Does Somatic Healing Work: How Mind-Body Healing Can Change 30 Years of Chronic Illness In 6 Weeks
Does Somatic Healing Work: How Mind-Body Healing Can Change 30 Years of Chronic Illness In 6 Weeks
Many people struggle with chronic fatigue, autoimmune conditions, and exhaustion that no amount of sleep seems to cure. They’ve tried medications, supplements, therapy, and self-care practices, yet still find themselves needing daily naps just to function. They can’t understand why their body seems to be working against them instead of healing, or why they feel so disconnected from the energy they once had.
In this episode, you’ll meet Kecia, whose story reveals what’s possible when we finally address trauma where it lives – in the nervous system. After 30 years on medical disability and needing daily three-hour naps just to survive, Kecia was sleeping 16-18 hours daily and housebound for years. By age 25, autoimmune illness had taken her career as a respiratory therapist, her ability to hike, even basic tasks.
After completing the Foundational Journey, something happened that might sound impossible – she went seven weeks without needing a single nap for the first time in decades. Her husband said she became “like the person I knew 30 years ago.”
This isn’t about willpower or positive thinking. It’s about understanding how unresolved attachment wounds show up as physical symptoms decades later, and why trauma healing requires addressing the nervous system directly.
Helpful Links Related To This Episode
Related Podcast Episodes:
- Episode 71: Understanding the Trauma Connection Between Attachment, Autoimmunity, and Fatigue
- Episode 133: Autoimmunity and Childhood Trauma: How Your Immune System Reflects Your Past
Guides, Tools & Resources:
- Biology of Trauma book – how the body experiences and holds fear, pain and overwhelm, and how to heal. Pre-order now and, at the time of this recording, you’ll get over $400 in bonuses included! Those bonuses are only for the pre-order window which goes until Sept 22, 2025. When you’ve already pre-ordered it on Amazon head over here to receive your bonuses.
- Book Bundles (available only until September 22nd) – Go deeper with exclusive bundles that include the book plus additional support:
- Guided Seeker Bundle: Book + workbook + master course walking you through each chapter’s key concepts
- Accelerated Implementer Bundle: Everything above + live half-day online group intensive with Dr. Aimie for implementation support
- Fast Track Practitioner Bundle: Everything above + one full day in-person with Dr. Aimie at her home to identify your personal blocks and create your customized 30-day healing plan
- Foundational Journey – If you want to be guided through The Essential Sequence laid out in the Roadmap and the book, join me and my team for this 6 week journey into your inner world with practical somatic and parts self-practices to lay your foundation to do the deeper work safely. These are the daily practices I have found that change one’s biology and health symptoms the fastest.
In this episode, you’ll hear more about:
- [3:30] Why Kecia never expected to live past 18 and how autoimmune disease changed everything for her by age 25
- [8:00] The struggle to get medical validation and how one doctor’s compassion literally changed her physiology
- [14:00] The shift that seemed impossible – seven weeks without daily naps after 30 years of needing them
- [16:00] What’s actually happening in your body during chronic freeze and why extreme sleep needs make biological sense
- [19:00] How coming out of freeze brought back joy, energy, and the ability to experience life fully again
- [25:00] Why being praised for “resilience” can actually create stored trauma patterns in your body
- [29:00] Dr. Aimie’s guidance on capacity management and energy investment for sustainable healing
How Somatic Practices Ended 30 Years of Chronic Fatigue and Daily Naps
Many people struggle with chronic fatigue, autoimmune conditions, and exhaustion that no amount of sleep seems to cure. They’ve tried medications, supplements, therapy, and self-care practices, yet still find themselves needing daily naps just to function. They can’t understand why their body seems to be working against them instead of healing, or why they feel so disconnected from the energy they once had.
In episode 137 of The Biology of Trauma® Podcast, I had the honor of speaking with Kecia, whose story reveals what’s possible when we finally address trauma where it lives – in the nervous system. After 30 years on medical disability and needing daily three-hour naps just to survive, Kecia was sleeping 16-18 hours daily and housebound for years. By age 25, autoimmune illness had taken her career as a respiratory therapist, her ability to hike, even basic tasks.
After completing the Foundational Journey, something happened that might sound impossible – she went seven weeks without needing a single nap for the first time in decades. Her husband said she became “like the person I knew 30 years ago.”
This isn’t about willpower or positive thinking. It’s about understanding how unresolved attachment wounds show up as physical symptoms decades later, and why trauma healing requires addressing the nervous system directly.
The Split That Signals Trauma
Kecia’s story began with a contradiction that reveals the hidden impact of early trauma. As a child, she had two competing dreams: one part of her wanted to go to medical school, while another part never expected to live past 18. “Every year I was always surprised that I’d had another birthday,” she shared.
This internal split between hope and despair often signals what happens when a child’s nervous system adapts to survive overwhelming circumstances. When survival feels uncertain, the body develops patterns that prioritize staying alive over thriving. These patterns can persist for decades, creating the very health problems that seem to confirm our worst fears about ourselves.
