Trauma-Informed Holistic Therapies: What the body can — and can’t — do

Evidence-based wellbeing from The Holistic Coach House

Lately, I’ve been noticing the same questions coming up again and again — in classes, in treatments, and in my inbox:

·       Can massage release stored trauma?

·       What is somatic therapy?

·       How does the body hold stress?

It’s a genuinely fascinating area, and one that sits right at the heart of what I do: the place where psychology meets hands-on, whole-person care. But it’s also an area where it’s easy to overstate the science — and where a little honesty goes a long way.

So let’s talk about it properly. Not the Instagram version. The version that respects both the research and your nervous system.

Most of my working life is spent in both camps — teaching therapists how to work safely with the body, and treating clients who come to me carrying more stress than they know what to do with. So this is written for both of you. If you’re a practitioner, I hope it helps you hold your work with honest hands. If you’re a client, I hope it helps you understand what bodywork can offer — and what it sensibly can’t.

Can massage “release stored trauma”?

This is the question I hear most. And the honest answer is: not in the way the phrase usually suggests.

The popular idea is that trauma gets lodged in the body — tucked away in muscle, fascia or tissue — and that the right kind of massage can “release” it, like undoing a knot. It’s a compelling image. The trouble is, the evidence doesn’t really support trauma being literally stored in our tissues in that way.

The phrase that started much of this conversation — “the body keeps the score” — comes from Bessel van der Kolk’s important work on how trauma affects the brain and nervous system. As recent neuroscience writing has pointed out, that book is about how trauma shapes brain development, autonomic regulation and our sense of safety — not about trauma being physically banked in our fascia, waiting to be massaged out. The metaphor has, at times, run ahead of the science.

So what is going on when someone feels emotional during or after a massage?

A few things, most likely. When we feel safe, warm and cared for, the nervous system can shift out of “alert” and into “rest.” In that softer state, feelings that have been sitting in the background can surface — not because they were trapped in a muscle, but because the body finally feels safe enough to let them be felt. Touch can be a powerful cue of safety and connection, and that, more than any “release,” is where the value often lies.

It’s a subtle but important difference. The experience is real. The mechanism is just more interesting than “trauma lives in the tissue.”

What is somatic therapy?

“Somatic” simply means of the body. Somatic therapies work from the understanding that difficult experiences don’t only live as thoughts or memories — they’re also expressed through the body, in sensation, posture, breath and arousal.

Somatic Experiencing, one of the better-known approaches, works by helping people notice and gently shift the internal sensations (interoception) that get linked with overwhelming events. Rather than retelling the story in detail, the focus is on how the body is responding now, and on helping the nervous system complete its natural cycles of activation and settling.

The research base here is growing rather than settled. Studies so far provide preliminary evidence that Somatic Experiencing can help with PTSD-related symptoms, and broader reviews suggest body-based methods can reduce anxiety and improve what’s called autonomic flexibility — the nervous system’s ability to move between states smoothly. It’s best described as evidence-informed and increasingly supported, rather than a done deal.

What I appreciate about somatic work is its humility. It doesn’t promise to “fix” trauma in a session. It offers a careful way of helping people feel more present, more regulated and more at home in their own skin.

How does the body hold stress?

This is where it helps to understand a little about the nervous system — and in particular, Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr Stephen Porges.

In simple terms, our autonomic nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or danger. Depending on what it finds, we tend to shift between three broad states:

·       Ventral vagal — safe and connected. Rest, social engagement, ease. Where healing happens.

·       Sympathetic — mobilised. The fight-or-flight response. Tension, alertness, a racing heart.

·       Dorsal vagal — shut down. Freeze, collapse, disconnection. The body’s last-resort response when neither fighting nor fleeing is possible.

When we say the body “holds stress,” what we usually mean is that the nervous system has got a bit stuck in mobilisation or shutdown — and the body is expressing that through tight shoulders, a held breath, a churning stomach, a foggy head.

This matters for everyday stress as much as for trauma. Most of us don’t need a diagnosis to recognise that our bodies are running a background programme of tension. The encouraging part is that the nervous system is responsive to cues of safety — gentle touch, slow breath, warm presence, a calm voice — and body-based therapies can offer exactly those cues.

What holistic therapies can realistically offer

Here’s where I want to be clear about what massage, reflexology, Reiki and other bodywork can do — and be just as clear about what they can’t.

