I often think of the nervous system as being musical, and its various shifting states are like harmonics. So when I think of the “score” I actually think of a musical score. The brain is the conductor and the body is the instrument; or entire orchestra.
For me it resonates a lot with some J.Lacan lecture where he said something like this: there is no such thing like repressed emotions, only truth about emotions can be repressed, emotions will always find its way.
So triggered by your article I think.
It means that we are not storing any bad feelings in form of some kind „blocked energy”, but rather emotional responses are established wrongly based on „truth” from the past which is not appropriate in current moment.
And knowing this „truth” about specific emotion can help us recognize this pattern and eventually change it.
Probably it is not clear what I said, but I really needed to articulate this. 🙈
I get it, I'm a "Talk to Think" person as well. My girlfriend is a "Think to Talk" person though! Takes all kinds of people to make the world go around!
This makes so much sense to me. It’s slightly semantic in a way, but yet is a profoundly important distinction.
Here’s what I’m understanding (and hope I got this right) - if trauma is reliving an unresolved experience of the past, then I am assuming the body responds with the same physical reactions as the originating event. Which people could easily collapse with thinking the “stored” trauma is getting triggered/activated. But in reality, the body is responding in the same way it initially did. It’s a new response that’s being replayed in the pattern of the original response.
Is that correct? I realize there’s a ton of nuance around this topic but that’s my quick and simple distilled takeaway from this article.
Good article. Our understanding of the interplay between physical health, mental health and genetic coding continues to develop. We all need open minds as this field continues to evolve year on year.
This is such a good explanation. I work with trauma using hypnotherapy, focusing on changing the mind to change the rest. I loved how you said "The brain keeps the score; the body is the scoreboard."
That's a quote from Dr. Lisa Feldmen-Barrett. She does amazing work in the neuroscience of emotion and sensory perception space that you might like if you enjoy that quote!
Super interesting. I come from the metaphysical camp as an advanced energy healing practitioner. I've supported myself and many many clients shift out of chronic pain patterns with energy healing - myself even reversing an ALS diagnosis and given 2 years to live - back to health. And I was taught the trauma does land in the body, but your explanation adds a fascinating layer on top of that - the rewiring of the nervous system.
You'd probably like the book "Healing Ourselves" it talks about the neuroscience of the biofield and what "energy workers" are actually doing to our nervous system! I'm a Reiki Master as well, which people are always surprised to hear given my heavy neuroscience and cog. psychology background!
Hi Cody, I loved your article (first one I’ve read and I’m eager to read more). I’m wondering if you have you read The Past is Always Present by Dr. Ruden? I use his Havening Techniques daily to resolve traumatic memory for myself, and as a practitioner as well.
I like the idea of the distinction between the enskulled organ that is the brain and that of mind which extends beyond the brain.
Your article made me think about this and I wanted to disagree because we tend to glorify the brain without any real understanding beyond the surface scratches to date.
As I read it more carefully, the premise that the body doesn’t keep the score rankled until it didn’t.
Any article that helps reshape our thinking about a topic can only be good. Thank you for doing that.
Amazing article, I took alot from 'the body keeps score' (excuse me if I have the title slightly wrong). I'm from a biology background but not specifically neuro. I remember googling at the time what the 'mechanism' of storage was. I experienced emotional flashbacks and body sensations, but a psychologist told me I don't have PTSD because I don't get nightmares. However on reflection, that's not the case... Regardless the emotional nature of my flashbacks make perfect sense because the nervous system is responding to the perceived threat. This finally gives my symptoms the context I need to stop gaslighting myself.
I love to hear that Helga! Just because you're not having nightmares doesn't mean you're not struggling with PTSD or Complex PTSD. I'm sorry you were invalidated at such an important moment in your healing journey.
Thank you for exhaustive post and research. Having experienced childhood trauma and emotional abuse, it has been a journey recovering back. Grateful to have found your account where you write and share diligently about the subject.
I’ve written a post on how absence of attunement during early years leave us as anxious, pleasing, and burnt out adults.
I am not read up on this kind of thing. But wow, this article is amazing. I will be looking into this closely. Thanks so much for this information. Great work…keep it up.
