Shutdown Before Stress: The Misstep in Trauma Healing That Often Gets Missed
Shutdown Before Stress: The Misstep in Trauma Healing That Often Gets Missed
“Healing begins when we stop pushing and start listening to what our body is trying to tell us.” – Dr. Aimie Apigian
In this episode, Dr. Aimie Apigian walks through the science of how trauma is stored in the body and what that means for the sequence of healing, and what can go wrong when we don’t follow the steps in the right order.
You’ll learn the key differences between stress and trauma responses, why therapy can sometimes leave you feeling worse, and how to work with your body’s natural healing process instead of against it.
Dr. Aimie breaks down why attempting to process trauma without following the correct sequence can create setbacks and physical symptoms. She’ll guide you through the essential sequence for trauma healing, showing you why trying to work with stress before addressing shutdown responses often leads to frustration and retraumatization.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why over 90% of people live “in their heads” (and what that means for healing)
- How to tell if the body is in trauma shutdown vs. stress
- What the Critical Line of Overwhelm is and its link to chronic illness
- How stored trauma may be behind chronic symptoms
- The essential healing sequence that works with the nervous system for lasting trauma recovery
Whether you’re a practitioner or someone navigating your own healing journey, this episode provides insights and practical tools to help you reconnect with your body’s wisdom and begin the path to healing.
Helpful Links Related To This Episode
Guides, Tools & Resources:
- Biology of Trauma book – how the body experiences and holds fear, pain and overwhelm, and how to heal – at the time of this recording, The Insider’s Circle Book Club is open and pre-orders have gone live. You will receive over $400 worth of bonuses if you pre-order now. And if you’ve already pre-ordered it on Amazon head over here to receive your bonuses!
- The Essential Sequence Guide – A guide that provides step-by-step instructions for creating safety in your nervous system while making significant life changes, like career transitions, without triggering trauma responses. It’ll give you the insights you need to make lasting change.
- 21 Day Journey – Let me guide you through The Essential Sequence with 21 days of structured somatic self-practices that you can learn for yourself, or apply in your work in those you help. It allows you access to do the deeper work with me because you have these skills of immediately creating inner safety.
KEY MOMENTS:
- [3:07] Why over 90% of us live primarily in our heads
- [4:16] How disconnection exists at the cellular level, not just mentally
- [6:23] Understanding how your body “holds” experiences and emotions
- [7:56] The challenge of changing patterns your body has used for survival
- [8:44] The sequence of how trauma is experienced in the body: from startle to shutdown
- [10:00] The critical line of overwhelm: when stress becomes trauma
- [12:28] Why you can’t start healing from just anywhere – the sequence matters
- [17:00] The most common misunderstanding about healing trauma
- [18:09] The essential sequence: safety first, then support, then expansion
- [22:30] How trauma biology affects physical health at the cellular level
- [24:22] Physical signs your body might be holding trauma biology
- [29:07] A guided somatic safety practice for releasing tension in the stomach
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Be safely guided step-by-step through the essential process for addressing stored trauma in your body.
Disclaimer:
By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast. Under no circumstances shall Trauma Healing Accelerated, any guests or contributors to The Biology of Trauma podcast, or any employees, associates, or affiliates of Trauma Healing Accelerated be responsible for damages arising from the use of the podcast.
