The Mind-Spine Connection | Video Series (Part 4: Trauma in the Body)

Welcome back to the Mind-Spine Connection series where I chat with my personal chiropractor, Dr. Sydne, about the ways spinal health impacts our mental health.

In our fourth and final video we talk about trauma and the ways it can manifest in bodily aches and pains and in our emotional patterns, even decades later. We discuss brief, general examples of traumatic experiences. If you are actively healing from trauma, please take care when watching or you may prefer to skip this conversation.

In this video, we discuss:

• A broader definition of trauma and how most of us have experienced some form of emotional trauma but may not realize it

• The ways trauma gets stored in the body

• How to have awareness of, and healing access to, our trauma response through both the body and the nervous system

• Why moving through phases of both growth and setback (or expansion and contraction) are equally important in healing

• How to apply a trauma sensitive lens to ourselves as a compliment to, or in the absence of, support from trauma-sensitive providers.

Trauma is often misunderstood, and it’s a topic near and dear to my heart. I see with my own clients the understanding and relief that come when they learn to apply a trauma-sensitive lens to their own lives. Their healing gains significant momentum when they move from a critical “Why can’t I change this?” to a clear recognition that their disordered or emotional eating or other self-harming outlets are a learned survival response—a response developed out of a need for self-protection (among other reasons) when aspects of life felt unsafe and unstable.

I hope you enjoy this conversation. Feel free to leave a comment below sharing your biggest aha moment from this conversation or any of the previous three videos in the series.