How NeuroAffective Touch Heals Dissociation: A Neuroscience Approach to Somatic Fragmentation

Discover how NeuroAffective Touch supports healing from dissociation, somatic fragmentation, and unresolved trauma by integrating body-based safety, nervous system repair, and relational regulation.

How NeuroAffective Touch Heals Dissociation: A Neuroscience Approach to Somatic Fragmentation

Dissociation can feel confusing, frightening, and profoundly isolating. Many people describe it as “being here but not here,” “watching life from the outside,” or “feeling disconnected from my body.” For others, it shows up as numbness, zoning out, emotional deadness, or losing time. These experiences are not a sign of weakness. They are the nervous system’s attempt to survive overwhelming experiences that the body could not process at the time.

But dissociation does not only affect thoughts. It affects the body. It fragments physical sensations, emotional presence, and a core sense of self. Trauma disrupts the relationship between mind, body, and identity, leaving people feeling scattered, unsafe, or disconnected inside their own skin.

This is where NeuroAffective Touch becomes uniquely powerful. Unlike talk therapy alone, which often cannot reach the implicit memory systems where trauma is stored, NeuroAffective Touch works directly with the nervous system to restore safety, integration, and embodied presence.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, NeuroAffective Touch is integrated into our trauma-informed approach to help clients restore connection, wholeness, and self-regulation from the inside out.

What Is NeuroAffective Touch?

NeuroAffective Touch is a somatic, relational, hands-on therapeutic modality developed by Dr. Aline LaPierre. It is grounded in developmental neuroscience, attachment theory, and polyvagal principles. The method uses skilled, respectful, attuned touch to regulate the nervous system and repair early attachment injuries.

Unlike massage or bodywork, NeuroAffective Touch focuses on emotional and relational development. The touch is slow, intentional, and supportive. It offers the body an experience of co-regulation and safety that may have been missing during crucial early periods of life.

NeuroAffective Touch communicates safety where words alone cannot.

Why Trauma Creates Dissociation and Fragmentation

Trauma overwhelms the brain’s capacity to regulate emotional and physiological states. When the nervous system cannot escape, fight, or seek safety, it may default to dissociation.

Dissociation serves as a biological protective mechanism by:

     — Numbing overwhelming sensations
    — Disconnecting from emotional pain
    — Distancing from the environment
    — Reducing awareness to tolerate threat

Although dissociation can protect a person in the moment, chronic dissociation impairs daily functioning. It disrupts:

     — Emotional regulation
    — Stable sense of self
    — Physical presence
    — Connection with others
    — Ability to feel safe
    — Capacity for intimacy

Many people with early trauma describe feeling “cut off” from their bodies or “floating through life.”

NeuroAffective Touch offers a pathway back.

The Neuroscience Behind Somatic Fragmentation

Somatic fragmentation occurs when the nervous system organizes itself around survival rather than connection. Trauma disrupts integration in several key areas:

1. The Polyvagal System

Trauma often forces the body into dorsal vagal shutdown, leading to numbness, collapse, and disconnection.

2. The Amygdala and Limbic System

Overactivation keeps the body on alert, leading to hypervigilance and emotional overwhelm.

3. The Prefrontal Cortex

Trauma reduces access to executive functioning, making grounding and presence difficult.

4. Implicit Memory Networks

Trauma is stored nonverbally in the body, not in words. These memories must be processed through sensation, movement, and relational attunement.

5. Attachment Pathways

Early relational trauma creates disrupted internal maps that shape emotional regulation, touch tolerance, and relational safety.

NeuroAffective Touch specifically targets these systems through the language of the body.

How NeuroAffective Touch Helps Heal Dissociation

NeuroAffective Touch supports dissociation recovery by working directly with the nervous system and the body’s relational wiring.

1. It Restores Safety Through Co-Regulation

Trauma often occurs without the presence of a supportive adult. Attuned touch gives the body an experience it may never have received: a safe, nurturing, regulated presence.

