It is common to perceive trauma as an event that happened to us or a situation which overwhelmed us. We failed to recognise that trauma is the effect of how our body was impacted after certain undesirable event(s). With our body being affected, generally our mind is affected as well and our mental health deteriorates, resulting in symptoms of common mental illnesses (i.e: depression, anxiety, panic, etc).

In fact, many times, trauma is relational. The shame and fear (and many other emotions) held in the physiology prevents us from moving forward or to make choices which are healthy for ourselves and the people around us. Indeed, it is difficult for us to process trauma without involving the body-mind connection and without the support of a trauma professional.

Yes, citing from Dr. Peter Levine again, trauma is a fact of life but it doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Trauma can have a transformative effects too. 🙂

About the contributor

Dominica is a psychotherapist at Soulmatics. She is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) and a certified TRE Provider. She enjoys integrating body-oriented approaches in the therapeutic process to help those who come to her to have a more holistic and experiential process. In her free time, she enjoys reading and playing with her pet dogs – Kopi & Xiaobai.