The autoimmune symptoms started showing up in her teens:
- Depression and mood changes
- Dramatic weight loss she couldn’t control
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Crushing fatigue that didn’t improve with rest
But getting anyone to believe what her body was telling her became one of her greatest challenges.
The Medicine of Being Seen
What happened next demonstrates something crucial about the Biology of Trauma® and healing. The rheumatologist looked at Kecia and said something no one had ever said: “You are very sick.” After years of not being believed, someone finally saw her reality.
But this doctor did something even more powerful. Month after month, he would sit with her and say, “I’m so sorry you’re sick. I wish there was something I could do to help you. There are no medications. There’s nothing I can do. Let’s just sit together.” He would tell her, “You aren’t lazy, you’re sick.”
What made this healing:
- Consistent validation of her reality
- Regular, punctual appointments (late only once in 30 years)
- Sitting with her in the difficulty rather than rushing to fix
- Separating her worth from her symptoms
- Providing co-regulation through his calm presence
When someone finally sees you, believes you, and validates your experience, your nervous system registers this as a signal of safety. This isn’t just emotional support – this literally changes your physiology. The vagus nerve responds to this co-regulation by allowing the parasympathetic system to come back online, beginning the shift from survival mode toward healing.
Why Traditional Treatments Weren’t Enough
Over three decades, Kecia tried everything conventional medicine offered:
Medications:
- Multiple rounds of prednisone
- Plaquenil (until eye complications)
- Methotrexate (ineffective)
- Rituxan treatments (experimental at the time)
Alternative Approaches:
- Extensive vitamin and supplement regimens
- Mercury removal from dental fillings
- Yoga and meditation practices
- 25 years of psychotherapy
She slowly got somewhat better, but the core exhaustion remained. The missing piece was understanding that trauma doesn’t just live in our thoughts and emotions – it becomes our biology. It literally changes how our cells produce energy, how our immune system functions, how our digestive system operates, and how our brain manages daily tasks.
The Biology Behind Decades of Exhaustion
What was actually happening in Kecia’s biology during those 30 years helps explain why traditional approaches fell short. When our nervous system gets stuck in the shutdown state – what I call chronic functional freeze – our body operates in extreme energy conservation mode.
Signs her body was in chronic trauma state:
- Sleeping 16-18 hours daily
- Needing 2-3 hour naps every day
- Feeling disconnected from her body
- Difficulty with basic tasks
- Complete dissociation as a coping mechanism
Our internal systems essentially say: we can’t afford to be fully alive right now. We’re not going to expend energy on optimal digestion. We’re not going to use energy for proper lymphatic flow. We need to conserve everything for basic survival.
This creates the constant exhaustion, the need for excessive sleep, and often the sugar cravings that come with trauma biology. For Kecia, sleeping 16-18 hours a day wasn’t depression or laziness – it was her body’s sophisticated survival strategy.
When Science Meets Recognition
When Kecia found my work, she wasn’t looking for trauma healing. She didn’t think she had experienced trauma. But when she watched a video where I discussed attachment patterns – “Hold me, see me, hear me” – something shifted.
“I cried that entire masterclass because I had issues in every single one of them and I thought, okay, I don’t know what this person is teaching or doing, but I’ve got to do whatever it is.”
This moment of recognition is often the first step in healing. When we can finally see the patterns that have been running our lives, we gain access to changing them. It led her to enroll in the 21-day journey.
Seven Weeks Without a Nap: What Actually Changed
After completing the program, the results seemed impossible. Seven weeks straight without needing a nap. She hadn’t gone seven days without a two or three-hour nap in decades.
The dramatic changes included:
- Sleep patterns: From 16-18 hours daily to normal sleep
- Energy levels: Sustainable energy throughout the day
- Sugar cravings: Completely eliminated lifelong dessert addiction
- Mood stability: Return of joy and emotional presence
- Physical capacity: Able to do activities like getting pedicures
- Relationship quality: Husband said she became “like the person I knew 30 years ago”
When she did feel tired, she would do a somatic practice instead of napping. “That’s all the rest I need.” These changes happened because the somatic practices work directly with the nervous system to complete interrupted trauma responses and reset dysregulated patterns.
From Half-Alive to Fully Present
The most profound change was what Kecia described simply: “I’m alive.” After decades of existing in what she called being “half-alive,” she was experiencing joy and presence again. For the first time in 30 years, she got a pedicure – something she’d been too exhausted to do before.
This return to aliveness happens when we complete the interrupted responses that got stuck during overwhelming experiences. The nervous system finally gets the message that the danger is over, allowing the body to shift from conservation mode back to growth and vitality.
The Hidden Cost of Being “Resilient”
During our conversation, Kecia shared something important about how praise for resilience can actually reinforce trauma patterns. When children are consistently told how strong they are for handling difficult situations, they can learn that their worth depends on their ability to endure hardship without complaint.
Problems with “resilience” praise:
- Creates pressure to handle everything alone
- Makes asking for help feel like weakness
- Reinforces survival mode as the norm
- Prevents the nervous system from learning safety
True resilience isn’t about endless endurance. It’s about having a nervous system that can activate when needed for genuine challenges, then return to calm presence when the challenge passes.