2. It Reconnects the Body and Mind

Touch helps reintegrate sensory, emotional, and physical awareness. Clients begin noticing sensations they previously had no access to.

3. It Heals Developmental Attachment Injuries

Gentle touch communicates attunement, presence, and care, which support the repair of early relational wounds.

4. It Supports Emotional Regulation

Slow, intentional touch stimulates the ventral vagal system, promoting calmness and resilience.

5. It Rewrites Implicit Memory

Trauma stored in the body is accessed and reorganized through therapeutic touch and relational presence.

6. It Reduces Shame and Self-Blame

The experience of being cared for at a nervous system level counters deep shame narratives that trauma often leaves behind.

7. It Supports Integration and Wholeness

Clients often describe feeling “more in their body,” “more real,” or “able to feel again.”

What a Session Looks Like

NeuroAffective Touch sessions are gentle, slow, and deeply collaborative. Clients remain fully clothed. Touch may be applied to areas associated with developmental attachment, such as the upper back, arms, hands, pelvis, or feet.

Sessions may include:

     — Grounding and sensory tracking
    — Guided breath awareness
    — Hands-on support to specific regions of the body
    — Relational attunement and co-regulation
    — Verbal reflection to integrate physical experiences

The goal is always safety, choice, and honoring the client’s pace.

Who Can Benefit from NeuroAffective Touch?

Individuals experiencing:

     — Dissociation
     — Somatic numbness
    — Emotional shutdown
    — Chronic freeze
     — Complex PTSD
    — Developmental trauma
    — Attachment wounds
    — Difficulty with embodied presence
    — Fragmentation or inner disconnection
    — Difficulty tolerating emotional closeness

Often find NeuroAffective Touch deeply transformative.

How NeuroAffective Touch Fits into Trauma Treatment at Embodied Wellness and Recovery

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, NeuroAffective Touch is integrated with:

     — EMDR therapy
    — Attachment-focused EMDR
    — Somatic Experiencing
    — IFS and parts work
    — Polyvagal-informed therapy
    — Mindfulness and breath-based regulation
    — Trauma-informed relational psychotherapy

This integrative approach helps clients rebuild safety, connection, and emotional resilience at both a cognitive and cellular level.

Trauma may fracture the body’s sense of wholeness, but the nervous system is capable of profound repair when given the right conditions.

A Pathway Back to Yourself

Dissociation and somatic fragmentation are not signs of weakness. They are evidence of the body’s incredible ability to survive. NeuroAffective Touch offers a compassionate, neuroscience-informed pathway to reconnect with your body, restore emotional presence, and rebuild inner coherence.

With attuned support, the body can learn to feel safe again. The mind can return home to the body. And the fragmented parts can integrate into a grounded, connected whole.

Reach out to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, or relationship experts, and start working towards integrative, embodied healing today. 

📞 Call us at (310) 651-8458

📱 Text us at (310) 210-7934

📩 Email us at admin@embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

🔗 Visit us at www.embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

👉 Check us out on Instagram @embodied_wellness_and_recovery

🌍 Explore our offerings at Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/laurendummit

References 

1) LaPierre, A. (2021). NeuroAffective Touch: Healing through the body in psychotherapy. W. W. Norton.
2) Porges, S. W. (2017). The pocket guide to the polyvagal theory: The transformative power of feeling safe. W. W. Norton.
3) Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we become (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

The Neuroscience of Movement: How Exercise Rewires the Brain for Mental Health and Emotional Resilience

Discover how exercise improves mental health by rewiring the brain, easing depression and anxiety, and enhancing emotional resilience and cognitive function.

The Mind-Body Disconnect in Modern Life

Have you ever noticed how much harder it is to feel motivated or hopeful when your body feels heavy, tense, or still? For many who struggle with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or compulsive behaviors, the body can start to feel like the enemy, sluggish, untrustworthy, or disconnected. Yet, neuroscience is uncovering something remarkable: movement itself can be a form of medicine.