As a person that hasn’t left any trauma untouched I would say it depends on the type of trauma. I’ve been conducting research on myself cause I couldn’t rely just one source to find answer to the complexity of my situation. As I completely believe in power of mind and shift of perspective in healing process but my personal experience showed me that body actually keeps the score independent from nervous system. Body traumas such as chronic disease, bad accidents or this sort of traumas don’t engage mind directly though they can trigger psychological wounds from past. The simple way that I can explain my experience is that body gets to the point that can’t trust mind to protect the body and completely blocks the connection. The healing aspect is so intertwined that they need to be approached simultaneously. It’s like a cycle or spiral 🌀 I personally benefited a lot from energy and fascial release the way that physical therapy couldn’t provide to get me out of my chronic pains. However, they weren’t replacement for my nervous system resetting practices and mind work to shift my perspective toward more effective behaviors.
Thanks so much for sharing your personal experiences. It sounds like you’ve been on quite a journey of self-discovery and healing, exploring many different avenues to address your body’s pain and your mind’s needs.
Sounds like for you, certain body-focused techniques were vital, especially when traditional mind-based or talk therapies fell short. That resonates with a lot of what I discuss—how the body can manifest trauma through chronic pain, tension, or illness even when we don’t consciously realize it. Clearly, you’ve lived that firsthand.
Here’s a question that comes to mind: If the body is showing these symptoms—like a “scoreboard” lighting up where things hurt, get stiff, or shut down—does it necessarily mean the trauma is stored there? Or might the body be reflecting the ways our entire nervous system (including the brain) is organized around past threats?
In other words, is it possible that:
1. The body’s signals (pain, tension, etc.) are the “outputs” or “readouts” of deeper patterns in the brain and nervous system?
2. The techniques you’ve found helpful (e.g., fascial release, energy work) are powerful because they help restore a sense of safety and connection between the mind and body—rather than because the trauma physically resides in a muscle or fascia?
Imagine it like a music band performing live. The drums, guitar, and vocals make up the entire “sound”—but if the speakers start crackling, we might think that’s where the problem is stored. In reality, the crackle could stem from a bad cable, a faulty amplifier, or even the source itself. The speaker just reveals it. Similarly, your body can amplify emotional or psychological stress, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the “music” (trauma) originates there.
Your experience is invaluable, and I’d love to continue hearing more about how you’ve blended mind, body, and energy practices. If you’re open, I’d be curious how you see the difference between “storage” and “manifestation”—because it seems like you’ve found some profound healing by working with both.
Thanks again for sharing; your story truly enriches the conversation! It’s exciting to see someone integrating so many viewpoints and techniques in a way that honors both body and mind. Wishing you continued healing and insight on your path.
I really like this conversation. I am writing my memoir mostly from mind and body perspective rather just mere explanation of external events so these type of questions helps me to dig deep.
I explain you an experience and I’d provide my perspective and like to know how you see them.
I had a very stiff upper body and due to recent acute trauma it got into a state that half of my back was numb and I had severe pain. Obviously there were some structural issues but the question was why I was experiencing pain without any strenuous movement and in general why some has stiff back. With some somatic practices I gained awareness that I kept my shoulder raised all the time. And with awareness came correction. So I see this as a manifestation of overwhelmed nervous system always in hyper vigilant state. Though that helped with pain and numbness it didn’t resolve stiffness.
However, through energy work I gained range of motion in my back within few months that I couldn’t with lots of program I’ve tried in the market (just providing some background I grew up as athlete so I am familiar with lots of practices). Some may say the stiffness was result of working out a lot and didn’t have enough recovery and I would accept it if I gained that motion only through fascia release.
Through energy work you actually feel big energy release through different dramatic body movement and motion improvement is instant. So if there’s nothing stored there’s no way for body to generate such movements. Consider it like any motor vehicle without stored fuel it won’t move.
I would say both manifestation and storing happening in the body and they are intertwined. It is possible to calm nervous system down by techniques like breath work or sound healing but I haven’t found them effective for stiffness or digestive slowness. But they lay ground work for work such as energy work which gives resilience to nervous system to handle the intensity of release and don’t get triggered. In return not dealing with chronic condition helps further with more balanced nervous system.