What they can do:

·       Help you feel safer and calmer. When delivered with consent and care, touch can support the nervous system’s shift towards its rest-and-connect state.

·       Reduce stress markers. Reviews of massage therapy point to beneficial effects on measures like salivary cortisol, blood pressure and reported anxiety. (Though it’s worth noting the cortisol-reduction story is more nuanced than often claimed — the relief seems to come more from the overall relaxation response than from any single “stress hormone” being flushed away.)

·       Reconnect you to your body. For people who feel numb, disjointed or “in their head,” gentle, attuned bodywork can be a way back to feeling present and embodied.

·       Offer co-regulation. One of the most powerful regulators of the human nervous system is the presence of a safe, calm other person. A skilled, grounded therapist offers exactly that.

What they can’t do — and shouldn’t be asked to do alone:

·       Treat trauma. Processing trauma is the work of mental health care — psychotherapy, and where appropriate, structured approaches like Brainspotting, EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy, or somatic therapies delivered by trained clinicians. Brainspotting is a brain–body approach that uses eye positions to access and process distress held in the nervous system — a gentler, less talk-heavy route that suits many people who find traditional talking therapies hard going. Bodywork like massage can be a wonderful complement to that care, helping you feel settled and resourced between sessions, but it is not a substitute for it. To fellow therapists: if a client is actively processing trauma, know your scope, work within it, and refer on with care — our role is to support, not to lead the processing.

·       Replace professional support for serious distress. If you’re living with the effects of trauma — PTSD, dissociation, overwhelming flashbacks, persistent low mood — please lean on a qualified mental health professional, and let any therapist working with your body know so they can support you appropriately.

What “trauma-informed” actually means

This phrase gets used a lot, so here’s what it should mean in practice — whether you’re offering the bodywork or receiving it. These are the standards I hold to in my own clinic and teach to my students:

·       Choice and consent. You always get to say what you’re comfortable with, and change your mind mid-session.

·       Safety first. The goal is that you leave feeling more settled than when you arrived — never overwhelmed.

·       Honesty about scope. I’ll always be straight with you about what bodywork can and can’t do, and I’ll refer you on when something is outside my lane.

At The Holistic Coach House, body-based therapies sit alongside — never in place of — appropriate mental health care. For stress and trauma work specifically, I also offer individual sessions including Brainspotting, a therapeutic approach that works with the body’s responses to support processing.

A gentle closing

If there’s one thing I’d like you to take from this, it’s that the body isn’t a vault where trauma is locked away — it’s a living, responsive system that is always trying to find its way back to balance. The question isn’t how to “release” something from your tissues. It’s how to help your nervous system feel safe enough to settle, soften and heal.

That’s a gentler, more honest, and ultimately more hopeful picture. And it’s one that places bodywork exactly where it belongs: as one valuable thread in a wider web of care — alongside therapy, alongside community, alongside the everyday practices that help you come home to yourself.

If you’re a therapist reading this, I hope it helps you hold space with honesty and care — and if you train with me, it’s the stance I’ll help you build. If you’re a client, I hope it helps you find the right support, in whatever combination of touch, therapy and time your nervous system needs.

References & further reading

·       Harvard Health Publishing — What is somatic therapy?

·       Somatic Experiencing for PTSD — randomized controlled study, Frontiers in Psychology / PMC

·       Somatic Experiencing — effectiveness and key factors, European Journal of Psychotraumatology / PMC

·       Massage therapy and physiological stress measures (cortisol, blood pressure), PMC review

·       American Massage Therapy Association — Massage Therapy Can Relieve Stress

·       Mayo Clinic — Can massage relieve symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress?

·       Polyvagal Theory: A Science of Safety, PMC / NIH

·       van der Kolk, B. — The Body Keeps the Score (note: the work concerns trauma’s effects on the brain and nervous system, not literal storage in tissues)

·       Big Think — Does the body really “keep the score” of trauma?

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only and is not a substitute for medical or psychological care. If you are struggling with the effects of trauma, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional.

The Holistic Coach House — psychology-led wellbeing and training, integrating evidence-based psychological science with complementary medicine and holistic therapies. Find out more about our treatments, training and retreats at theholisticcoachhouse.co.uk.