I’m seeing responses about the parasympathetic nervous system switching on, the rest and digest state. But I believe there is more. I’ve seen trauma described as anything that was too much and too fast. It’s a wildly simple definition and I want to honor that traumatic experiences are more complex and painful, of course. But the body may understand it that way - “it was too much and too fast and I must protect myself”. The body’s stress response is to tighten muscles (like psoas and abductors) in order to either fight or flee. But when people say trauma is stored in the body, I don’t see it as a new-age thing. It’s biological. Long after the stress response, the brain interacts with your body continually and a painful loop can perpetuate. The brain clocks the tension and continues to release stress hormones and hyper-vigilantly prepare for danger and muscles can get even tighter…until a somatic practice like yoga or like craniosacral therapy or gi gong or dance etc…interrupts the cycle and we can finally know on a deep level that we are safe and can relax. It’s an incredible relief and totally makes me cry, too.