So I see manifestation as body’s alarm system to an event generated through nervous system. After event body should have effective system to clear the alarm (unbalanced physiology). So if we haven’t learned effective way to turn our emotions into feelings and actions to deal with alarm we never clear them up and the alarms are going to be stored somewhere in the body.
Also, we have Bayesian mind so if our alarm generator or nervous system goes off back to back without any break and experience of silence in between from some point on alarm generator will predict everything as threat and gets trapped in faulty state. And that’s where safety will play as a reset button for system.
I’d like to know what you think. I have so many examples that can be discussed from different perspectives.
This completely drew me in. I had goosebumps for so much of it. I'm almost afraid to read more because it feels so close to reality. Thank you for sharing it
Shift Happens (Steph Peters)
4d
It pretty much IS reality... but told as fiction, kind of like the Matrix...
I should be sharing companion volumes (some on here!), and offering chats, podcasts, etc discussing the plot, characters, twists and turns, deeper understanding, lost and hidden (occulted) history, the TRUE nature of reality...
Great article. I think the observation that 'safety' is vital in the healing process,should not be ignored.
As a trauma survivor myself I have found that approaching healing from a mental, physical,emotional and spiritual place, plus living in a safe environment and being loved, genuinely. Has been the best recipe. It's an ongoing process but one that had to be pursued.
I often think of the nervous system as being musical, and its various shifting states are like harmonics. So when I think of the “score” I actually think of a musical score. The brain is the conductor and the body is the instrument; or entire orchestra.
Damn, what a great way to think about it, especially for the musically inclined among us! Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks Cody, I recently wrote a post about it! https://stefanwaltersuk.substack.com/p/the-body-plays-the-score
For me it resonates a lot with some J.Lacan lecture where he said something like this: there is no such thing like repressed emotions, only truth about emotions can be repressed, emotions will always find its way.
So triggered by your article I think.
It means that we are not storing any bad feelings in form of some kind „blocked energy”, but rather emotional responses are established wrongly based on „truth” from the past which is not appropriate in current moment.
And knowing this „truth” about specific emotion can help us recognize this pattern and eventually change it.
Probably it is not clear what I said, but I really needed to articulate this. 🙈
I get it, I'm a "Talk to Think" person as well. My girlfriend is a "Think to Talk" person though! Takes all kinds of people to make the world go around!
This makes so much sense to me. It’s slightly semantic in a way, but yet is a profoundly important distinction.
Here’s what I’m understanding (and hope I got this right) - if trauma is reliving an unresolved experience of the past, then I am assuming the body responds with the same physical reactions as the originating event. Which people could easily collapse with thinking the “stored” trauma is getting triggered/activated. But in reality, the body is responding in the same way it initially did. It’s a new response that’s being replayed in the pattern of the original response.
Is that correct? I realize there’s a ton of nuance around this topic but that’s my quick and simple distilled takeaway from this article.
Good stuff, Cody!! Love it.
This is a pretty good estimation, yes! It's a subconscious pattern in your nervous system that your body acts back out!
'What part of me is still organising itself around a past threat?'....absolutely true for me. Slowly reorganising though 🙂
True for me too, so you're not alone! Glady you're on the healing path though!
Good article. Our understanding of the interplay between physical health, mental health and genetic coding continues to develop. We all need open minds as this field continues to evolve year on year.
Could not agree more!
This is such a good explanation. I work with trauma using hypnotherapy, focusing on changing the mind to change the rest. I loved how you said "The brain keeps the score; the body is the scoreboard."
That's a quote from Dr. Lisa Feldmen-Barrett. She does amazing work in the neuroscience of emotion and sensory perception space that you might like if you enjoy that quote!
Super interesting. I come from the metaphysical camp as an advanced energy healing practitioner. I've supported myself and many many clients shift out of chronic pain patterns with energy healing - myself even reversing an ALS diagnosis and given 2 years to live - back to health. And I was taught the trauma does land in the body, but your explanation adds a fascinating layer on top of that - the rewiring of the nervous system.
You'd probably like the book "Healing Ourselves" it talks about the neuroscience of the biofield and what "energy workers" are actually doing to our nervous system! I'm a Reiki Master as well, which people are always surprised to hear given my heavy neuroscience and cog. psychology background!
