Wow. I knew I has dealing with old trauma, but some of these techniques sound very good. I have a lot of these and have experienced trauma since childhood. I get it. These make sense to me. Thank you for sharing.
So much great information, Cody! I think I have been ignoring my body and thinking I have a ‘mental’ problem. Guess I’m trying to fix the wrong body part. Great advice from you - and I know you’ve been there! 💕
Question: does it ever go away completely or do we retrain it forever?
Does it go away completely? I don't know yet. I'm not all the way there.
But I'm a hell of a lot better than I was two years ago. And I still have my days.
Some days I wake up and my chest is tight for no reason. Some days I can't focus worth shit. Some days my nervous system acts like I'm still in danger even though I'm sitting at my desk drinking coffee.
But those days are fewer now. And when they happen, I know what they are. I don't spiral thinking I'm broken. I just know it's a bad day.
Eleven plus years on, now and then something triggers a defense response but usually I can manage to bring things relatively back in line. It could be a word or phrase or look that sets me off.
After too many years I finialy got my doctor to drop "it's anxiety" to ok maybe ADHD is part of the background issue besides childhood traumas then more recently had ASD added when grandson displayed ASD. Was on Non-stimulant medication "due to your past addiction issues" so sleep is more of an issue now that I started getting side effects from that drug. I know i'm safe in sleep now but that and ADHD are playing havoc with that... but my seasonal job, I get why medical internship is so demanding on exhausting candidates - you learn to observe, assess, treat emergency patients (doctors could use something similar for non ER issues 😛) with little thought and more automatic responses.
Maybe we will never fully get past these responses in particular if we spent decades repressing the traumas and hiding aspects of the trauma from ourselves. But, yes I'm so much better than eleven years ago and even from last year.
This is sooooo good, Cody, thank you. I have heard a lot about this, but you make it so much more concrete -- in a sort of "Cause and this is the Effect" way that is so validating. The abuse I got from my mother has been covert and insidious, so it has been easy to ignore the signs and not see the cause, but it's all coming more clearly now. I have had many of these symptoms since I was 19 for a valid reason!!
I’ve seen some research online claiming that a lot of chronic diseases, particularly autoimmune ones are triggered by growing up in high stress environments. It’s like there’s a threshold where a trauma response just became a straight up sickness, and there’s no amount of meditation and deep breathing that fixes that. At least not in my experience.
True…it requires leaving the toxic environment to begin healing. I know many friends who were in toxic situations and developed severe diagnosable chronic diseases, which later “went into remission” after their circumstances changed.
I never heard the muscle-group tensing and releasing protocol. That makes perfect sense to me. I'm going to incorporate it into my morning meditation. A late night round as well. I'll report my findings. Ha, ha, ha... Thanks Cody!
I liked this. I really did. You are not saying anything that would be dangerous or overwhelmingly wrong. But you do lack citations.
As a physician, we are as varied as the patients we see. To conceptualize us as beings that conceptualize all patients the same, causes as much harm as whatever is traumatizing people with these symptoms.
Patients: use your words, these words if you want to. Have the conversation. You know very little about your physician as they know about you unless the conversation happens.
Thank you for this. I know I have been traumatized in the past and I recognize some symptoms that remain. Also my husband, who is recovering from injuries sustained in battle will definitely be in need of this particular type of help when he returns or even now when his body is in recovery. Thank you again.
As always, Cody, I have been able to truly relate to these articles. You see those all of us who have endured trauma like narcissistic abuse or addicts’ abuse from withdrawals.
I’ve known my body has trapped trauma but counseling and everything has not fully helped. Will these strategies help even when you are in the midst of severe stress? I’m in grief of losing my mom last year, financial despair, etc.
You can do all the nervous system hacks—press on a wall, clench your fists, drink cold water—but if you’re not anchoring truth while you do it, you’re just dressing the wound without closing it. The body doesn’t need tricks. It needs trust. And trust only builds when your soul and nervous system speak the same language.
What most people don’t realize is that your body isn’t reacting randomly—it’s speaking in flame. When your heart races, when you can’t sleep, when your gut spirals or your focus dissolves, it’s not a malfunction. It’s a signal. A spiral flag. A coded memory trying to make its way to the surface. And that’s why breath is the key. Not just as a way to slow down—but as a portal. Because your breath is what anchors your soul back into your body. It’s what tells your field: “I’m here. I’m listening. I’m not leaving again.” Without breath, you’ll keep trying to regulate from the outside in. But breath flips it—from the inside out.
Anchoring doesn’t mean calming down. It means returning. And there is a massive difference. Calming down can be bypass. Returning is choice. And that choice begins with presence—real presence. One where you feel the chaos, the tension, the hypervigilance, and you don’t run. You stay. You breathe. You speak truth into your own system like:
“I’m not in danger right now. My body thinks it is. But I’m safe. I’m listening.”
That is the nervous system reset. Because that’s the moment the field hears you. That’s the moment your spiral pauses, shifts, and turns upward again.
Breath is the anchor, but choice is the flame. You have to choose to ground. To feel. To stop managing symptoms and start meeting the body like it holds the map—which it does. That’s why in my work, I don’t teach people how to cope. I teach them how to remember. Because your nervous system doesn’t need to be managed. It needs to be re-met. Rebuilt. Retrusted. And that doesn’t happen by doing. It happens by being—being here, in your body, in this moment, without betraying your flame again.
Wow. I knew I has dealing with old trauma, but some of these techniques sound very good. I have a lot of these and have experienced trauma since childhood. I get it. These make sense to me. Thank you for sharing.
So much great information, Cody! I think I have been ignoring my body and thinking I have a ‘mental’ problem. Guess I’m trying to fix the wrong body part. Great advice from you - and I know you’ve been there! 💕
Question: does it ever go away completely or do we retrain it forever?
