Member-only story
How Your Body Shakes Out Trauma
My experience using breath and movement for emotional healing
Introduction: Out of My Head, Into My Body
If there was any particular event that showed me I needed to get out of my head and back into my body, it was probably a singing lesson three years ago. A family friend and opera singer convinced me she could teach anyone to sing and so I stood nervously facing a music stand, following her piano arpeggios with my thin voice and hoping she was right. Every few minutes, she would pause and give me a tip to open up my voice and project it more fully. Finally, the arpeggios stopped and she asked me to face her.
“I want you to scream. Just scream for me.” And so I opened my mouth and…absolutely nothing came out. All I felt was a gripping tightness in my throat.
“Like this,” she announced, and suddenly her voice rang through the apartment, strong and unbounded. I didn’t just hear her but felt her raw power in my body. I had the distinct feeling that on an animal level, she could have eaten me alive.
An hour later when the lesson ended, the teacher’s scream still hung in my mind. As a child, I had yelled at the top of my voice with similar freedom. Not only that, but I danced, sang, and lived spontaneously. I couldn’t think of any particular moment when those…
