We often think of trauma as an event. A moment in time that overwhelmed our ability to cope. But for those living with Complex PTSD, trauma isn’t just a memory—it’s a way of being in the world. It’s the nervous system bracing, the breath tightening, the heart racing… even when the danger is long gone.
While traditional approaches to PTSD may focus on memories, thoughts, and behavioral patterns, Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)—which arises from prolonged exposure to relational trauma—requires us to go deeper.
It invites us into the body.
It beckons us into the sacred terrain of the somatic self—the part of us that feels before it thinks, that holds what words cannot say, and that longs not to be analyzed, but to be felt, seen, and released.
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Understanding Complex PTSD
Unlike single-incident PTSD, C-PTSD stems from chronic exposure to stress, often beginning in childhood or occurring in long-term abusive or neglectful environments.
Survivors of C-PTSD may not even recognize their experience as trauma because it was “normal.” It was the air they breathed.
C-PTSD often shows up as:
Emotional dysregulation (feeling too much or going numb)
Persistent inner criticism or shame
A chronic sense of threat or hypervigilance
Dissociation or feeling disconnected from one’s body
Deep relational wounds and attachment struggles
But perhaps most profoundly—it lives in the body’s memory, in the fascia, the breath, the gut, the jaw, the shoulders… the places that held in the scream, the flinch, the sob.
The Somatic Perspective: The Body as the Storyteller
The body does not lie.
It holds the truths our minds couldn’t bear. In somatic work, we do not rush to “fix” or label these truths. We listen. We honor the body’s intelligence. We slow down to the pace of healing.
Somatic healing teaches us that trauma isn’t just in what happened—it’s in what didn’t get to happen.
The tears that weren’t shed.
The boundaries that weren’t defended.
The trembling that was shut down.
The running that had to be stilled.
In SomatoEmotional Release, Craniosacral Therapy, and other somatic practices, we create a safe container where these incomplete survival responses can gently come to the surface—and be completed.
From Dysregulation to Integration
The nervous system of someone with C-PTSD has learned to survive, often through patterns like fawning, freezing, or fragmenting. These were intelligent adaptations to an unsafe world.
But healing asks a different question:
Can we shift from surviving to inhabiting ourselves?
In somatic healing, we work to:
Bring awareness to sensation – the language of the body.
Restore safety – through grounding, touch, and breath.
Invite co-regulation – where another regulated nervous system says, “You are safe now.”
Support completion – of frozen fight/flight responses.
Reconnect to self – to pleasure, movement, and aliveness.
The Journey Home to the Body
Healing from C-PTSD is not a linear path. It is a spiraling return—again and again—to what was left behind. And each return can become a sacred reclamation.
In somatic work, we meet the body with reverence.
We learn to trust its pace.
We whisper back to the places that whisper pain.
And slowly… the breath returns.
The gaze softens.
The body says, “I belong here.”
You Are Not Broken
If you carry the weight of Complex PTSD, let this be your reminder:
You are not broken.
You are not too much.
You are not behind.
Your nervous system is doing its best with what it learned. And now… it’s allowed to learn new rhythms. To feel safe in joy. To rest. To soften. To come home.
Final Thoughts: Healing as a Re-Embodiment
From a somatic lens, healing C-PTSD is not about erasing the past. It is about reclaiming the body’s wisdom, breath by breath. It is about becoming fluent again in the language of sensation, stillness, and self-trust.
And with time, patience, and sacred support, you can remember what it feels like to live in a body that is no longer at war.
To feel safe inside your skin.
To move with grace, not fear.
To be fully, freely, unapologetically… you.
🌿 If this speaks to something tender within you—know that you don’t have to walk this healing journey alone.
Whether you're just beginning or have been seeking for years, support is here.
Visit IntrospectiveOdyssey.com to explore healing sessions, mentoring, and somatic-based practices designed to gently guide you back to yourself.
You are worthy of safety.
You are capable of healing.
You are not broken—you are becoming whole.
Let this be your invitation to begin.