trauma is my jam
Last week
Last week I shared some thoughts on a word that gets thrown around often—healing. But let’s pause for a moment and ask: healing from what? To really understand what healing means, we have to look at the root of the pain. And for many of us, that root is trauma.
Over the next several weeks, I’ll be reflecting on trauma—specifically the how and why of its imprint on the body. Because trauma doesn’t just live in our stories or our minds. It lives in our bodies.
Trauma is my jam
If you know me, you’ve probably heard me say, “Trauma is my jam.” And I mean that—not because trauma is easy or light. But because I care deeply. I’ve lived it. I’ve been shaped by it. And through it, I’ve found a journey of resilience, transformation, and yes—healing—on every level: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
The truth is, I wouldn’t be on this path if it weren’t for the traumas I’ve experienced. They've shaped my choices, introduced me to people I never would’ve met, and led me to do the work I now do. I may not be proud of every decision I’ve made in the moment, but I am proud of the journey—because it brought me here.
So yes, trauma is my jam. And the clients I feel most aligned with? They’ve experienced trauma too.
It’s common for my clients to feel a sense of guilt or shame when I tell them the hard truth: that they have experienced trauma. I am often met with resistance:
“Oh, but it wasn’t that bad.”
“But, other people had it way worse.”
“I don’t know why I feel this way—my parents loved me.”
Here’s the thing
Trauma isn’t the event itself. It’s what happens inside your body because of the event.
When we talk about trauma, we’re really talking about how the body responds when we experience something too overwhelming to fully process—mentally, physically, or emotionally.
It doesn’t always have to be something big or dramatic. Yes, trauma can look like abuse, an accident, or a devastating loss. But it can also be much subtler—a child feeling invisible, a teen carrying guilt after making a mistake, an adult who never quite felt safe expressing themselves.
It’s not about what happened
It’s about how your body experienced what happened.
That sense of internal overwhelm—when your nervous system just couldn’t keep up—that’s trauma. It’s the body’s response to what it couldn’t fully process or integrate.
So please, have grace with yourself
We’ve all experienced trauma in some way. We’ve all had moments when our nervous system was thrown out of balance. And those moments matter. They stay with us—sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly—but always in the body.
Let’s begin there—with the body. With the autonomic nervous system, which stores trauma and shapes how we respond to stress, connection, and life itself—whether it’s five minutes later, five years later, or five decades later. This is where the healing begins.
Next week, I’ll share more about how trauma lives in the body—what science tells us, and how this knowledge can guide us towards the blueprint of becoming.