Trauma is the Greek word for WOUND. Let that sink in. Wound. Trauma is not just an event or circumstance like a natural disaster or being raised in a home affected by addiction. Trauma is how the body reacts to the event(s), or circumstance(s). Trauma is anything that happens too fast, too soon, or too long for the individual’s autonomic nervous system to tolerate. When the autonomic nervous system is overwhelmed, the energy tends to get gets trapped in the body as a threat response cycle. When the body feels threatened hormones like adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine are released into the system and the body is prepared to fight or flight. When trauma gets trapped in the mind and body, the system will not return to rest or homeostasis. The body’s initial response to a traumatic event is to mobilize and escape or to fight if needs be. When fight or escape (flight) is not available to the body then the autonomic nervous system typically slows down and goes into a shutdown or freeze response. When trauma is unresolved a person’s autonomic nervous system can spend much of its time living between fight/flight and freeze, rarely every reaching a relaxed, comfortable state.