Your nervous system learned to protect you quickly. When something in the present reminds you of the past, your body reacts as if it’s urgent now. That’s not you being dramatic—it’s a well‑trained alarm doing its job. In session we build present‑moment safety, widen your window of tolerance, and give your body a new ending to old patterns so the same cues feel less explosive over time.

That’s a fawn response—appeasing kept you safer once. Your body learned “if I keep the peace, I’m less likely to be hurt/abandoned.” We’ll spot the early body cues (jaw, chest, gut), practise soft/firm “first lines,” and build capacity so you can hold a boundary without your system tipping into panic or shame. Try now: Soft no: “I can’t today—thanks for understanding.” Firm: “I’m not available for that.”

Freeze/dorsal shutdown is also protection. When fight/flight wasn’t possible or safe, your system chose stillness to survive. We won’t force activation. Instead, we use gentle orienting, breath pacing, and micro‑movements to bring you back online in tiny, manageable steps—always at your pace. Try now: Feel your feet on the floor; press toes down for 10 seconds, release, then notice three sounds around you.

Hypervigilance is a smart adaptation when life felt unpredictable. Startle, scanning, and sleep difficulty are signs your body is doing extra security work. We’ll create reliable safety anchors, add predictability (routines, scripts), and work with posture/voice so your system gets repeated proof: “I’m safe enough right now.” Try now: Lengthen spine, drop shoulders, soften jaw; quietly say, “In this moment, I’m safe enough to take one small step.”

Trauma is often stored as sensations, images, and meaning—not neat story memories. Your body remembers even when explicit memory doesn’t. We track the body signals, give them language, and let your system complete unfinished responses—without hunting for details or reliving anything. Try now: Name the feeling as a weather report (“heavy cloud,” “fast wind”), then choose one regulating breath (in 4, out 8).