Should you be Skeptical of Somatic Courses Promising to “Release Trauma in X days”?
You can’t force the body to heal on the mind’s timeline
Recently, I have seen a lot of talk about various somatic courses with catchy names like “Release your trauma in 30 days” or “Heal your nervous system in 4 weeks”. I think if one takes titles like these literally, it has the potential to set them up for disappointment. A name like that may be misleading people into thinking that all of their suffering will be healed within a month. And, I mean, who am I to say it won’t be? Perhaps that’s the case for some people. I try my best to not speak in absolutes when referring to the nervous system, because you truly never know how it’s going to differ from one human to another. However, I think a law of averages applies here.
Most people working through trauma are dealing with some form of complex trauma. Years of stuff that no longer serves them bubbling up to the surface at a schedule that only the Autonomic Nervous System is aware of. And I think people having the expectation that they can achieve a quick fix by digging up trauma and rewiring a neural network they’ve been forming and operating on for decades - within a month - is a recipe to set themselves up for disappointment. Depending on what someone is working through, it can take months to years to find sustained regulation.
But, I will say; as long as those timeline expectations are taken with a grain of salt, I think these courses can be beneficial for a couple of reasons:
These courses may give someone a toolbox of regulatory tools that can be incredibly nurturing when they find themselves outside of their Window of Tolerance again.
They may work well for someone processing a singular act of acute trauma, as long as they have strong internal and external resources and do not find themselves too far outside of their capacity.
I guess those creating the courses could argue that their title isn’t misleading since you are learning tools within 30 days that can aid you on your path of releasing trauma…sure… But, I imagine most people don’t see it that way when they sign up, which is what makes me even more skeptical.
The reality is, healing the nervous system can take time. And when we move too fast, without letting ourselves build the capacity to feel what needs to be felt, it can cause more issues.
I see it happen all the time with clients, where we get excited about healing and dive head-first into every tool possible to try and find peace. But in moving too fast, oftentimes, we’re just applying the very survival energy we are trying to heal towards the healing-work itself, and end up overloading ourselves with change. Reiki this, breathwork that, add a course here, do some plant medicine there, etc. until we end up overloaded with energy we’re trying to process. It’s like the survival energy sneaking in through the back door.
Our system needs time to integrate as it heals. Slow and steady. Titrate. Nurture resilience with a plethora of internal and external resources, socially engage, find a somatic therapist you resonate with, and trust your body to do what it needs to on its own timeline.