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5 Things You Didn’t Know About Somatic Trauma Therapy in Los Angeles

If you’re looking for somatic trauma therapy in Los Angeles, you’re probably sick of reading vague facts online that don’t actually explain how it helps.

Here’s the truth: somatic therapy works by getting your nervous system involved — not just your thoughts. That matters, especially if talk therapy hasn’t gotten you anywhere.

This post breaks down what somatic trauma therapy actually is, how it works in real life, and why it might be exactly what your system’s been needing.

With Cheryl Groskopf, LMFT, LPCC

Anxiety | Attachment | Trauma

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Cheryl Groskopf, LMFT, LPCC

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist & Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
Holistic anxiety, attachment, and trauma therapist in Los Angeles. I specialize in somatic, IFS, and nervous system regulation

Somatic Trauma Therapy in Los Angeles That Actually Works

Is Your Body Holding Onto Trauma?

If you’ve ever felt like trauma is running your life—leaving you stuck in anxiety, tension, or that “shutdown” feeling—you’re not alone. Trauma gets stored in both your mind AND body. That’s where somatic therapy comes in.

Unlike traditional therapy that focuses on talking through memories, somatic therapy helps you heal by working directly with your body. It releases stored trauma, calms your nervous system, and teaches your body how to feel safe again. The best part? You don’t have to relive every painful moment to heal—you can find empowerment and transformation in the present.

In this post, I’m sharing 5 things I wish everyone knew about somatic therapy for trauma—why it’s a game-changer and how it can help you reclaim your life.

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1. Your Body Holds the Story of Trauma

Trauma isn’t just in your head—it’s in your body. Even if you can’t remember every detail of a traumatic event, your nervous system does. Somatic therapy focuses on helping your body release stored tension, fear, and energy so you can finally feel safe again in your own skin.

How Your Body Holds the Story of Trauma—and Why It Matters

When you experience trauma, your brain and body work together to survive. Even if the traumatic event happened years ago or if you don’t consciously remember it, your body often holds onto it like a “story” stored in your nervous system. Here’s how it works and why it’s so important to address:

Trauma Lives in the Nervous System

  • When something traumatic happens, your brain’s amygdala (the alarm system) sends a “danger!” signal to your body.
  • Your body kicks into survival mode—fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—activating stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
  • If the trauma isn’t resolved, your body stays on high alert, even when you’re technically safe. This can look like chronic tension, digestive issues, a racing heart, or feeling numb.

     

Your Body Remembers What Your Mind Forgets
  • Trauma can fragment memory. You might not have a clear mental picture of what happened, but your body can hold onto it in ways you don’t realize.
  • For example, certain smells, sounds, or sensations might trigger anxiety or physical pain because your body associates them with the original trauma—even if you don’t consciously know why.
Stored Trauma Shows Up in Subtle (and Not-So-Subtle) Ways
  • Your body stores unresolved trauma in muscles, tissues, and fascia. Ever had tight shoulders, a clenched jaw, or an aching lower back? It could be your body holding tension from emotional wounds.
  • This stored tension might also show up as patterns like avoiding intimacy, always feeling “on edge,” or overreacting to small stressors.

Why This Matters for Healing

  1. Talk Therapy Can’t Reach the Body Alone

    You might intellectually understand your trauma, but if your body still reacts as if it’s in danger, healing feels incomplete. Somatic therapy bridges this gap by helping your body release that tension and fear.

  2. Releasing the Story Unlocks Freedom

    Through practices like grounding, movement, and breathwork, somatic therapy helps your body process and let go of the story it’s been holding. This can reduce symptoms like anxiety, chronic pain, or feeling stuck in survival mode.

  3. It Helps You Feel Safe Again

    Releasing stored trauma builds a sense of safety in your own body. That safety is the foundation for connecting with yourself and others in healthier, more secure ways.

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2. Somatic Therapy For Trauma Is Not About Reliving the Pain

Unlike traditional talk therapy, somatic therapy doesn’t require you to go over every traumatic memory in detail. Instead, it focuses on how your body reacts in the present and teaches you to notice and regulate those reactions, giving you tools to feel more in control of your emotional and physical responses.

You Don’t Need to Relive Trauma to Heal It

Trauma therapy doesn’t have to mean sitting in pain, rehashing every detail of what happened to you. Somatic therapy takes a different approach. Instead of diving into the past to relive the trauma, it focuses on how the trauma is showing up in your body right now—because healing is about moving forward, not staying stuck in the pain.

