Somatic and Emotional Flashbacks: A Guide to Start Recognizing and Healing Body-Based Trauma Memories
Here's what somatic and emotional flashbacks actually are, how to spot them, and a protocol for resolving them in real time.
Understanding Somatic and Emotional Flashbacks
In a low trauma-informed world there is a lot of misunderstanding about trauma and flashbacks. Which is why most people and practitioners still don’t know flashbacks can happen without images or sounds. Somatic and emotional flashbacks are a type of implicit, body-based memory. They do not come with a story or a narrative — which is why people often have no idea they are flashbacks.
These types of body-based trauma memories can be coded into our bodies at the procedural level, creating behaviors, thoughts, and even beliefs that originate from personal, inter-generational, and collective trauma. Yes, even collective trauma - after all, our nervous system is a human nervous system, and it shares coding with the collective human experience. So when large groups of people are traumatized or our ancestors were; the nervous system remembers that too. We truly are more interconnected than the dissociated, disconnected, and distracted western world has realized.
Now, this is only half the story. Because our nervous system also holds healing responses — from our individual lives, our ancestors, and the collective. So I do not want to leave this post without some hope. Healing responses are why you and I are here. Because not all healing happens the way the western world promotes. Most of healing happens through our own resources, our own inner wisdom, and that data? It often comes from the soma (body); the bridge to our personal and ancestral past. So the key to future healing is also that same bridge: the body.
So what are somatic flashbacks doing when they happen? Well, somatic and emotional flashbacks are there to do a job: to protect us. A flashback is often triggered by something very specific and unconscious happening in the environment. This is neuroception in action. This part of today’s teaching can be hard to grasp because it is unconscious — so we often do not know what the trigger is. And below I will explain why we don’t have to know to heal.
But first we must understand that childhood and complex trauma survivors have had thousands of negative experiences, often within relationships with those who were supposed to love and care for them, as well as with inescapable systems they have no choice but to participate in. To survive complex trauma, our nervous systems automatically dissociate or go into another Trauma Response in order to stay somewhat connected to folks; so we are not going to remember the trigger.
The trigger is like a fragmented echo of some flavor of someone or something that did or did not happen that ultimately harmed. What gets coded in our nervous system is “danger” and that is what send the signal of a trigger to deploy. All of this of course is happening in a sort of dissociated state; which is why folks do not always know what triggered them but begin to know they are triggered. Now this can get very messy because like I said, our world is not trauma-informed.
So this process gets heavily pathologized and many folks never receive the support they actually need. But the good news is that we can still heal anyway. Education about somatic and emotional flashbacks is the best way to start healing. That is why I write here. And that is why I practice how I practice — so folks can actually heal for real.
Validating Intuition: When Your Body Knows Before Your Mind Does
One of my earliest intuitions came over 15 years ago, during a period where I was having several huge panic attacks a day. At the time, I was convinced they were flashbacks. I had not yet learned that officially but I knew it intuitively. Intuition is natural to the human condition, yet folks are often gaslit by the medical establishment about their health and trauma — when they were right the whole time.
Intuition is a healing response and it grows as we heal and alchemize trauma through the body. Some may awaken more and more to their Authentic Self as they integrate trauma and lean into accepting that humans are both left brain (logical) and right brain (intuitive) beings.
That is why I continue to share my personal stories of self-healing: to normalize the awakening process and to validate that knowing beyond knowing — our inner psychic sense, connected to both our emotional and spiritual development.
As I got more trauma training and more experienced in the field of the integrative healing arts, I dared to say things that nearly no one was saying as I began to talk about implicit memories. My ancestors and soul guided the way and a lot of the teaching came from inner knowing and intuition at first. Later, I validated it with, Dr. Peter Levine’s work — founder of Somatic Experiencing® — who wrote a book that confirmed everything my intuition and ancestors (healing responses) knew.
One of my top recommendations for healing and healthcare practitioners or anyone who wants to understand more about somatic and emotional flashbacks is Dr. Peter Levine’s book: Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past. It is one of the more easier reads on the neuroscience of trauma and comes with some helpful visual graphs of how traumatic memories are actually stored.
What is being talked about on social media when it cones to trauma is a near travesty these days. Even from some healing practitioners. Many of them are sadly very low in their understanding of trauma. I have hope and I write so that we can increase our understanding on this planet. Because right now what is normalized in the western world is basically a collection of trauma responses passing off as a culture.
