Healing + Human Potential Bessel van der Kolk: 7 Ways to HEAL Trauma + Feel SAFE in Your Body Again
Mar 24, 2026
Bessel van der Kolk, renowned trauma psychiatrist and author of The Body Keeps the Score, offers a fresh look at healing trauma through the body. He explores why trauma feels like present danger, how EMDR, yoga, breathwork, neurofeedback and psychedelics can help, and why community, movement and practice are essential for feeling safe again.
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Try EMDR And Somatic Methods Not Just Talk Therapy
- Use body-based interventions beyond talk therapy to reprocess trauma memories and shift bodily states.
- EMDR asks you to evoke sensory elements of the trauma while doing bilateral movements to form new neural pathways.
Trauma Is A Present Reality Not Just A Past Story
- The lasting problem of trauma is not only the past event but the ongoing present experience it creates.
- Traumatized people live in a ‘different reality’—overwhelmed, confused, and unable to take in ordinary stimuli.
Use Medication Carefully And Add Somatic Practices
- Medication can help focus but often suppresses emotions without resolving trauma.
- Combine pharmacology with movement, yoga, dance or psychedelic-assisted therapy for deeper processing and lasting change.