Trauma Is More Than a Memory

  • Trauma isn’t just about the event itself. It’s also about how your body and nervous system responded to it.
  • When you experienced trauma, your nervous system went into survival mode, and for many people, it got stuck there. Your body might still react as though the danger is happening, even if it’s long over.
  • You don’t need to relive the moment to release it. Instead, the focus is on helping your body recognize that it’s safe now.

Why Reliving Trauma Isn’t Always Healing

  • Talking in detail about a traumatic event can sometimes backfire, reinforcing the emotional and physical stress your body felt at the time.
  • For some, this can lead to re-traumatization, making them feel worse instead of better.
  • Somatic therapy bypasses this by working with your body in the present, addressing how your trauma manifests now—like tension, numbness, or anxiety—without needing to re-experience the original pain.

Why Somatic Healing Works

  1. It’s Empowering, Not Overwhelming
    Reliving trauma can feel overwhelming and out of control. Somatic therapy puts the power back in your hands (and body) by letting you decide how much to explore, focusing on small, manageable steps.
  2. It Builds Safety Instead of Stress
    Trauma leaves your nervous system on high alert, constantly scanning for threats. Somatic therapy teaches your body what safety feels like without forcing it to confront the trauma head-on. This is crucial for helping your body reset and relax.
  3. It Respects the Body’s Natural Healing Process
    Your body has its own wisdom and pace. Somatic therapy works with that wisdom, helping you release trauma gently and gradually, rather than ripping the metaphorical Band-Aid off all at once.
  4.  

Somatic Therapy for Trauma in Los Angeles

A Different kind of Healing

You don’t have to relive the pain to heal from it. Somatic therapy is a holistic approach that teaches you that your body can find safety, connection, and peace in the present. By focusing on the here and now, it helps you rewrite the story your body has been carrying—without needing to revisit the hardest chapters.  Ready to start healing from your past trauma?  Contact me today and set up a free phone consultation. 

Find Your Calm
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3. Trauma Responses Are Survival Responses

Those fight, flight, freeze, and fawn reactions? They’re not your fault. Your body developed them to protect you. Somatic therapy helps you understand these patterns and gently shift out of survival mode into a space where you can truly thrive.

How Trauma Responses Are Survival Responses—and Why That Matters

When people talk about fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, it’s easy to feel like these are flaws or weaknesses. But they’re not. They’re your body’s way of protecting you—automatic survival mechanisms that kept you safe in the moment. Trauma responses aren’t something you chose… they’re something your nervous system did for you to survive.

The Science of Survival Responses

  • Your Brain Detects Danger
    • When your brain senses a threat (real or perceived), it activates the amygdala—your “danger detector.”
    • This triggers your nervous system to prepare for survival, activating your fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response.
  • Your Body Takes Over
    • Trauma responses happen automatically. Your heart races, muscles tense, digestion slows, and stress hormones like adrenaline flood your system—all so you can survive.
    • These responses aren’t decisions you make. They’re instinctual, hardwired reactions designed to protect you from harm.

Breaking Down the Responses

  • Fight:

    You try to overpower the threat.

    • Example: Yelling, pushing back, or physically fighting to defend yourself.
    • Why it’s a survival response: It’s your body’s way of saying, “I need to protect myself by eliminating the danger.”
  • Flight:

    You try to escape the threat.

    • Example: Running away, avoiding conflict, or leaving a stressful situation.
    • Why it’s a survival response: Your body is trying to get you as far from danger as possible.
  • Freeze:

    You shut down or play dead.

    • Example: Feeling paralyzed, zoning out, or becoming unresponsive.
    • Why it’s a survival response: Your body’s way of conserving energy or making you less noticeable to a threat.
  • Fawn:

    You appease the threat.

    • Example: Agreeing, people-pleasing, or putting others’ needs above your own to avoid conflict.
    • Why it’s a survival response: It’s a strategy to maintain safety by keeping the threat (a person or situation) calm.

Why Trauma Responses Stick Around

  • Your Body Learns to Stay Alert
    • Trauma teaches your nervous system, “Danger could happen again.” Even when the danger is gone, your body might stay on high alert, seeing threats everywhere—just in case.
  • They Become Default Patterns
    • Over time, these survival responses can become your go-to reactions, even in situations that aren’t life-threatening (like a stressful email or disagreement with a friend).
  • It’s Your Nervous System Trying to Protect You
    • These responses aren’t you being “dramatic” or “weak.” They’re your body’s way of keeping you alive, even if it doesn’t quite match the situation anymore.

