The Impact of Trauma on Reproductive Wellness

Trauma Therapist and author Resmaa Menakem defines trauma as experiencing Too much, too fast, too soon. Trauma activates the sympathetic nervous system, causing us to either fight, flee or freeze. The energy of traumatic experiences often stays in the body, mainly if there wasn’t an opportunity to process this experience through somatic healing, body or energetic healing therapies. It’s important to note here that the ‘energetic body’ is directly linked to the nervous system.

Physical trauma to the womb through medical procedures, childbirth, and sexual or emotionally traumatic relationships all trigger the same nervous system response. This can result in physical symptoms, including pain, recurring episodes of bacterial vaginosis, sexual dysfunction, infertility and other chronic diseases.

In my article Internalized Racism and its effects on Wellness and Reproductive health, I touch on how some of the trauma experienced is intergenerational and ancestral. We carry much of this stored energy from generation to generation since autonomic nerves course through the uterus and related organs. When a person is pregnant, the fetus is exposed to the nervous system triggers as well.

Healing Nervous System Dysregulation

The pudendal nerve gives sensation to the reproductive organs and is connected to the sympathetic nervous system, which governs our unconscious responses to perceived danger. Simply put, we may not be aware of how much energy is stored, waiting to be released and healed from the womb space. When the parasympathetic nervous system is stimulated, we activate the body’s capacity to heal, procreate and return to homeostasis.

The womb is a sacred container where new life is formed and incubated. When investigated, we may find that many chronic reproductive health issues are rooted in unhealed trauma and nervous system dysregulation.

When energy stays in the body, it hardens and calcifies, taking physical form. A Holistic approach to healing requires emotional and energetic therapy and nutrition targeted at nourishing the nervous system and restoration of the heart womb connection.