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Wondering how to heal your nervous system from trauma? It starts with understanding that your reactions aren’t flaws — they’re survival responses your body learned a long time ago.
I’m a dual-licensed therapist in Los Angeles who specializes in anxiety therapy, trauma, somatic work, IFS, and attachment repair. I’ve been featured in TIME Magazine, HuffPost, Verywell Mind, and other major outlets for sharing honest, human insights about what real healing actually looks like.
Healing your nervous system isn’t about becoming unbothered or perfectly calm. It’s about learning how to respond differently to what your body’s been holding for years. That’s not just a mental shift — it’s a full-body retraining.
Most people come to therapy thinking something is wrong with them because they can’t meditate, can’t stop overthinking, or still feel reactive even after they “understand” their trauma. But healing isn’t about knowing. It’s about noticing. And then doing something new with that information — gently, consistently, and in connection.
If you’ve ever Googled “how to heal nervous system from trauma,” this is for you. Not the surface-level tips. The real ones that come from what I see every day as an anxiety therapist in Los Angeles.
Your symptoms aren’t random. They’re patterns. And your patterns aren’t flaws — they’re your nervous system trying to protect you the way it knows how.
The freeze response? That shutdown mode where you feel nothing and everything at once? It’s not laziness. It’s your body going offline to keep you safe. The fawn response? That compulsive niceness that makes you say “it’s fine” when it’s very much not fine? That’s not people-pleasing — it’s survival.
This is the first step: stop blaming the symptom. Start learning the language your body’s been speaking this whole time.
Learn more about the real work of healing your nervous system.
Here’s what most high-functioning people do when they feel something: They go straight to meaning-making. “I feel tight… so I must be anxious… which probably means I’m unsafe… which is bad… which means I’m broken again.” But whoa. Slow down.
You don’t need to figure it out. You need to feel it through. That’s the shift: nervous system healing starts with sensation, not interpretation. Instead of “What does this mean?” try:
“Where is it in my body?”
“Is it tight? Is it buzzy? Is it floaty? Is it numb?”
“Does it move when I stay with it?”
“What happens if I don’t try to fix it?”
It might feel awkward at first — like staring at a word too long until it stops looking like a word. That’s okay. You’re building fluency in a language your body never got to speak safely. Start small. One body sensation a day. Track it like you’d track a weird mole. Not with panic. With curiosity. Your system doesn’t need you to psychoanalyze it. It just needs you to notice it.
You’re not supposed to heal alone. You’re not even supposed to regulate alone. Humans are wired to co-regulate — to borrow safety from another person’s presence. But if your system learned early on that people = danger, then safety might feel weird. Like… someone being kind to you might make you want to cry. Or pull away.
That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It means it’s working. That’s your body recalibrating what’s safe. Therapy is where a lot of people practice this first. It’s why the relationship matters so much.
Explore what complex trauma healing looks like in real-time.
Trauma speeds us up. It wires us for urgency — because urgency used to equal survival. If you grew up with constant emotional tension, you probably move fast without realizing it. Emotionally, logistically, conversationally. Like something bad will happen if you don’t move fast.
So when I say “slow down,” I don’t mean take a spa day. I mean… notice what happens in your body if you take one extra second before replying to a text. One extra breath before opening your email. One extra pause before saying “I’m fine.”
Healing isn’t always about doing less. Sometimes it’s about doing it less frantically.
A lot of people assume healing means not getting triggered. But it’s more like: you get triggered, and you learn how to stay.
Most of us learned to leave ourselves the moment activation hits. We dissociate. We over-apologize. We spiral. We shut down. We escape into overexplaining or overthinking. But staying is where healing happens.
That doesn’t mean muscling through. It means… noticing the part of you that wants to leave, and gently reminding it: you’re safe now.
Want support as you start noticing these patterns in real time? Here’s what trauma therapy looks like in Los Angeles — and how we work with the body to make healing feel less like a battle.
This one sounds backwards, but I promise it’s real. Some people aren’t scared of stress — they’re scared of calm. Rest can feel vulnerable. Quiet can feel suspicious. Safety? It doesn’t always feel safe.
This happens a lot with clients who’ve spent years in high-stress environments. When everything finally slows down, their body freaks out. Heart races. Thoughts swirl. They feel like something must be wrong.
If that’s you, you’re not broken — you’re adapting. Again. Start with tiny doses of calm. A few minutes of silence. A breath without a task attached. Let your system re-learn that calm doesn’t mean you’re in danger.
Not all dysregulation looks like panic attacks or public meltdowns. Sometimes it’s subtle. Like:
These are clues. Not proof that something’s wrong — just data that your system might be out of sync. When you can name the small stuff early, you get to support yourself before things escalate. It’s not always about the big triggers. Sometimes healing is about catching the quiet ones first.
