EMDR Therapy for Trauma: Why the Body Holds More Than the Mind
You understand what happened.
You can tell the story clearly. You know it was not your fault. You’ve read the books. You’ve done the insight work.
And yet.
Your chest still tightens in certain conversations.
Your stomach drops when someone raises their voice. You brace in medical settings. You shut down during conflict.
Logically, you know you are safe.
Your body does not.
This is one of the most confusing parts of trauma: the mind can move forward while the body remains vigilant.
And this is exactly why EMDR therapy can be so powerful.
Trauma Is Not Just a Memory; It’s a Physiological Pattern
When something overwhelming happens, your nervous system mobilizes to survive. Heart rate increases. Muscles tense. Breath shifts. Stress hormones flood your system. This is how humans have survived for centuries.
If the event resolves safely and your body has the chance to fully discharge that activation, the experience integrates like a normal memory.
But when the experience is too intense, too prolonged, or too unpredictable, your nervous system may not fully complete the stress response.
The body keeps the pattern.
That is why trauma often shows up as:
Chronic muscle tension
Digestive issues
Sleep disruption
Hypervigilance
Emotional reactivity
Numbness or dissociation
Your body is repeating a pattern it never finished processing.
Alexis Harney, LMFT
Alexis is a licensed EMDR therapist offering online EMDR therapy to clients across California and Florida. She works with adults navigating trauma, burnout, anxiety, and high-functioning stress, using a structured, warm, and human EMDR approach.
Why Insight Alone Is Not Enough
Traditional talk therapy is incredibly valuable. It builds understanding, context, and perspective. But trauma does not live primarily in narrative memory. It lives in sensory and emotional memory networks.
You can say, “That was years ago.” Your nervous system may still respond as if it is happening now.
If your body reacts before your thoughts, that is a clue that trauma is stored physiologically. This is where EMDR therapy works differently.
How EMDR Therapy Engages the Body
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is not just about revisiting memories. It is about helping the brain and body reprocess them. Hence, the R in the acronym.
During EMDR therapy, you focus on a specific memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation — often guided eye movements or tapping. This helps the brain access and integrate memory networks that are stuck in an unprocessed state.
As processing occurs, clients often notice:
Body sensations shifting
Muscle tension decreasing
Breathing deepening
Emotional intensity lowering
The body updates. The event remains part of your history. But it no longer triggers the same physiological cascade.
The Body’s Intelligence
Your body is not your enemy. It is protective. In fact, thanking your body for protecting you can be a powerful exercise. It reframes the experience as useful for survival, not simply inconvenient.
All responses that make our life difficult today were once highly adaptive:
Hypervigilance developed because something felt unsafe.
Shutdown developed because overwhelm was too great.
Perfectionism developed because unpredictability required control.
When trauma is unresolved, the body continues to operate on outdated survival rules. EMDR therapy helps your nervous system recognize that the threat is no longer present.
That recognition does not happen through logic alone. It happens through reprocessing.
Daniella Mohazab, AMFT
Daniella works with adults, teens, and couples navigating trauma, anxiety, burnout, and identity concerns. She provides EMDR therapy with a grounded, collaborative approach and places strong emphasis on thorough preparation and resourcing. Daniella believes trauma work should feel structured and supportive, not rushed, and helps clients build the internal stability needed for meaningful, lasting change.
Example: Reprocessing A Car Accident
Tara* experienced a car accident five years ago. She walked away physically unharmed and told herself she was “fine.”
But every time someone braked suddenly in front of her, her body jolted. Her hands gripped the steering wheel. Her heart pounded for half an hour afterward. While some of this is a natural response to the unexpected, her response went beyond what was helpful and adaptive.
She could explain the accident calmly. She knew she survived.
In EMDR therapy, we targeted the moment of impact: the sound, the sensation, the flash of fear. As the memory processed, her body response shifted.
Weeks later, she noticed something subtle but significant. When traffic slowed abruptly, she felt alert... but not panicked.
The body had caught up with the facts. She felt safer and more able to handle the unexpected.