The Healing Impact of Releasing Trauma

Understanding Normalizes Your Responses
  • When you realize that your reactions are survival mechanisms, not personal failures, it shifts the way you see yourself. You’re not broken—your body is doing its jo
Healing Means Rewiring Safety
  • Somatic therapy helps you teach your body that the danger is over. By working with your nervous system, you can calm those automatic responses and create new patterns that align with the safety of your present.
You Can Build New Tools
  • While fight, flight, freeze, or fawn were necessary in the past, they don’t have to define your future. Through body-based practices, you can learn to pause, breathe, and respond in ways that feel more empowering and connected.

Somatic Therapy for Trauma in Los Angeles

You don’t have to stay stuck in survival mode. Discover how somatic therapy works

Your trauma responses kept you alive—that’s something worth honoring. But they don’t have to run the show forever. Somatic therapy can help you rewrite those patterns, teaching your body to feel safe and present in the here and now. Want to know if somatic therapy is right for you? Book a free consultation today.

Feel Safe In Your Body Again
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4. Small Movements Can Create Big Shifts

Somatic therapy might involve subtle techniques like breathing exercises, grounding, or gentle movement. These small actions can have a huge impact on your ability to calm your nervous system, release tension, and feel more present in your life.

Small Movements, Big Shifts: Why Tiny Actions Matter in Somatic Therapy

When you think about trauma healing, you might imagine it takes dramatic breakthroughs or intense emotional releases. But in somatic therapy, the real magic happens in the small, subtle movements—like noticing your breath, relaxing your shoulders, or grounding your feet. These small actions may seem insignificant, but they create huge shifts in your nervous system, which is where trauma lives.

Why Small Movements Are So Powerful

  • Trauma Overwhelms the Body
    • Trauma is overwhelming by nature. Your body goes into survival mode, which can make even basic actions—like breathing fully—feel difficult.
    • Small movements help you reconnect with your body without adding more overwhelm.
  • They Speak to Your Nervous System
    • Your nervous system is always scanning for danger or safety. Gentle, intentional actions—like deep breaths or grounding exercises—send signals of safety to your brain and body.
    • These tiny cues help shift your nervous system from “fight-or-flight” to “rest-and-digest,” creating a sense of calm.
  • Healing Happens in Layers
    • Trauma can’t be resolved all at once. It’s stored in your body in layers, and small, consistent movements help you peel those layers away gently, building resilience over time.

Examples of Small Movements That Create Big Shifts

Breathwork:
  • Taking a slow, deep breath in and exhaling longer than you inhale. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system (the calming part).
  • Why it works: It’s like telling your body, “We’re safe now. We can relax.”
Grounding
  • Placing your feet firmly on the ground and noticing the sensations.
  • Why it works: Feeling your connection to the earth brings you back into the present and helps regulate your nervous system.
Noticing Body Sensations
  • Bringing awareness to how your body feels, like noticing tension in your jaw or warmth in your hands.
    Why it works: Trauma disconnects us from our bodies. Tuning in helps rebuild that connection.
Gentle Movement:

Stretching, swaying, or even wiggling your fingers.

    • Why it works: Movement helps release stored tension and stuck energy from trauma.

Why It Works:

  • It’s Safe and Manageable
    • Small movements are gentle. They don’t overwhelm your system, which is essential for healing trauma without reactivating it.
  • They Build Safety in the Body
    • Trauma often leaves your body feeling like a dangerous place to be. Small actions teach your body that it’s safe to inhabit again, one step at a time.
  • They Create Lasting Change
    • Over time, these small movements help rewire your nervous system. They teach your body how to respond to stress in healthier, more balanced ways.

Start Feeling Like Yourself Again With Trauma Therapy in Los Angeles

Healing doesn’t always look like a dramatic movie moment. Sometimes, it’s as simple as unclenching your jaw or taking one deep breath. Somatic therapy works with these small, steady shifts because they lead to big, sustainable changes—helping your body let go of trauma and rediscover safety, one moment at a time.

For more mental health resources in Los Angeles check out NAMI GLAC, a great nonprofit that offers residents both support and education. 

Heal at Your Own Pace
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5. Healing Can Feel Surprisingly Empowering

It’s not all heavy and emotional. Working with a somatic therapist in Los Angeles can help you reconnect with your body in a way that feels empowering, like rediscovering your intuition or reclaiming control over how you feel. It’s about building trust with yourself again and finding peace in your body, even after trauma.