Somatic therapy helps clients tune into these quiet shifts every day.
Cognitive insight is great — but it’s not the only way to heal. Your body often knows before your mind does. Letting your body lead might look like:
Your nervous system doesn’t heal in perfect steps. It loops. It backtracks. It surprises you. One day you’ll notice you didn’t spiral over something that used to wreck you — and another day, the smallest thing will bring you right back.
That’s not failure. That’s recalibration.
Healing isn’t a checkbox you complete. It’s a capacity you build. And the more you practice — slowly, consistently, in the direction of safety — the more your system starts to trust that it’s allowed to come out of survival mode.
If you’re ready to stop just understanding your trauma and start actually shifting it — we can do that work together. I specialize in nervous system trauma healing through somatic therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and attachment repair.
Learn more about somatic therapy in Los Angeles — and what it’s like to finally feel different, not just think differently.
I’m a dual-licensed therapist in Los Angeles, but if you’re here, what probably matters more is that I speak fluent nervous system.
I’ve spent the last decade working with people whose trauma didn’t look like capital-T trauma — it looked like overfunctioning, chronic tension, burnout from being the strong one, or a shutdown so quiet even they didn’t catch it until years later.
This blog isn’t a checklist. It’s pulled from real therapy — from what I’ve seen help my clients rebuild regulation in tiny, repeatable moments. The ones that don’t always look like healing from the outside, but change everything on the inside. Like letting your shoulders drop without even noticing. Or not panicking when someone says “we need to talk.”
My work blends IFS, somatic therapy, and attachment repair, but none of it works without safety. That’s the thread in everything I do. Helping your nervous system stop organizing around threat — and start building toward real, sustainable calm.
Rebalancing your nervous system isn’t about doing everything “right.” It’s about helping your body trust that it’s no longer stuck in survival mode. Sometimes that means learning to slow down instead of speeding through the day. Sometimes it means sitting in silence and noticing what your body actually feels — without trying to fix it. My holistic therapy approach works with the body and mind together — because healing isn’t just mental.
It depends on your history, your supports, and how long your system’s been stuck in survival. Some people notice shifts after a few months of consistent work. For others, it’s years. But it’s not about reaching a finish line. It’s about how often you can come back to safety — without bracing for something bad. You’ll know it’s working when you’re not constantly scanning or collapsing.
If your system feels like it’s always “on,” or you shut down easily, or you can’t relax even when nothing’s wrong — that’s not damage. That’s over-adaptation. Your body learned to stay ready. What you’re feeling is a system that got really good at protecting you, but never got the memo that it’s safe now. It’s not about being broken. It’s about updating the patterns.
You don’t fix it — you support it. That means building in practices that help your body recognize safety: slower exhales, tracking sensations, moments of co-regulation, boundaries that actually hold. It’s like speaking a new language to your nervous system — one where safety isn’t a fluke, it’s the norm. And you don’t have to do it alone.
Reset isn’t the best word — but yes, you can retrain your system. Not by forcing calm, but by practicing safety in real-time, again and again. Your nervous system starts to reorganize itself when it has enough consistent cues that it doesn’t have to stay hyper-alert or shut down. That’s where real change happens — not in theory, but in your body’s lived experience.
If this post resonated for you, you might want to keep going! I’ve written a few other blogs that dig into how somatic therapy actually works — especially when your body’s been stuck in survival mode for years.
Ever wonder if those viral tips on trauma healing actually work in real life? Read my breakdown of what TikTok trauma trends get right — and what your nervous system still needs beyond social media advice. Start here → What TikTok Trauma Trends Miss About Real Nervous System Healing in Los Angeles
Want a bigger picture on how somatic therapy actually helps regulate your body after trauma? This deep dive walks through what nervous system healing really means — especially in a city like L.A., where freeze mode is normalized. Explore the science and the strategy → Somatic Therapy Is Transforming How Los Angeles Heals
Curious why you still feel stuck — even if you’ve “processed” your trauma in therapy? It might be Complex PTSD. And it might be showing up in ways that don’t look like trauma at all. Get the facts → 12 Complex PTSD Therapy Insights Most People Never Hear
Each of these blogs is grounded in what I actually see in sessions — not just theory. If your body’s been carrying stress for years, these reads might help you understand why… and how to start shifting it.
Looking for nervous system therapy in Los Angeles? My office is located in the heart of LA — easily accessible for clients in Culver City, Brentwood, West LA, and surrounding areas. Telehealth sessions available.
Start with a free 15-minute consult — let’s figure out what safety could actually feel like.