I’m familiar with that book and a lot of the training and modalities I learned are based on these principles.
Love to hear that!
Hi Cody, I loved your article (first one I’ve read and I’m eager to read more). I’m wondering if you have you read The Past is Always Present by Dr. Ruden? I use his Havening Techniques daily to resolve traumatic memory for myself, and as a practitioner as well.
I haven't read it, but I'll add it to my reading list for sure, thank you for sharing!
Great article. Some important nuances here.
Thanks, Paul, what was your favorite nuance?!
I like the idea of the distinction between the enskulled organ that is the brain and that of mind which extends beyond the brain.
Your article made me think about this and I wanted to disagree because we tend to glorify the brain without any real understanding beyond the surface scratches to date.
As I read it more carefully, the premise that the body doesn’t keep the score rankled until it didn’t.
Any article that helps reshape our thinking about a topic can only be good. Thank you for doing that.
Amazing article, I took alot from 'the body keeps score' (excuse me if I have the title slightly wrong). I'm from a biology background but not specifically neuro. I remember googling at the time what the 'mechanism' of storage was. I experienced emotional flashbacks and body sensations, but a psychologist told me I don't have PTSD because I don't get nightmares. However on reflection, that's not the case... Regardless the emotional nature of my flashbacks make perfect sense because the nervous system is responding to the perceived threat. This finally gives my symptoms the context I need to stop gaslighting myself.
So thank you!
I love to hear that Helga! Just because you're not having nightmares doesn't mean you're not struggling with PTSD or Complex PTSD. I'm sorry you were invalidated at such an important moment in your healing journey.
Thank you.
I got you!
Thank you for exhaustive post and research. Having experienced childhood trauma and emotional abuse, it has been a journey recovering back. Grateful to have found your account where you write and share diligently about the subject.
I’ve written a post on how absence of attunement during early years leave us as anxious, pleasing, and burnt out adults.
https://open.substack.com/pub/flowstatediary/p/safety-first-then-flow?r=tfs4a&utm_medium=ios
Oooff, I feel that! I'll have to check it out, thank you for sharing!
I am not read up on this kind of thing. But wow, this article is amazing. I will be looking into this closely. Thanks so much for this information. Great work…keep it up.
Thanks Clark, I really appreciate you taking a second to drop this comment!
As a person that hasn’t left any trauma untouched I would say it depends on the type of trauma. I’ve been conducting research on myself cause I couldn’t rely just one source to find answer to the complexity of my situation. As I completely believe in power of mind and shift of perspective in healing process but my personal experience showed me that body actually keeps the score independent from nervous system. Body traumas such as chronic disease, bad accidents or this sort of traumas don’t engage mind directly though they can trigger psychological wounds from past. The simple way that I can explain my experience is that body gets to the point that can’t trust mind to protect the body and completely blocks the connection. The healing aspect is so intertwined that they need to be approached simultaneously. It’s like a cycle or spiral 🌀 I personally benefited a lot from energy and fascial release the way that physical therapy couldn’t provide to get me out of my chronic pains. However, they weren’t replacement for my nervous system resetting practices and mind work to shift my perspective toward more effective behaviors.
Thanks so much for sharing your personal experiences. It sounds like you’ve been on quite a journey of self-discovery and healing, exploring many different avenues to address your body’s pain and your mind’s needs.
Sounds like for you, certain body-focused techniques were vital, especially when traditional mind-based or talk therapies fell short. That resonates with a lot of what I discuss—how the body can manifest trauma through chronic pain, tension, or illness even when we don’t consciously realize it. Clearly, you’ve lived that firsthand.
Here’s a question that comes to mind: If the body is showing these symptoms—like a “scoreboard” lighting up where things hurt, get stiff, or shut down—does it necessarily mean the trauma is stored there? Or might the body be reflecting the ways our entire nervous system (including the brain) is organized around past threats?
In other words, is it possible that:
1. The body’s signals (pain, tension, etc.) are the “outputs” or “readouts” of deeper patterns in the brain and nervous system?
2. The techniques you’ve found helpful (e.g., fascial release, energy work) are powerful because they help restore a sense of safety and connection between the mind and body—rather than because the trauma physically resides in a muscle or fascia?
