Introduction
Trauma is not just a psychological wound—it is a physical imprint on the body and nervous system. While many therapies focus on talking about trauma, true healing requires releasing the stored tension, fear, and survival responses trapped in the body.

In In an Unspoken Voice, Dr. Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, explains how trauma disrupts the body’s natural ability to heal and how we can restore balance through body-based healing techniques. He argues that trauma survivors don’t just need to process their emotions—they need to physically release the stored energy of trauma to feel safe and whole again.

This blog post summarizes key insights from In an Unspoken Voice, focusing on how trauma affects the body, why traditional therapy often falls short, and how somatic (body-based) healing can restore well-being.

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Understanding Trauma: A Biological Perspective

Levine takes a biological and evolutionary approach to trauma, arguing that the body’s natural survival responses (fight, flight, freeze) can become stuck if a person is unable to fully process the experience.

1. Trauma is not just what happens to you—it’s how your body responds to it.
2. When we cannot fight or flee, the body freezes, trapping trauma energy inside.
3. Healing requires releasing this trapped survival energy through movement, breath, and somatic awareness.

Levine emphasizes that trauma survivors don’t just need to “think differently” about their past—they need to complete the body’s unfinished survival responses.

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How Trauma Gets Stuck in the Body

Unlike animals in the wild, humans often suppress their natural ability to discharge trauma due to social conditioning, shame, or lack of safety.

1. Fight or Flight Response is Blocked
   • In a life-threatening situation, the body prepares to fight back or escape.
   • If these actions are prevented (e.g., by an abuser, accident, or fear), the survival energy gets stuck.
2. Freeze Response Takes Over
   • If neither fighting nor fleeing is possible, the body shuts down into a freeze state.
   • This is why trauma survivors often feel numb, disconnected, or emotionally paralyzed.
3. Trauma Remains “Frozen” in the Nervous System
   • If the freeze response is not released, the trauma remains in the body, causing:
     ✔ Chronic stress and hypervigilance
     ✔ Emotional numbness or dissociation
     ✔ Unexplained body pain, tension, or fatigue
     ✔ Repetitive trauma patterns in relationships

Levine argues that talk therapy alone cannot release this frozen survival energy—body-based approaches are essential for true healing.

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Somatic Healing: Releasing Trauma Through the Body

To fully heal, the body must be guided to complete the fight-or-flight response that was blocked during the traumatic event.

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Trembling and Shaking (Natural Trauma Discharge)

• In the wild, animals shake after a traumatic event to release survival energy.
• Humans can learn to allow their bodies to shake, tremble, or move spontaneously as a way of releasing stored trauma.

Grounding and Sensory Awareness

• Trauma survivors often feel disconnected from their bodies.
• Reconnecting through breath, touch, movement, and awareness of physical sensations helps restore balance.

Slow, Gentle Movements

• Sudden re-exposure to trauma memories can be overwhelming.
• Small, mindful movements allow the body to safely discharge trauma energy without retraumatization.

Pendulation: Moving Between Safety and Trauma

• Instead of diving directly into painful memories, survivors learn to move between feelings of safety and discomfort in a controlled way.
• This process teaches the nervous system how to regulate emotions and return to calmness.

Levine emphasizes that healing happens when survivors stop reliving their trauma and instead allow their bodies to complete the unfinished responses.

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The Role of the Vagus Nerve in Trauma Healing

Levine highlights the vagus nerve, a critical part of the autonomic nervous system that controls emotional regulation, digestion, and the body’s stress response.

1. A healthy vagus nerve helps regulate emotions and promotes relaxation.
2. Trauma disrupts vagal function, leading to chronic anxiety, digestive issues, and emotional dysregulation.
3. Healing trauma involves activating the vagus nerve through deep breathing, vocalization (humming, singing), and mindful movement.

By stimulating the vagus nerve, survivors can restore a sense of calm and safety in their bodies.

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Why Traditional Talk Therapy Falls Short

Levine argues that while talk therapy is helpful, it often fails to fully resolve trauma because it focuses on the mind rather than the body.

1. Talking about trauma can re-trigger distress without resolving it.
2. Verbal processing does not release stored survival energy.
3. Many survivors intellectually understand their trauma but still feel stuck in fear, pain, or dissociation.

For true healing, somatic (body-based) approaches must be integrated into therapy.

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Practical Somatic Techniques for Trauma Recovery

Levine offers practical exercises to help survivors release trauma and reconnect with their bodies.

1. Grounding Exercise:

• Stand barefoot on the ground and focus on the sensations in your feet.
• Notice how your body feels supported by the earth.

2. Self-Touch for Safety:

• Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
• Breathe deeply, feeling the rise and fall of your body.

3. Orienting to Safety:

• Slowly look around the room and name objects you see.
• This signals to your brain that you are safe in the present moment.

4. Tremoring Exercise:

• Lie down and allow your legs or body to shake naturally.
• This helps release stored trauma energy.

Levine stresses that small, consistent body-based practices can significantly improve trauma symptoms over time.

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The Power of Instinctive Healing

One of Levine’s most powerful insights is that healing is not something we must force—it is a natural process that the body already knows how to do.

1. The body is designed to recover from trauma—our job is to remove the barriers to healing.
2. Survivors must learn to trust their body’s instincts rather than override them.
3. Healing is not just about releasing pain—it’s about restoring joy, aliveness, and connection to the present moment.

By following the body’s natural healing wisdom, survivors can move from a state of fear and numbness to one of safety, empowerment, and vitality.

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Key Takeaways from In an Unspoken Voice

1. Trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind—healing must involve physical release.
2. Survivors often get stuck in fight, flight, or freeze mode, leading to chronic stress and emotional numbness.
3. Talk therapy alone is not enough—somatic healing techniques help release stored trauma energy.
4. Body-based practices like grounding, movement, deep breathing, and tremoring help restore balance.
5. The body has an innate ability to heal—when given the right support, trauma can be released and transformed.

Levine’s message is clear: Trauma recovery is possible, and the body holds the key to healing.

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Conclusion

In an Unspoken Voice is a groundbreaking book that redefines how we understand trauma healing. Dr. Peter Levine shows that trauma is not just a psychological wound but a physical imprint on the body—and that true recovery comes from working with the body’s natural healing intelligence.

For anyone struggling with PTSD, emotional numbness, or chronic anxiety, this book offers powerful tools to reconnect with the body, release trauma, and reclaim a sense of safety and joy.

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References

• Levine, P. A. (2010). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness.
• Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
• Ogden, P., & Fisher, J. (2015). Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment.