Episode 25: Why is it so Hard to Slow Down? Could it be Stored Trauma? with Dr. Ameet

Listen to Episode 25 with Dr. Ameet →

When Rest Feels More Dangerous Than Exhaustion

You're exhausted but you can't stop moving. You know you need to rest but sitting still feels unbearable. You try to slow down and anxiety floods your system immediately.

Everyone tells you to just relax and take a break. They don't understand that slowing down triggers something deeper in your nervous system. They don't realize you're not choosing to stay busy but responding to stored trauma.

Sometimes the very thing you need is the hardest thing to do. Slowing down feels impossible when stored trauma lives in your body.

Dr. Ameet returns for Part 2 of our discussion. In Part 1 (Episode 24), we covered the liver and organs. Now we're talking about somatic work and why connecting with your body requires slowing down first.

Why Your Body Treats Slowness as Threat

For people with stored trauma, slowing down triggers their nervous system in profound ways. When you stop moving, you start feeling what you've been outrunning. Feeling brings up the overwhelm you couldn't handle then and your body still remembers.

Your body learned that staying busy kept you safe from feeling too much. Activity provided distraction from overwhelm and painful emotions. Slowing down meant facing what you couldn't process at the time, so your nervous system created a pattern where constant motion equals safety.

What happens when you try to slow down reveals this pattern clearly. Anxiety spikes and restlessness takes over your body. Your nervous system interprets stillness as threat rather than safety. This isn't lack of discipline or poor self-control but biology protecting you from what it learned was dangerous.

The connection to stored trauma becomes obvious when you recognize that your busyness serves a protective function. You're not just stressed or overcommitted but actively avoiding the internal experience that slowness would reveal. Your body knows that when you stop moving, the feelings you've been managing through activity will surface.

Why Somatic Work Demands Slowness

You can't connect with your body while moving fast through life. Somatic healing happens in the space between actions where you can notice what your body is holding. It happens in the awareness of sensation that only becomes available when you slow down enough to feel.

This is why people with stored trauma often resist somatic approaches initially. The very thing that would help them heal requires the thing their nervous system has been avoiding. Slowing down creates the conditions for feeling, and feeling is exactly what their trauma taught them to prevent.

The Essential Sequence matters here more than ever. You need safety established before you can slow down successfully. You need support in place before you can feel what's been stored. This is why slowing down doesn't work until your nervous system is ready for what slowness will reveal.

Building capacity to slow happens gradually through micro-moments of stillness that your nervous system can tolerate. Your body learns it's safe to pause briefly without being overwhelmed. Then pauses can lengthen as capacity grows. You can't force this process or push through the resistance because that just reinforces the pattern that slowness is dangerous.

The Paradox at the Heart of Healing

Here's the paradox that defines trauma healing: the thing your body needs most—rest, slowness, presence—feels most impossible to access. That's how you know stored trauma is running the show rather than conscious choice.

Your conscious mind knows you need to slow down and understands that rest would help. But your Biology of Trauma® learned that slowness brings danger and staying busy prevents overwhelm. Until you address that stored trauma, your body will keep resisting the very thing that would heal it.

This is why willpower doesn't work for learning to slow down. You're not fighting against laziness or lack of discipline but against a deeply encoded survival strategy. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it learned to do to keep you safe from feeling too much.

Dr. Ameet explains how to work with this resistance rather than against it. How to build capacity for slowness without forcing it. How to create enough safety that your nervous system can risk feeling. How somatic work becomes possible once you understand why it felt impossible before.

Understanding that your inability to slow down comes from stored trauma changes everything about your approach. You stop judging yourself for not being able to relax. You recognize the protective pattern operating beneath your busyness. You can work with your biology instead of fighting it.

This Episode Is For:

✓ People who can't sit still or relax even when exhausted 

✓ Anyone whose anxiety spikes when they try to slow down 

✓ Practitioners whose clients resist somatic work because stillness feels unbearable 

✓ Those who stay busy to avoid feeling 

✓ Anyone recognizing that their inability to rest connects to trauma 

✓ People ready to understand why slowing down feels so dangerous

What You'll Learn

Listen to understand why slowing down triggers stored trauma and activates your nervous system's defense mechanisms. Discover how to build your capacity for the stillness that somatic healing requires. Learn why the thing you need most feels most impossible when trauma is stored in your biology.

Your body isn't broken for resisting rest but protecting you from what it learned rest would bring.

Listen to Episode 25 with Dr. Ameet →

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.

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