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The LOTUS Rises

A safe and confidential wellness support group.

09/26/2026

~💞I have shared this book in the past but, it's worth another share for this week!

For years I thought I was just an anxious person, and this book told me my body was keeping a story my mouth had forgotten how to tell.

I picked up "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk because my therapist recommended it after I told her I couldn't explain why I was so jumpy, why loud noises made me freeze, why I felt tired all the time even though I was sleeping. I thought it was going to be a dense medical book I would skim. I read every single word and highlighted half of it.

Dr. van der Kolk is a psychiatrist who has spent 30 years working with trauma survivors, veterans, survivors of abuse, accidents, loss. He explains in such a kind, human way why trauma doesn't just live in your memory, it lives in your shoulders, your gut, your nervous system. He shows brain scans of people who are triggered and how their speech center literally goes dark. That explained so much for me. No wonder I couldn't "just talk about it." My body was still in the past even when my mind was trying to be in the present.

This book didn't just give me information, it gave me permission to heal differently, and these lessons changed how I take care of myself:

1. My body wasn't betraying me, it was protecting me. I used to get so mad at myself for overreacting, for crying out of nowhere, for shutting down. He teaches that your body learned to respond that way to keep you safe once, and it never got the memo that the danger is over. It's not weakness, it's your nervous system trying to help. That one reframe made me cry with relief.

2. Talking helps, but it isn't always enough. I have done years of talk therapy and it helped so much. But he explains why some of us need to heal through the body too, through breathing, through movement, yoga, through feeling safe with other people again, through EMDR, through being able to play again. Trauma disconnects you from your body, and healing is about reconnecting.

3. Safe connection is the most powerful medicine. The most hopeful part of the book for me was when he says that being able to feel safe with other people is what literally rewires your brain after trauma. It's not just about fixing yourself alone in a room. It's about community, about rhythm, about being held, about choir, about theater, about friendships where you can breathe easy.

If you have ever felt anxious for no reason, if you have a history of trauma big or small, if you love someone who does, please read this. It's not an easy read, some stories are very heavy, but it is written with so much compassion. I finished it and finally understood that I am not broken, my body just remembers what my mind tried to forget, and now I can gently teach it that we are safe now.