The Three Levels That Need Repair
Based on my clinical experience, lasting healing from trauma-related chronic illness requires addressing three levels:
1. Beliefs (Mind Level)
- Repair fragmented parts stuck in fear and shame
- Address limiting beliefs about safety and worth
- Process traumatic memories appropriately
2. Somatic Movement (Body Level)
- Complete interrupted fight/flight responses
- Release physical tension and trauma patterns
- Restore natural nervous system regulation
3. Cellular Repair (Biology Level)
- Address oxidative stress and inflammation
- Repair immune system dysfunction
- Restore digestive system integrity
- Support mitochondrial function
When we only work at one level – like traditional talk therapy that focuses mainly on thoughts and beliefs – we often miss the biological patterns that keep the trauma cycle active.
Breaking Generational Patterns
One of the most hopeful aspects of this science is understanding that we can actually break generational trauma patterns. The oxidative stress that trauma creates gets passed down through our epigenetics, but when we repair our own biology, we stop passing these patterns to the next generation.
Benefits of addressing trauma biology:
- Stops generational transmission of trauma
- Improves family relationship dynamics
- Creates healthier parenting patterns
- Models healing for others
This isn’t just about healing ourselves – it’s about healing our family lines. When Kecia shifted from survival mode to thriving, she broke patterns that may have been running in her family for generations.
A Message Grounded in Science, Not Just Hope
The title of my book, The Biology of Trauma, represents a message of hope based on understanding rather than wishful thinking. I didn’t have hope for myself until I learned this science. The science gave me insights into what my body actually needed and the sequence for repair.
Kecia’s story shows what’s possible when we understand that our body has an innate capacity for healing – it just needs the right conditions and tools to shift from decades of survival programming back to its natural state of health and vitality.
For anyone wondering if this approach could help them, Kecia offers this encouragement: “21 days out of a whole lifetime is not a lot of a commitment. What do you have to lose at this point? The part of you that can still hold on to a little bit of hope or know that you have a reason to be here – give it a chance.”
Your body’s capacity for healing remains intact even after decades of chronic illness. Sometimes we just need to work with our biology in the way it’s designed to heal – by addressing trauma where it actually lives, in the nervous system itself.
If you’re struggling with chronic health issues that haven’t responded to traditional treatments, consider that trauma might be the missing piece. The Foundational Journey that helped Kecia reclaim her life is available. Remember, health and vitality are not as far away as you think – sometimes we just need to address healing at the right level.
Helpful Research
- The ACE Study (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Felitti, V.J., et al. (1998). “Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245-258.
This study changed everything for me as a physician. When I first read about Dr. Felitti’s work with over 17,000 adults, I finally understood why so many of my patients had chronic health conditions that seemed to come out of nowhere. The research shows that people with four or more adverse childhood experiences have dramatically higher rates of autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, and the exact conditions Kecia struggled with for decades.
What struck me most was how the body keeps score. These weren’t just correlations – the study revealed a dose-response relationship. The more childhood adversity, the higher the risk of adult chronic illness. This validated what I was seeing in my practice: that early experiences literally become our biology.
- Polyvagal Theory Research Porges, S.W. (2007). “The polyvagal perspective.” Biological Psychology, 74(2), 116-143.
Dr. Stephen Porges gave us the roadmap for understanding how trauma lives in the body. His research on the autonomic nervous system explains exactly what was happening when Kecia needed 16-18 hours of sleep daily. Her nervous system wasn’t lazy – it was stuck in what Porges calls the dorsal vagal state, the shutdown response that prioritizes survival over thriving.
This research is why somatic approaches work where other treatments often don’t. When we understand that trauma creates specific nervous system states, we can use targeted interventions to help the body shift out of chronic shutdown. The Foundational Journey works because it addresses trauma where it actually lives – in the nervous system patterns that Porges mapped out for us.
- Inflammation and Trauma Study Danese, A., & Lewis, S.J. (2017). “Psychoneuroimmunology of Early-Life Stress: The Hidden Wounds of Childhood Trauma?” Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(1), 99-114.
This research explains the biological mechanisms behind why Kecia’s autoimmune symptoms persisted for decades. Childhood trauma doesn’t just create psychological wounds – it creates persistent inflammation that shows up as physical illness years later. The study demonstrates how early stress literally rewires our immune system to stay in attack mode.
This is why I always tell people: if it’s making you sick 20 years later, that wasn’t just stress. That was trauma for your body. The inflammation patterns this research describes are exactly what we need to address at the cellular level for lasting healing. It’s not enough to just talk through traumatic memories – we have to repair the biological damage that trauma creates.
These studies provide the scientific foundation for everything we see in clinical practice. When people like Kecia experience dramatic healing, it’s not magic – it’s biology working the way it’s designed to when we give it the right tools and conditions.
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By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical, psychological, or mental health advice to treat any medical or psychological condition in yourself or others. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your own physician, therapist, psychiatrist, or other qualified health provider regarding any physical or mental health issues you may be experiencing. 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 or misuse of the content provided in this podcast.
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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.