Research suggests that exercise doesn’t just help us look or feel better; it literally changes the structure and chemistry of the brain (Raichlen & Alexander, 2020). It can regulate the nervous system, reduce inflammation, and activate neural pathways linked to pleasure, motivation, and safety. At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we integrate this science into trauma-informed, somatic, and holistic therapy to help clients heal at the deepest levels.

The Science: How Exercise Changes the Brain

When you move your body, your brain responds like a symphony coming to life. Exercise increases blood flow, oxygen, and neurochemicals that enhance mood, attention, and memory. The most profound effects come from changes in three key systems:

1. Neurotransmitters and Mood Regulation

Physical activity increases the release of endorphins, the body’s natural mood elevators, and serotonin, a neurotransmitter critical for emotional balance. These chemicals reduce feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and anxiety. For those recovering from depression or in recovery from compulsive behaviors, this chemical shift helps restore the brain’s natural reward pathways, which can become blunted by trauma or substance use.

2. Neuroplasticity and Growth

Exercise boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that encourages neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new neural connections. This means that regular movement literally helps the brain relearn safety and adaptability. For clients healing from trauma or disordered eating, neuroplasticity supports re-patterning of old, self-critical, or fear-based neural loops into healthier emotional and cognitive pathways.

3. The Nervous System and Stress Response

From a polyvagal perspective, movement is a direct means of regulating the autonomic nervous system. Gentle aerobic exercise, yoga, and mindful walking stimulate the vagus nerve, helping the body shift from chronic fight-or-flight activation into states of calm and connection. Over time, this rewires the nervous system toward balance and resilience.

Exercise as Treatment: A Natural Antidepressant and Anxiolytic

Exercise is increasingly recognized as a first-line intervention for mild to moderate depression. In fact, several studies show that exercise can be as effective as antidepressants in reducing symptoms of mood disorders without the side effects.

It’s not about intensity; it’s about consistency. Even 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, three to five times a week, can significantly improve mood and energy levels.

Think of it as a nervous system reset:

      — For depression, movement increases dopamine and serotonin, lifting the fog of hopelessness.
    — For anxiety, rhythmic movement releases stored energy from the body, soothing the physiological symptoms of fear.
    — For compulsive behavior, exercise provides a natural source of dopamine and structure, helping to regulate reward systems hijacked by substances.
    — For disordered eating, gentle somatic movement helps clients reconnect to internal cues, rebuild trust with their bodies, and restore self-compassion.

Exercise as Prevention: Building Emotional and Cognitive Resilience

Movement isn’t just about recovery; it’s about protection. Preventive mental health research shows that individuals who maintain regular exercise routines are less likely to develop depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline (Hogan, 2005).

Exercise improves executive functioning, the part of the brain responsible for decision-making, planning, and emotional control. It enhances hippocampal volume (the brain’s memory center), reduces systemic inflammation, and supports restorative sleep, all essential ingredients for mental and emotional balance.

In other words, regular exercise helps your body and brain become more resilient to future stressors.

From Fight-or-Flight to Flow: The Embodied Path to Wellness

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we view exercise not just as a physical practice, but as a somatic and relational practice, a way to communicate safety to the body.

Clients often describe feeling “stuck” in cycles of immobility, exhaustion, or agitation. This is the body’s natural survival response to chronic stress. When the body moves safely and intentionally, it signals to the brain that it’s no longer in danger. This can create profound shifts in mood, emotional regulation, and even physical pain.

Our therapeutic approach integrates movement with EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and Internal Family Systems (IFS), helping clients bridge the gap between mind and body. Through gentle, trauma-informed movement and mindfulness, clients learn to reconnect to sensations, self-soothe, and reclaim agency in their healing process.