*Name changed.
Tatevik Sarkisian, AMFT
Tatevik brings a warm, steady presence to her EMDR therapy work with adults navigating trauma, anxiety, burnout, and major life transitions. She prioritizes a strong therapeutic relationship and careful preparation before deeper trauma processing begins. Tatevik helps clients feel resourced, supported, and emotionally equipped so EMDR therapy feels contained, thoughtful, and effective.
Example: The Argument That Felt Bigger Than It Was
Chris* considered himself emotionally intelligent. He had read about attachment styles, communication skills, and conflict repair. In his relationship, he could articulate his feelings clearly.
And yet, during arguments, his body betrayed him.
If his partner raised their voice even slightly, Chris’s chest tightened. His vision narrowed. His thoughts sped up. He either escalated quickly or shut down entirely.
Afterward, he would say, “I know we were just arguing about dishes. I don’t know why I reacted like that.”
In trauma therapy, we slowed down and tracked his physiological response. The constriction in his chest. The heat in his face. The urge to defend. Those targets helped us access the root cause...
A memory surfaced: being 10 years old, standing in the kitchen while his parents fought loudly across the room. He remembered feeling small and bracing for something to break.
In EMDR therapy, we targeted that memory, not the present-day arguments.
As the memory processed, something shifted physically. In later conflicts with his partner, Chris still felt uncomfortable. But the surge of panic was gone. He could stay present. His voice did not shake. He no longer felt transported.
His mind had understood for years that his partner was not his parents.
His body had not. Until it did.
*Name changed.
Example: The Medical Appointment That Made No Sense
Jasmine* had undergone a routine surgical procedure in her early 20s. There were no complications. She recovered well. She described the experience as “fine.”
But every time she entered a medical building, her body reacted.
Her hands would sweat. Her jaw clenched. Her heart rate spiked. She would become hyper-focused on exit routes.
She told herself she was just “bad with hospitals.”
In EMDR therapy, we explored the original procedure more closely. During processing, she realized there had been a moment when she felt unexpectedly exposed and powerless on the operating table. No one had explained what was happening. She remembered staring at the ceiling, unable to move.
Her mind had minimized it. Her body had not.
As that specific memory was reprocessed, her physiological response began to change. At her next annual physical, she noticed something subtle but profound: she felt alert, but not trapped.
The fluorescent lights were the same. The hallway was the same. Her nervous system was no longer interpreting the setting as a threat.
*Name changed.
Laurel van der Toorn, LMFT
Laurel is a licensed, fully trained EMDR therapist. She works online with clients in California, Florida, Michigan, Texas, and Washington.
EMDR Therapy: Treating Trauma in High-Achieving Adults
Many high-functioning professionals in San Francisco and Los Angeles minimize trauma because they are “doing well.”
They show up to work. They lead teams. They manage families.
But they live with chronic tension, sleep disruption, digestive issues, or emotional reactivity. The feel like they're starting to burn out.
In these cases, trauma is not obvious. It is embedded.
Burnout, relational conflict, and anxiety often have a physiological component that insight alone does not resolve.
EMDR therapy can address the deeper layer.
EMDR Therapy in San Francisco and Los Angeles
At Laurel Therapy Collective, we provide EMDR therapy in San Francisco and Los Angeles for adults, teens, couples, and high-achieving professionals.
We prioritize thorough preparation before reprocessing. We assess nervous system stability. We move at a pace that respects your body’s capacity.
EMDR therapy is not about reliving trauma for drama’s sake. It is about helping your nervous system complete what it could not complete at the time.
When the body updates, life feels different.
Less braced. Less reactive. More present.
If Your Body Is Still Reacting
If you understand your trauma intellectually but your body still feels on edge…
If certain environments, tones, or relational dynamics trigger disproportionate responses.
If your nervous system feels stuck in vigilance or shutdown…
Trauma therapy may help.
Schedule a free consultation to explore EMDR therapy in San Francisco or Los Angeles and determine whether this approach is right for you.
Your body has been trying to protect you.
It deserves the chance to feel safe now.