And I get that most folks do not really want to understand the depths of trauma. Many healthcare practitioners are not incentivized to know the ins and outs of the body or the soul. Yet for some of us, learning nuanced information about trauma is a lifeline. For me, it truly brought me back to life and awakened me to my True Nature. Healing became something I had to do to keep going and them because a spiritual experience in itself. Today it is part of my life’s purpose to love, to guide, and to be.
I share this because for those us who heal beyond our individual wounding and into ancestral and collective trauma, we can sound kind of kooky to folks who have not navigated the depths of soul, soma, and trauma. That is okay, not everyone is here for that soul curriculum.
However, for those of us that are here to break intergenerational cycles and heal into wholeness; we are truly expanding into the full human be-ing archetype. Which is rich with the high high’s and the low low’s and the annoying experience of having to pay taxes. As we heal trauma, many of us become more compassionate, more loving, and more rooted in our interconnected humanity.
And so yes, some of us are going to get on the internet and talk about the depth, the intricacies, and the nuance that is trauma healing. Will everyone go deep each week and share from the depths of their soul? No. And that’s okay.
Common Triggers of Somatic and Emotional Flashbacks
If you remember only one thing from this teaching it is this: We do not need to know what triggers us to heal childhood or complex trauma. Many trauma modalities do not work for childhood trauma survivors because they require us to “remember” and incessantly talk about our trauma. When trauma was the norm day in and day out of our lives, we aren’t going to remember what we could not file in our memory banks due to the fact that trauma responses require some level of dissociation.
So no, we do not need to remember or retell the in’s and out’s of our trauma history to heal. We can start by knowing we are triggered. As we increase our somatic capacity and trauma education we can begin to see patterns — those patterns illuminate what is going on underneath the nervous system and tell us everything we need to know in order to heal. Patterns are something to get curious about and not to be villainized.
Complex trauma triggers can be subtle — a look, a change in tone, a smell, a color, a certain type of person. Other triggers include:
Being minimized, misunderstood, judged, or not being heard (also includes things like medical and healthcare invalidation of symptoms you are having)
Lack of boundaries: forced into situations without having a clear choice or having to people-please
Criticism: Being yelled at, criticized, accused, unfairly blamed, or someone refusing to apologize to you, or being forced to defend/explain yourself
Vulnerability, intimacy, and opening up about personal feelings or needs, which can trigger fears of abandonment or invalidation
Unfairness: witnessing or experiencing unjust favoritism, power imbalances, or being “thrown under the bus”
Micromanagement: bosses or figures of authority who expert tight control or unpredictability, authoritarianism
Perceived threats: loud tones, sudden movements, or passive-aggressive behavior that mimics past volatile caregivers/partners/authority figures
Conflict Resolution: navigating disagreements where the other part refuses to see your side, uses the “silent treatment”, or stonewalls
Feeling “in trouble”
Being noticed, being seen, and also not being noticed or seen (yes, both are true)
Being observed doing something (an trigger “Am I doing this wrong?” And the feeling of getting in trouble.)
Not being included or feeling abandoned
Feeling trapped in any way: physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually
Feeling controlled or manipulated
Good things happening in life (positive things may be not something your nervous system trusts yet as in the past bad stuff always happened after any moment of goodness)
Someone saying they “want to talk with you” without saying why and making you wait for the conversation
Being forced to conform or not being allowed to be yourself
Physical discomfort: feeling trapped, highly fatigued, hungry, thirsty, physically unsafe, or sensory overwhelm/underwhelm, boredom
Feeling rushed: the stress of hurrying meets feeling in trouble, this can triggering overwhelming panic or freeze responses
Shame or being shamed or having traumatized parts that self-sabotoge to protect and trigger…you guessed it….more shame.
Anniversaries: specific times of year, dates, the summer, holidays associated with past trauma, grief, or hard times in our lives
Reminders: smells, songs, clothing items, or locations where the traumatic events happened (again you may not know this specifically and what you might now is that every time a certain song plays you experience panic, racing thoughts, or gut symptoms.
Unique and very specific triggers to your personal and ancestral trauma. Which can literally be anything at all. A scent, a gender, a hair color, a tone, a word, a type of person, a food, a type of setting, a neighborhood, a dog, a car, a color of a car, the word car…anything in the world can be part of a fragmented trauma memory.