Practical Tips: How to Begin Moving Mindfully

Starting doesn’t require a gym membership or marathon goal. It begins with curiosity and consistency.

1) Start small. Try five minutes of stretching, dancing, or walking outdoors.
2) Connect with your breath. Notice the rhythm of your breathing as a cue of safety and presence.
3) Pair movement with mindfulness. Walking meditations or yoga help strengthen the mind-body connection.
4) Choose joy over intensity. The best exercise is the one you’ll actually enjoy doing.
5) Integrate movement into therapy. Ask your therapist how somatic and movement-based interventions can complement your healing work.

The Hope in Motion

Exercise offers something many clinical interventions can’t: an immediate, embodied experience of agency. Every time you move your body, you remind your nervous system that you have choice, strength, and capacity.

For those living with trauma, chronic stress, or emotional pain, that realization can be revolutionary.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we help clients use evidence-based, neuroscience-informed tools, including movement, mindfulness, and relational therapy, to repair the nervous system, restore vitality, and cultivate lasting emotional well-being.

Because healing doesn’t always happen in stillness, sometimes, it begins with a single, mindful step forward.

Reach out to schedule a free 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, somatic practitioners, relationship experts, and trauma specialists and begin reconnecting with your embodied feelings today.

📞 Call us at (310) 651-8458

📱 Text us at (310) 210-7934

📩 Email us at admin@embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

🔗 Visit us at www.embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

👉 Check us out on Instagram @embodied_wellness_and_recovery

🌍 Explore our offerings at Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/laurendummit

References 

Craft, L. L., & Perna, F. M. (2004). The benefits of exercise for the clinically depressed. Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 6(3), 104–111. https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.v06n0301

Hogan, M. (2005). Physical and cognitive activity and exercise for older adults: a review. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 60(2), 95-126.

Mikkelsen, K., Stojanovska, L., Polenakovic, M., Bosevski, M., & Apostolopoulos, V. (2017). Exercise and mental health. Maturitas, 106, 48–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.09.003

Raichlen, D. A., & Alexander, G. E. (2020). Why your brain needs exercise. Scientific American, 322(1), 26-31.

Ratey, J. J., & Loehr, J. E. (2011). The positive impact of physical activity on cognition during adulthood: A review of underlying mechanisms, evidence, and recommendations. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 22(2), 171–185. https://doi.org/10.1515/rns.2011.017

From Mind to Body: How to Stop Intellectualizing and Start Feeling Your Feelings

Discover how to shift from intellectualizing emotions to truly feeling them in your body. Learn practical body-based strategies to calm anxiety, release unresolved trauma, and rebuild connection through Embodied Wellness and Recovery.

Thinking vs. Feeling

Have you ever felt deeply cut off from your body? You might know what you’re supposed to feel, or what you think you should feel, but in reality, there is a hollow space where genuine sensation should be. You catch yourself thinking about your sadness, your longing, your wanting, and yet what you feel in your body is minimal, muted, or even absent. When that happens, depression and anxiety often quietly take root.

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in trauma, nervous-system repair, relationships, sexuality, and intimacy. We believe the path to genuine emotional freedom lies not simply in talking it through but in feeling it through. When we stop intellectualising and start noticing bodily signals, we engage a robust neurobiological process that allows old emotional hooks to release.

Why Intellectualizing Feels Safe, and Why It Actually Keeps You Stuck

When emotional pain or longing arises, the mind often jumps to story-mode: “I should feel better,” “Why am I stuck again?” or “There’s something wrong with me.” Intellectually, we analyse the feeling, but physiologically, we bypass it. This feels safe because the body’s sensations, heart palpitations, guttural ache, visceral tension, are raw, unknown, unpredictable.

Unfortunately, though avoiding the body may feel safer in the moment, it perpetuates disconnection. Research in embodied emotion shows that our feelings are deeply tied to bodily sensations, not just to the thoughts we tell ourselves. For example, one large-scale study mapped bodily sensations associated with different emotions and found consistent patterns of felt experience across cultures. (Volynets et al., 2020).

