodies. Somatic and energetic approaches can facilitate the safe release and integration of these stored emotions.
- Breaking Trauma Cycles: By addressing trauma at the energetic level, we can heal not just our own wounds but generational patterns that have been passed down through families.
- Accessing Inner Wisdom: The mind body connection allows us to tap into our body's innate knowing about what needs healing and how.
The Importance of Finding the Right Practitioner
Not all somatic therapy practitioners are created equal. When seeking energy healing or body-based trauma work, look for someone who combines proper training with genuine intuitive gifts. Jennifer's background as a licensed massage therapist, combined with her Reiki mastery and natural empathic abilities, creates the ideal combination for deep healing work.
As Jennifer shared about her own empathic gifts: “I could feel anger in their feet. And it was just this overwhelming, oh, so angry. There's so much anger here.” This level of sensitivity, combined with professional training, allows for truly transformative healing experiences.
Overcoming Skepticism About Alternative Approaches
I understand the skepticism many people feel about energy work and somatic therapy. As someone who built my career on forensic accounting and hard facts, these approaches initially felt too abstract. But healing isn't always logical. Sometimes it requires us to trust processes we don't fully understand.
The key is finding practitioners who can bridge the gap between mystical and practical, helping you understand what's happening while creating space for mystery and transformation.
The Vibrational Aspect of Healing
One of the most significant shifts I've experienced through combining somatic therapy with energy work is learning to maintain higher vibrational states. When we're operating from fear, shame, or anger, we're vibrating at lower frequencies that keep us stuck in survival mode.
Holistic healing approaches help us access higher vibrational states of love, joy, and peace – not as a temporary escape, but as our new baseline. This shift affects every aspect of our lives, from our relationships to our physical health to our sense of purpose.
Creating Your Own Integrated Healing Journey
If you're considering adding somatic therapy or energy work to your trauma recovery process, here's what I've learned about making it most effective:
Trust Your Body's Wisdom
Your nervous system knows what it needs to heal. Pay attention to those inner nudges that guide you toward specific practitioners or modalities.
Start Slowly
If you're new to body-based approaches, start with gentler modalities like craniosacral therapy or restorative yoga before moving into more intensive energy work.
Maintain Your Support System
Continue working with your trauma therapist while exploring somatic approaches. Integration happens best when you have multiple forms of support.
Be Patient with the Process
Healing through the mind body connection often happens in layers. Trust that your system is releasing what it's ready to release when it's safe to do so.
The Ripple Effects of Holistic Healing
What amazes me most about incorporating somatic therapy and energy work into my healing journey is how the effects ripple out into every area of life. When we heal at the energetic and somatic levels, we're not just addressing symptoms. We're transforming the very foundation of how we exist in the world.
The trauma recovery work I've done through these modalities has not only healed my own wounds but has broken generational patterns that were being passed down through my family. This is the true power of holistic healing. it transforms not just individuals but entire family systems and communities.
Your healing journey is unique, and what works for one person may not work for another. But if you feel called to explore the connection between mind, body, and spirit in your trauma recovery, I encourage you to trust that calling. Sometimes the most profound healing happens when we step outside our comfort zones and embrace approaches that speak to our souls.
Remember, healing isn't just about returning to who we were before trauma – it's about becoming who we're meant to be. Through somatic therapy, energy work, and other holistic approaches, we can not only recover from trauma but transform it into wisdom, strength, and deep compassion for ourselves and others.
Ready to explore somatic therapy and energy healing as part of your trauma recovery? Visit the Let's Heal Blog for more resources on holistic healing approaches. If you're in the Dallas area, I highly recommend connecting with Jennifer Dennison at Beyond the Veil Higher Healing Center in Flower Mound for transformative bodywork and energy healing experiences.