What Is Myofascial Release? And How It Can Help You Heal Trauma Stored in the Body

If you’ve ever felt tightness, pain, or heaviness in your body that you know isn’t just physical... you’re not imagining it.Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind — it lives in the body. The subconscious also is in the body, so if you want to resolve limited ways of thinking you will need to address the body and the subconscious mind. One of the most powerful tools we have to release that stored trauma is something called myofascial release.

Whether you’ve been dealing with chronic tension, nervous system dysregulation, anxiety, or even emotional numbness, this gentle yet powerful practice can help you reconnect to your body and feel safe again.

What Is Myofascial Release?

Myofascial release is a hands-on technique that targets the fascia — the connective tissue that wraps around every muscle, bone, nerve, and organ in your body.

Fascia is like a spiderweb of communication — it holds everything together and sends signals throughout the body. When you experience trauma (emotional, physical, or energetic), that fascia can tighten, harden, or “freeze” in certain places.This is why even years after a traumatic event, you may still feel unexplained tension in your jaw, neck, hips, or chest.

Myofascial release gently unwinds this tension — manually or through movement — allowing your body to let go and return to its natural, relaxed state.

Trauma Lives in the Fascia

When trauma occurs, our body’s response often includes contraction — muscles tighten, breath shortens, and energy locks in place. If the trauma isn’t fully processed, those physical responses stay stuck, creating patterns of:

  • Chronic pain or stiffness

  • Anxiety and hypervigilance

  • Fatigue or burnout

  • Emotional disconnection

  • Fight, flight, or freeze mode

Myofascial release helps to melt these frozen patterns. And it does so gradually, so it is important to be consistent in your practice. Doing 10 minutes every day is better than doing an hour of maneuvers once a week. When you work directly with the body’s fascia, you slowly begin to unravel trauma at the root, restoring safety and flow in the nervous system. This allows the body to heal without getting the mind involved or needing to talk about it, or understand it rationally. 

The Benefits of Myofascial Release for Trauma Healing

Here’s what people often experience with consistent myofascial release:

  • Deep relaxation and nervous system regulation

  • Improved emotional resilience

  • Greater range of motion and reduced pain

  • Feelings of spaciousness and lightness in the body

  • Spontaneous emotional release (tears, laughter, insight)

  • A stronger connection to intuition and embodied presence

It’s not just physical — it’s energetic and emotional healing.

How to Practice Myofascial Release 

Work with a Practitioner

A trained myofascial release therapist can provide personalized, hands-on support to target the specific areas where your body is holding tension or trauma. If you’re just getting started, working with someone one-on-one can be deeply helpful, especially if you’ve experienced intense trauma or dissociation. As always make sure to work with someone that you feel safe with, and that you trust. I find that when I work with a practitioner I have deeper releases because my body knows that someone is holding the space for me to go further then I would on my own. 

At-Home Option: Try Human Garage

If working with a practitioner isn’t accessible right now, you can start at home with Human Garage — a powerful self-healing movement method that teaches you to unwind fascia through guided sequences. Human Garage’s free videos, programs, and tools are trauma-informed and fascia-focused. You’ll learn how to gently move, shake, and open the body to release stored energy and emotion. This is an incredible way to rebuild a relationship with your body. And it is so safe and gentle because your body will never go to a place that it can’t handle. Start here: https://humangarage.net


Your body remembers everything  — and it also knows how to let it go and heal. Myofascial release is one of the most effective, trauma-informed ways to access healing without having to “re-live” your past. Whether you’ve experienced sexual trauma, emotional wounding, or chronic stress, this practice can gently help you reclaim your breath, your body, and your sense of safety. You don’t need to force anything. You don’t need to rush. All you need is a willingness to come home to yourself — one release at a time.

FOUND THIS ARTICLE HELPFUL?

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❤️Looking for more support navigating childhood sexual trauma? Buy my book, Shattered to Shine: You Heal Yourself, and the Journal to go with it!

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AJM