In other words, the body knows the feeling even when the mind is trying to make sense of it. Ignoring the body's signals means the emotion stays lodged in the system. Over time, that creates chronic nervous-system stress, and symptoms such as anxiety, restlessness, and depression rise. American Psychological Foundation -+1

The Neurobiology of Feeling vs. Thinking

To stop intellectualizing and begin feeling, it helps to understand what’s happening behind the scenes. Neuroscience shows that emotions are not purely thoughts; they emerge from dynamic interactions between brain networks and body signals. Research reveals a “bodily map” of emotions: certain feelings activate distinct regions of the body, sensed via interoception (the brain’s awareness of inner body states) (Carvalho & Damasio, 2021). 

When trauma or chronic stress is present, the body’s nervous system often becomes dysregulated, stuck in states of fight, flight, or freeze, even when the mind is calm. When you’re intellectually analyzing your feelings instead of attending to body signals, you bypass the body’s natural regulatory mechanisms.

In contrast, practices that bring awareness to bodily sensation (somatic therapy, body awareness, interoception) help reconnect mind and body and facilitate healing at a deeper level (Sciandra, n.d.).

What It Feels Like When You’re Disconnected

Ask yourself:

     — Do you know you’re “supposed” to feel sad, anxious, or angry, but all you feel is a vague ache or numb emptiness?
    — Do your thoughts spin around what you should be doing about your feelings, rather than noticing what you are feeling?
    — Does your body feel tense, restless, tight, or heavy, but you can’t identify the emotion behind it?
    — Do you cope with wanting something (a relationship, a sense of belonging, more intimacy) but your body seems oblivious to the “wanting” and you end up stuck in frustration or emptiness?

If so, you’re likely intellectualizing rather than experiencing. That lack of bodily experience keeps emotion in a suspended state, which often translates into depression (“I feel nothing”) or anxiety (“Something’s wrong with me”) or numbing out altogether.

Why Feeling Your Feelings Matters

When you allow yourself to feel what’s happening in your body, something shifts. Instead of the emotion being trapped in thought and rumination, it begins to move. The body becomes the portal through which you release, assimilate, and integrate.

Here are the key benefits of shifting from thinking to feeling:

     — You regulate your nervous system by allowing sensations to surface and subside rather than battle them.
     — You increase your capacity for authentic intimacy and connection (in relationships and sexuality) because you’re present in your body.
    — You interrupt patterns of dissociation or avoidance that perpetuate trauma responses.
     — You reclaim agency: instead of being driven unconsciously by unnoticed sensations, you become responsive to your body’s signals.

How to Move from Intellectualizing to Feeling

Here is a practical roadmap you can use. Each step is designed to reconnect you with bodily awareness and help you sit with your feelings rather than avoid them.

1. Anchor Attention in the Body

Start by pausing. Close your eyes (if safe). Take three slow, deep breaths. Bring awareness to one area of sensation, such as your chest, belly, throat, or legs. Notice what’s happening in the body without labeling or judging.

2. Name Sensation, Then Emotion

Ask: What do I feel physically? Is there a tightness, a flutter, a heaviness, an ache? Stay with it for 30 seconds. Then ask: What emotion might this correlate with? Let the feeling emerge rather than force a label.

3. Allow Without Fixing

Many people jump to “How do I change this?” or “Why is this happening?” Instead, try: I’m noticing this feeling. I’ll sit with it for now until it changes naturally. Let the body’s tempo guide you.

4. Breathe Into the Sensing

Use your breath to soft­en the system. Inhale into the area where you sense the emotion; exhale and allow the body to expand or soften. By breathing into the feeling, you communicate safety to your nervous system.