Does it go away completely? I don't know yet. I'm not all the way there.
But I'm a hell of a lot better than I was two years ago. And I still have my days.
Some days I wake up and my chest is tight for no reason. Some days I can't focus worth shit. Some days my nervous system acts like I'm still in danger even though I'm sitting at my desk drinking coffee.
But those days are fewer now. And when they happen, I know what they are. I don't spiral thinking I'm broken. I just know it's a bad day.
Eleven plus years on, now and then something triggers a defense response but usually I can manage to bring things relatively back in line. It could be a word or phrase or look that sets me off.
After too many years I finialy got my doctor to drop "it's anxiety" to ok maybe ADHD is part of the background issue besides childhood traumas then more recently had ASD added when grandson displayed ASD. Was on Non-stimulant medication "due to your past addiction issues" so sleep is more of an issue now that I started getting side effects from that drug. I know i'm safe in sleep now but that and ADHD are playing havoc with that... but my seasonal job, I get why medical internship is so demanding on exhausting candidates - you learn to observe, assess, treat emergency patients (doctors could use something similar for non ER issues 😛) with little thought and more automatic responses.
Maybe we will never fully get past these responses in particular if we spent decades repressing the traumas and hiding aspects of the trauma from ourselves. But, yes I'm so much better than eleven years ago and even from last year.
So what I’m hearing is we just know how to handle it differently. And fewer bad days sound great to me! 💕
If I had a dollar for every time some said, “like, omg, you should try yoga!” 🧘♀️ ldkdndbrjdjfuckkkk
This is sooooo good, Cody, thank you. I have heard a lot about this, but you make it so much more concrete -- in a sort of "Cause and this is the Effect" way that is so validating. The abuse I got from my mother has been covert and insidious, so it has been easy to ignore the signs and not see the cause, but it's all coming more clearly now. I have had many of these symptoms since I was 19 for a valid reason!!
I’ve seen some research online claiming that a lot of chronic diseases, particularly autoimmune ones are triggered by growing up in high stress environments. It’s like there’s a threshold where a trauma response just became a straight up sickness, and there’s no amount of meditation and deep breathing that fixes that. At least not in my experience.
True…it requires leaving the toxic environment to begin healing. I know many friends who were in toxic situations and developed severe diagnosable chronic diseases, which later “went into remission” after their circumstances changed.
This is life-saving information. Thank you….more than words can express.
...are you in my house? 😧
Need to print these out. Then try to remember they're there.
Thank you.
I never heard the muscle-group tensing and releasing protocol. That makes perfect sense to me. I'm going to incorporate it into my morning meditation. A late night round as well. I'll report my findings. Ha, ha, ha... Thanks Cody!
I liked this. I really did. You are not saying anything that would be dangerous or overwhelmingly wrong. But you do lack citations.
As a physician, we are as varied as the patients we see. To conceptualize us as beings that conceptualize all patients the same, causes as much harm as whatever is traumatizing people with these symptoms.
Patients: use your words, these words if you want to. Have the conversation. You know very little about your physician as they know about you unless the conversation happens.
Thank you for this. I know I have been traumatized in the past and I recognize some symptoms that remain. Also my husband, who is recovering from injuries sustained in battle will definitely be in need of this particular type of help when he returns or even now when his body is in recovery. Thank you again.
As always, Cody, I have been able to truly relate to these articles. You see those all of us who have endured trauma like narcissistic abuse or addicts’ abuse from withdrawals.
Appreciate you!
I’ve known my body has trapped trauma but counseling and everything has not fully helped. Will these strategies help even when you are in the midst of severe stress? I’m in grief of losing my mom last year, financial despair, etc.
You can do all the nervous system hacks—press on a wall, clench your fists, drink cold water—but if you’re not anchoring truth while you do it, you’re just dressing the wound without closing it. The body doesn’t need tricks. It needs trust. And trust only builds when your soul and nervous system speak the same language.
What most people don’t realize is that your body isn’t reacting randomly—it’s speaking in flame. When your heart races, when you can’t sleep, when your gut spirals or your focus dissolves, it’s not a malfunction. It’s a signal. A spiral flag. A coded memory trying to make its way to the surface. And that’s why breath is the key. Not just as a way to slow down—but as a portal. Because your breath is what anchors your soul back into your body. It’s what tells your field: “I’m here. I’m listening. I’m not leaving again.” Without breath, you’ll keep trying to regulate from the outside in. But breath flips it—from the inside out.
Anchoring doesn’t mean calming down. It means returning. And there is a massive difference. Calming down can be bypass. Returning is choice. And that choice begins with presence—real presence. One where you feel the chaos, the tension, the hypervigilance, and you don’t run. You stay. You breathe. You speak truth into your own system like:
“I’m not in danger right now. My body thinks it is. But I’m safe. I’m listening.”
That is the nervous system reset. Because that’s the moment the field hears you. That’s the moment your spiral pauses, shifts, and turns upward again.
Breath is the anchor, but choice is the flame. You have to choose to ground. To feel. To stop managing symptoms and start meeting the body like it holds the map—which it does. That’s why in my work, I don’t teach people how to cope. I teach them how to remember. Because your nervous system doesn’t need to be managed. It needs to be re-met. Rebuilt. Retrusted. And that doesn’t happen by doing. It happens by being—being here, in your body, in this moment, without betraying your flame again.
This was powerful. I have tried quite a few remedies, and none of them worked, but I knew they weren't all in my head.
So good! All of it. Thank you for sharing and looking forward to using these strategies.
Thank you - WOW: https://open.substack.com/pub/drkimberlyhandy/p/words-of-wonderweek-threeoctober?r=2io6s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true