Many survivors of sexual trauma find that even after years of talk therapy, their bodies still hold on to old patterns of protection and guarding.
I had a client who, during our first session, lay on the table with one knee bent, moving it gently back and forth. When I placed my hands to help, we discovered that she couldn’t let me move it without either helping or resisting. I said “I don’t know your whole history, and it’s not my business, but it seems clear to me that your body doesn’t find this movement safe enough to allow.”
She told me that, even after starting therapy at age 10, this still connected to a childhood memory of repeated sexual touch from a family member.
At the end of the first NeuroSomatic Integration session, she could let me move her knee 10 degrees. In the next session it opened to 20-30 degrees, and now, after several sessions, her movement is fluid, with just tiny pockets of resistance we still explore. Her body feels safer now – safe enough for someone else to move her legs without provoking a threat and self-defense response.
If you’re in therapy and feel like your body is still holding on, NeuroSomatic Integration might be the missing piece. I invite you to notice your body’s signals and reach out if you’d like to explore this work.