Imagine it like a music band performing live. The drums, guitar, and vocals make up the entire “sound”—but if the speakers start crackling, we might think that’s where the problem is stored. In reality, the crackle could stem from a bad cable, a faulty amplifier, or even the source itself. The speaker just reveals it. Similarly, your body can amplify emotional or psychological stress, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the “music” (trauma) originates there.
Your experience is invaluable, and I’d love to continue hearing more about how you’ve blended mind, body, and energy practices. If you’re open, I’d be curious how you see the difference between “storage” and “manifestation”—because it seems like you’ve found some profound healing by working with both.
Thanks again for sharing; your story truly enriches the conversation! It’s exciting to see someone integrating so many viewpoints and techniques in a way that honors both body and mind. Wishing you continued healing and insight on your path.
I really like this conversation. I am writing my memoir mostly from mind and body perspective rather just mere explanation of external events so these type of questions helps me to dig deep.
I explain you an experience and I’d provide my perspective and like to know how you see them.
I had a very stiff upper body and due to recent acute trauma it got into a state that half of my back was numb and I had severe pain. Obviously there were some structural issues but the question was why I was experiencing pain without any strenuous movement and in general why some has stiff back. With some somatic practices I gained awareness that I kept my shoulder raised all the time. And with awareness came correction. So I see this as a manifestation of overwhelmed nervous system always in hyper vigilant state. Though that helped with pain and numbness it didn’t resolve stiffness.
However, through energy work I gained range of motion in my back within few months that I couldn’t with lots of program I’ve tried in the market (just providing some background I grew up as athlete so I am familiar with lots of practices). Some may say the stiffness was result of working out a lot and didn’t have enough recovery and I would accept it if I gained that motion only through fascia release.
Through energy work you actually feel big energy release through different dramatic body movement and motion improvement is instant. So if there’s nothing stored there’s no way for body to generate such movements. Consider it like any motor vehicle without stored fuel it won’t move.
I would say both manifestation and storing happening in the body and they are intertwined. It is possible to calm nervous system down by techniques like breath work or sound healing but I haven’t found them effective for stiffness or digestive slowness. But they lay ground work for work such as energy work which gives resilience to nervous system to handle the intensity of release and don’t get triggered. In return not dealing with chronic condition helps further with more balanced nervous system.
So I see manifestation as body’s alarm system to an event generated through nervous system. After event body should have effective system to clear the alarm (unbalanced physiology). So if we haven’t learned effective way to turn our emotions into feelings and actions to deal with alarm we never clear them up and the alarms are going to be stored somewhere in the body.
Also, we have Bayesian mind so if our alarm generator or nervous system goes off back to back without any break and experience of silence in between from some point on alarm generator will predict everything as threat and gets trapped in faulty state. And that’s where safety will play as a reset button for system.
I’d like to know what you think. I have so many examples that can be discussed from different perspectives.
Interesting!
Some early Eye reviews
First chapter of book 1 right here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/shifthapens/p/eye-of-the-beholder-3ab?
Emy T.:
This completely drew me in. I had goosebumps for so much of it. I'm almost afraid to read more because it feels so close to reality. Thank you for sharing it
Shift Happens (Steph Peters)
4d
It pretty much IS reality... but told as fiction, kind of like the Matrix...
I should be sharing companion volumes (some on here!), and offering chats, podcasts, etc discussing the plot, characters, twists and turns, deeper understanding, lost and hidden (occulted) history, the TRUE nature of reality...
I really hope this is the last JOB I ever have!!!
Much love!
PS: there are 3 more chapters available now..
You know you want to continue...
Here let me make it easier for you
Chapter 2:
https://shifthapens.substack.com/p/eye-of-the-beholder-ch-2?r=b8pvb
What is this haha?
Sorry trying to get the word out on some important work I’m doing now to wake up the population…
I also look into trauma using Gabor mattes views
Great article. I think the observation that 'safety' is vital in the healing process,should not be ignored.
As a trauma survivor myself I have found that approaching healing from a mental, physical,emotional and spiritual place, plus living in a safe environment and being loved, genuinely. Has been the best recipe. It's an ongoing process but one that had to be pursued.