Below are some very specific examples that were not on the list. I am sharing these examples to show now nuanced somatic implicit memories can be. As well as, anything can trigger a somatic implicit memory:
As I started to heal somatically, I naturally wanted to expand more into my true personal expression and wanted to wear more colors. So I tried to and I would freeze. My mind would say “colors are not my thing” or I literally could not buy new clothing and would have decision fatigue. Both of which were rooted trauma brain. So I stayed within my window of tolerance and bought red earrings and started small. Then I purchased a beautiful blue shirt and wore it! I even took a picture. To this day, it is one of my favorite photos. As I healed deeper, somatically, what was dissociated came back and re-associated. I remembered when I was a child, I wore red and blue glasses and was abused by nearly every adult around. I was treated very inhumanely and it was disgusting. Remember me talking about disgust and self-hate earlier? Well, when we are abused as children we have to protect the connection to our caregivers in any way that we can. This is what trauma does. It steps in and turns disgust and hate of the action, inward. It creates stories, feelings, and beliefs. So in order to stay “connected” to unsafe people, my brain made red and blue “not safe” instead of the people around me. Now this example comes with later memory consolidation. This does not always happen. To remember everything in a linear fashion was not the goal of my trauma recovery. The goal for me in my trauma recovery was to be a full human being and know what was authentically me versus what trauma brain told me was me. I wanted to fully be alive, authentic, and have my own agency and autonomy. As it turns out, wearing a certain color does not mean I will be abused. I now happily wear colors and am my True Self. The journey to get here was long and worth it.
Example B: Many years ago, I did not know why the feeling of judgment and a micro facial expression would make me go into a shame spiral for hours. At first I did not even know it was judgement or shame or a micro expression attached to it. I just would be flooded, overwhelmed, and NOT okay after some interactions. What caught my attention was that this was happening with people that I loved and feel safe with otherwise. So that was my clue that this was some sort of emotional and somatic memory. As I had more somatic capacity I could differentiate the feeling, from the look, from the flooding and shame, from the relationship, and what was going on in and around me. As I healed deeper, somatically, I could listen to my body more, dissociate less, and I would start noticing more. Over time, I could notice that I was actually safe and it was this one small facial expression attached to a feeling that was causing a full blow shame spiral that was lasting hours. At first what did I notice? Not feeling okay. A shame spiral. That the person I was talking with generally otherwise had my best interests in mind. So I started there. After that, I shared with those closest to me that I would start naming when I was having a shame spiral so I would not feel even more shame. They agreed to support me so. So off I went, and I actually started yelling out “shame spiral” every time this happened and oriented around the room, took breaks from the conversation I was in, and practiced self compassion. I would say to myself “of course safe relationships are scary - this is new!” And I would feel shame course through my body and remember all the goodness inside of me and in the world. I would use my spine to expand a little more until I could stand upright and function. After some time and a lot of practice, the shame spirals lessened in frequency, intensity, and duration. I later added in looking into the persons eyes I was talking with (or my dog if it was happening later) and let them see me suffering inside. I had more capacity for their compassion and that was part of my return to fully being human. I continue to practice compassion with myself and others healing - beausse Complex Trauma causes Complex Shame after all.
Essential Tools for Resolution: The Contain & Restore Protocol
When a somatic or emotional flashback begins we can start to support ourselves by getting curious. This curiosity needs to be practiced of course when more regulated, co-regulated, and supported. Just like most of us would not go an run a marathon without training or we would not get married on a first date without dating; we must practice somatic skills before we need to use them.
A somatic flashback is going to begin with some sort of flooding, dissociation, anxiety, panic, intrusive thoughts, limiting beliefs, familiar stories of doom, and even health symptoms like gut stuff. We want to understand and track our patterns to know what is a flashback, what is the result of current stress, and what is a health symptom. This takes time, patience, and often skilled support to discern.
One of the hallmarks of late-stage trauma healing is knowing what is coming from echos of the past and what is happening as the result of stress now. A good guideline to discern if something is coming from echos from the past is if the automatic reaction is too large or too small for the present stressor, conversation, or moment in time. If it is too large or too small (non-existent) that is when I start to get curious about somatic flashbacks. Often they seem to “come out of nowhere.” I say this in quotes because they do not come from nothing; they are coming from body-based memories without a narrative, without a story, or without a memory.