5. End with Gentle Inquiry

When the sensation shifts (becomes less intense or changes in quality), ask quietly: What does this want from me? It might want attention, connection, movement, rest, or expression. Then respond gently.

6. Integrate with Support

Because patterns of disconnection often stem from trauma or nervous-system dysregulation, working with embodied modalities can amplify this process. At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we combine trauma-informed somatic therapy, nervous-system repair, relational work, sexuality, and intimacy integration so that you’re supported from mind and body.

What You Can Expect with Practice

When you consistently shift from intellectualizing to feeling:

     — The body becomes a source of intelligence rather than a battleground.

     — You begin to catch subtle cues of emotional energy before they become overwhelming.
    — The cycle of “thinking about feeling” breaks, and you start experiencing feelings, which allows them to be released.
    — You gain access to deeper layers of relational connection and bodily presence, which are important in sexuality, intimacy, and trauma recovery.

At first, it might feel strange or unfamiliar. The body might register sensations louder than the mind expects. But this is precisely where transformation happens. The nervous system learns it can feel and return to baseline. Those buried emotions begin to move; they’re no longer bottled up in intellectual loops.

Why Embodied Wellness and Recovery is an Expert Guide

At Embodied Wellness and Recovery, we specialize in precisely this terrain. With decades of combined experience in trauma treatment, nervous-system repair, relational and sexual healing, we offer a framework that honours the full mind-body lived experience. We integrate:

     — Somatic therapy practices that emphasise bodily signal awareness.
    — Nervous system regulation work (breathwork, movement, grounding).
    — Relational and intimacy work to restore a healthy body-mind-connection in relationships and sexuality.
     — Evidence-based neuroscience-informed approaches that track how sensation, emotion, and neurobiology intersect.

Our compassion-rooted, professional approach is designed for those who are done with thinking about change and are ready to feel through to change.

Take the First Step Today

Begin one of the felt-experiments above. Choose a moment today to pause, anchor into your body, name your sensation, and allow it without fixing. Notice what happens. Record what you feel. No judgement. No urgency. Just presence.

Over time, you will reclaim access to the more profound wisdom of your body, end the exhausting cycle of intellectualizing, and open into a life where you feel your feelings, allow them to flow, and free yourself from their hidden hold.

Returning to the Body as an Ally

Feeling your feelings is not about emotion-dumping or relentless self-analysis. It is about returning to the body as an ally. It is about recognizing that your nervous system holds memories, your body stores sensation, and your mind often bypasses them to stay safe. But safety doesn’t come from avoidance; it comes from integration.

When you shift from mind to body, from story to sensation, you set in motion a profound transformation: old emotional charge no longer rules you; instead, you respond, you feel, you release, and you live from a place of embodied wisdom, not intellectual overload.

If you’re ready to move beyond thinking and into feeling, emotionally, physically, relationally, Embodied Wellness and Recovery is here to support your journey. Let’s talk.

Reach out to schedule a free 20-minute consultation with our team of therapists, relationship experts, trauma specialists, and somatic practitioners, and begin reconnecting with your embodied feelings today.

📞 Call us at (310) 651-8458

📱 Text us at (310) 210-7934

📩 Email us at admin@embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

🔗 Visit us at www.embodiedwellnessandrecovery.com

👉 Check us out on Instagram @embodied_wellness_and_recovery

🌍 Explore our offerings at Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/laurendummit

References

Carvalho, G. B., & Damasio, A. (2021). Interoception and the origin of feelings: A new synthesis. BioEssays, 43(6), 2000261.
Nummenmaa, L., et al. (2013). Bodily maps of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(7), 2620-2625.

Harvard Health. (2023). What is somatic therapy? Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-is-somatic-therapy-202307072951 Harvard Health

Sciandra, F. Embodied Wisdom: An Exploration of Interoception.
Volynets, S., Glerean, E., Hietanen, J. K., Hari, R., & Nummenmaa, L. (2020). Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal. Emotion, 20(7), 1127.