How Body-Based Therapy Works

Somatic therapy helps reclaim your connection to yourself. Trauma can make you feel like your body has betrayed you or that you’re stuck in patterns you can’t control. Somatic therapy flips that script, showing you that your body is not the enemy—it’s your partner in healing. This realization alone can be deeply empowering.

Why Somatic Therapy Feels Empowering

  • You Reconnect With Your Body
    • Trauma often creates a disconnect between your mind and body. You might feel numb, out of control, or like your body is “against” you.
    • Somatic therapy helps you bridge that gap, teaching you to listen to your body’s signals and respond to them with care and curiosity.
  • You Gain Control Over Your Responses
    • Trauma responses—like anxiety, freeze, or fawning—can feel automatic and overwhelming. Somatic therapy teaches you how to regulate these responses in real time.
    • Learning that you can calm your body and shift out of survival mode puts the power back in your hands.
  • It Builds Trust in Yourself
    • Trauma often erodes trust—not just in others, but in yourself. Somatic therapy helps you rebuild that trust by showing you that your body is capable of healing and protecting you.

How to Feel Better

  • Noticing and Naming

    • You learn to notice sensations in your body (like tightness in your chest or tension in your shoulders) and name them without judgment.
    •  It puts you in the driver’s seat—you’re no longer at the mercy of your body’s reactions because you can observe them and respond thoughtfully.
  • Small, Manageable Changes
    • Somatic therapy works with small, actionable shifts. For example:
      • Releasing tension by shaking out your hands.
      • Grounding yourself by feeling your feet on the floor.
    •  Each small success builds confidence that you can change how you feel.
  • Building a New Relationship With Your Body
    • Over time, you stop seeing your body as the problem and start seeing it as a source of strength. Your body becomes a place where you feel safe, calm, and connected.
    •  Reclaiming your body is like reclaiming a part of yourself that trauma tried to take away.

Why Empowerment Matters in Trauma Healing

  • It Gives You Tools You Can Use Anytime
    • Somatic therapy in LA teaches you practical tools—like breathing techniques or grounding exercises—that you can use anywhere.
    • Knowing you have these tools in your pocket is empowering because it means you’re not dependent on anyone else to feel better.
  • It Restores a Sense of Wholeness
    • Trauma fragments you—mentally, emotionally, and physically. Somatic therapy helps you put the pieces back together in a way that feels authentic and whole.
    • Feeling whole again is the ultimate empowerment because it lets you show up fully in your life.

Get Started With Somatic Therapy for Trauma

I’m a licensed trauma therapist in Los Angeles who specializes in nervous system work, attachment wounds, and somatic therapy — especially for people who’ve spent years in their heads trying to “figure it out.” The truth is, you can’t think your way out of a survival response. Somatic therapy helps you reconnect with your body in real time, so you can start feeling safer, more regulated, and actually present. Your trauma lives in your body — but so does your capacity to heal. That’s what I help clients do every day.

Empower Your Healing Journey
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Trauma Therapy Los Angeles

Healing Starts in Your Body

Trauma has a way of making you feel disconnected—from your body, your emotions, and even yourself. Somatic therapy offers a different path, one that doesn’t require you to relive the pain but instead helps you find safety, connection, and empowerment through small, body-based practices.

By working with your body, you can rewrite the story trauma has been holding onto, one gentle step at a time. It’s not about fixing yourself (because you’re not broken). It’’s about learning to trust your body again and discovering the resilience that’s been inside you all along.

Ready to see how somatic therapy can help you heal? Let’s take that first step together.

Find Relief From Trauma

Holistic & Somatic Therapy in LA

About Cheryl Groskopf, LMFT, LPCC

I’m Cheryl Groskopf, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist & Professional Clinical Counselor based in Los Angeles. I specialize in helping people pleasers, perfectionists, and adults navigating anxiety, trauma, and attachment issues. My work combines somatic therapy, attachment theory, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) to get to the root of what’s holding you back—so you can stop feeling stuck and start living a life that feels like yours.

I believe therapy should be engaging, relatable, and sometimes even a little fun (yes, healing can include laughter). Whether you’ve spent years putting everyone else’s needs before your own or you’re carrying unresolved pain from childhood, I’m here to help you reconnect with yourself and take charge of your life.

Ready to take the first step? Set up a free consultation today, and let’s start this journey together.

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