Using Breathwork to Heal Trauma from the Inside Out

Trauma is not just something we remember—it’s something we feel, carry, and often suppress. It shows up in the way we tense our shoulders without knowing, how we overreact to small stressors, or how we find it hard to fully exhale. Trauma rewires our nervous system and stores itself in the body, waiting for a safe moment to be processed and released.

This is why talk therapy alone may not always be enough. You can understand your trauma intellectually but still feel emotionally and physically stuck. Breathwork bridges that gap.

At Inner Summits, we help people reconnect with their bodies, release long-held emotional tension, and begin real healing. Breathwork is one of the most powerful tools we use to support trauma recovery—because it meets you where trauma lives: in your body.

What Breathwork Does That Talk Therapy Can’t Always Reach

Breathwork refers to a variety of conscious breathing techniques designed to influence physical, emotional, and mental states. It’s both a mindfulness practice and a somatic release tool—capable of calming the nervous system while also unearthing deeply stored trauma.

While therapy provides cognitive understanding, breathwork offers embodied transformation.

Trauma doesn’t always respond to words. It responds to felt safety. It responds to rhythm. And more than anything, it responds to breath. When you begin practicing breathwork regularly, you give your body permission to let go of what it’s been holding onto for years—or even decades.

The Science Behind Breathwork for Trauma Healing

The effectiveness of breathwork isn’t just anecdotal—it’s supported by neuroscience and physiology.

When you’re exposed to trauma, your body activates the sympathetic nervous system, also known as the fight-or-flight response. Your heart rate increases, your breath becomes shallow, and stress hormones flood your body. In trauma survivors, this response can remain chronically activated, leading to conditions like anxiety, panic attacks, hypervigilance, and insomnia.

Conscious breathing patterns—especially slow, rhythmic breathing—activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest, digestion, and recovery. This tells the body: you are safe now.

Regular breathwork helps:

• Reduce cortisol (stress hormone) levels

• Improve heart rate variability (HRV), an indicator of nervous system resilience

• Increase feelings of safety and emotional regulation

• Support trauma processing by accessing deeper subconscious states

Some forms of trauma healing can take years. Breathwork accelerates the process by working with the body directly.

Why Trauma Is Stored in the Body—and How Breathwork Helps Release It

When trauma occurs, the body may not have had the time, space, or safety to process it. If you couldn’t fight or flee, your system may have frozen—locking emotions like fear, shame, or grief into your muscles, breath, and even cellular memory.

This is why trauma is often experienced as:

• Chronic muscle tension or pain

• Shallow or irregular breathing

• Anxiety or emotional numbness

• A sense of being disconnected from the body

Breathwork helps reverse these patterns. It creates an internal environment of safety and awareness, allowing the body to release what was previously suppressed. During breathwork sessions, many people feel long-held emotions arise and move through them—sometimes for the first time ever.

Unlike traditional cognitive methods, breathwork works from the bottom up—from body to brain—allowing deeper integration of emotional wounds and physical tension.

Types of Breathwork for Trauma Healing

Not all breathwork is suitable for trauma survivors, especially those with complex or early childhood trauma. At Inner Summits, we use techniques that prioritize nervous system regulation and emotional safety, especially for those healing from deeply rooted trauma.

Some of the methods we use or recommend include:

Coherent Breathing – A calming technique that involves breathing in and out at a steady, even pace (usually 5-6 seconds per inhale and exhale). This balances the nervous system and is excellent for daily regulation.

Box Breathing – Often used in high-stress professions like the military, this involves inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding again for equal counts. It’s great for increasing focus and calming anxiety.

Somatic Breathwork – A body-based approach that combines movement and breath to help safely access and release stored trauma in a contained way.

Trauma-Informed Conscious Connected Breathing – A deeper, circular breathing pattern used in guided sessions with trained facilitators to explore emotional blockages and release stored emotions.

While these practices vary in intensity, the common thread is intention and safety. When done mindfully and with proper support, breathwork becomes a portal to profound emotional release and personal transformation.

Healing Is a Process, Not a Performance

There is no “right way” to heal trauma. There is only your way. But one thing is clear—breathwork offers a doorway to healing that doesn’t require you to talk, explain, or intellectualize your pain.

Your body already knows how to heal. It just needs the space, safety, and breath to do it.

Many trauma survivors describe breathwork as the first time they truly felt their body relax, cry, or speak. That’s not coincidence—it’s integration.

Through regular practice, you may notice:

• More emotional resilience

• Reduced reactivity to triggers

• A stronger connection to your body

• A greater sense of inner peace

You begin to trust yourself again. That’s where the real healing happens.

What Makes Inner Summits Different

At Inner Summits, our mission is to guide individuals up their personal mountains—not by fixing them, but by helping them remember their own inner strength. Our trauma-informed breathwork approach is rooted in somatic psychology, nervous system regulation, and embodied mindfulness.

Whether you’re just beginning your healing journey or looking for deeper layers of release, our facilitators meet you where you are—with compassion, skill, and integrity.

We don’t believe in quick fixes or spiritual bypassing. We believe in real, embodied healing.

When you choose Inner Summits, you’re not just learning a breathing technique. You’re reclaiming your life—one conscious breath at a time.

The First Step Is In Your Breath

Healing trauma doesn’t always require years of talk therapy. Sometimes, it requires closing your eyes, breathing deeply, and listening to what your body has been trying to say.

Breathwork can help you:

• Release trapped emotional energy

• Restore nervous system balance

• Reconnect with your sense of self

• Feel safe in your body again

This isn’t about avoiding your trauma—it’s about transforming your relationship with it. Breath by breath.

If you’re ready to move from surviving to thriving, we invite you to begin that journey with us. Book your personalized breathwork for trauma healing session today and discover what it means to truly come home to yourself.