De-Armoring | Releasing Body-Trapped Emotions and Trauma

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Perhaps the most important goal of Body De-Armoring (in British English: Body De-Armouring) is to support people in coming to emotional and trauma release. In this post, we’ll discuss what exactly is meant by “release,” and what the difference is between “emotional release” and “trauma release.”

Now, the term “release” with regard to De-Armoring is used in a sense of “setting free,” “allowing or enabling to move, act, or flow freely,” it’s about “emotional liberation” and Catharsis. It presupposes that certain emotions and/or traumatic experiences of a person are “trapped,” “locked-in,” or “blocked,” and in the case of Body De-Armoring specifically referring to body-trapped emotions and trauma (typically in the soft tissues at various body locations).

It’s thought that these trapped emotions and/or trauma hinder people to express themselves naturally and freely, make them feel unconsciously or consciously unhappy, and additionally cause a variety of psychological and physical health issues. By making emotions and trauma come out of their “hiding place,” people can face them with full awareness, digest them in an appropriate manner, to finally “let go” i.e “release” them, that is, giving certain feelings and experience a place in their lives and “closure.”

Trauma can be roughly defined as a “deeply distressing or disturbing experience,” which is usually classified in physical trauma and emotional trauma. Body De-Armoring notably occupies itself with releasing emotional trauma, that is, releasing the trapped emotional response to trauma. Hence, “trauma release” is a form of “emotional release.”

Nevertheless, not all emotional release is trauma release; certain emotions may be disturbing and upsetting, such as stress and anxiety due to one’s workload at the job, the intense daily commuter traffic, or the always loud neighbors, to give some examples, but these are not necessarily traumatic experiences. Yet, they may become a source of emotional trauma in the long run, that’s also true, and that’s why the division between “emotional disturbances” and “emotional trauma” is sometimes just a thin line.

So, certain emotions (without necessarily being trauma) — such as the aforementioned examples of stress and anxiety — may be highly disturbing and cause physical tensions or even (psychological or physical) illnesses, and Body De-Armoring may come of help in these cases to release those emotions and provide emotional relief.

Yet, in general, you will see that the phrase “emotional and trauma release” is often used together, almost as if it is one word or term. That doesn’t really matter as long as we understand the (often subtle) differences between emotional release and trauma release. That can help both clients and therapists to better discern what actually happens as result of a treatment, which also guides to what additional kinds of practices or therapies might be needed to heal or overcome health issues.

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