Somatic and emotional flashbacks are trauma re-enacting in the here and now. This is why body-based somatic tools are essential for trauma survivors — not optional. Essential. Because the nervous system’s capacity can be increased so that the body can become a safer space to contain the flashback.
We can prepare for somatic and emotional flashbacks — but we have to know they exist first. This is why somatic containment tools are among the first tools I teach those I support. And incredibly, we can also get to the point of resolving trauma in real time as the flashback occurs. This is a more advanced practice, and it is something I teach those I support one-on-one.
The Contain & Restore Protocol
Use this practice when you feel a somatic flashback arising — sudden body sensations, racing thoughts, beliefs, emotions, or a feeling of being “stuck” in the past.
Step 1: The Pause — Name It
Stop what you are doing. Take a deep breath. Tell yourself: “I am not losing it. I am having a somatic flashback. My body is protecting me.” Do not try to find the story or the memory right now. Just name the sensation.
Step 2: Grounding — The Anchor
Connect to the present moment to bring your nervous system out of the past.
Look for 5 things you can see
Touch 4 things you can feel (Ex: the table, your clothes, your feet, your skin)
Hear 3 sounds around you (Ex: the wind, your breath, your nails on a table)
Smell 2 things (Ex: hand lotion, lip balm)
Taste 1 thing (Ex: take a sip of water)
Step 3: Containment — The Inner Sanctuary
Visualize a safer, warm or cozy space. This could be a real place in nature, a place you have visited, an imaginary space, or a spiritual space. Imagine wrapping this space around your body like a warm blanket or a hug. Imagine the space has walls that are strong but permeable. Tell your body: “I am learning to feel more okay. I am here to take care of you. I won’t abandon you.” Make this practice your own and feel free to edit my words to make them more true for you.
Note: One or more parts of us may think this is BS and doesn’t work. It is okay to let those parts know you hear them and you can thank them for protecting you. Then please let them know you are going to go back to practicing. Healing is a practice.
Step 4: Somatic Release
If the body needs to move, let it. This is not about acting out the trauma — it is about releasing stored energy.
If you feel the urge to shake, let your body tremble (this is natural nervous system discharge)
If you feel a yawn coming, consider allowing this energy to move through you
If you feel heat, let it flow
If you feel the urge to cry, let it flow
Breathe into the area of tension. Imagine exhaling the trauma out through your nose and back into the earth
Step 5: Integration — Return
Slowly bring your awareness back to the room. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Check in with yourself: What do you notice around the room — the colors and objects? Name them in your head. Look at something that is neutral or pleasant. Feel your feet on the earth. Notice that you may feel more in the present moment. If you do not feel in the present moment, let your nervous system take its time coming back. Take a deep breath and thank your body for trying to protect you. Remember: healing is a practice. You are just practicing.
Procedural Coding — and Hope
These types of flashbacks are coded into our bodies at the procedural level, creating behaviors, thoughts, reactions, and even beliefs that may even be passed down through generations. Our nervous system holds not only personal trauma — it also holds the wisdom of healing responses from our ancestors and the collective. The fact that you are reading this, that you are still here, is proof that your system has the encoded healing response of reading and learning; AKA curiosity.
Healing from complex trauma is possible. I am living proof. The Contain & Restore Protocol is a starting point — as are all of my other teachings and practices right here on Substack. What I want folks to know is that there are ways to meet your nervous system with compassion instead of pathologizing its survival strategies. Over time, with the right level of support, the body can learn that the past is over. The present is more safe than automatically deploying another Trauma Response. And you are not broken — you are a survivor who has been doing the best you can with what you had.
A Path Forward
I am currently accepting two new clients this month for integrative trauma sessions or mentoring. If you are ready to move beyond superficial surface level band-aid fixes and explore a path that honors your nervous system, your intuition, and your lived experience; I would be honored to work with you.
You may visit my website here to learn more about my services or apply to become a new client (takes just two minutes).
This Substack is free thanks to generous paid subscribers that fund the 40+ hours a month that goes into writing these teachings and practices. For just $10/month, subscribers access two additional vaults of deeper somatic teachings and shamanic mystery school teachings.
About the author: Shannon is a nervous system and trauma expert, Somatic Experiencing© Practitioner, holistic health educator, shamanic apprentice, and strategic business advisor with over fifteen years of experience. She supports organizations that want to build nervous system-informed cultures, as well as, individual adults in healing chronic stress and trauma through body-based, integrative approaches that honor the whole person.