Episode 3

March 11, 2025

00:11:30

Why You Want to Disappear and Hide: The Science of Trauma Survival and Healing

Why You Want to Disappear and Hide: The Science of Trauma Survival and Healing
Exiled & Rising: Trauma Recovery & Somatic Healing
Why You Want to Disappear and Hide: The Science of Trauma Survival and Healing

Mar 11 2025 | 00:11:30

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Show Notes

Your trauma body didn’t want to die—but it did want to disappear. This episode of Exiled & Rising explores the survival intelligence of the body when living through exile, war, and displacement. What happens when trauma forces you into hiding? How does the nervous system adapt to make you small, unseen, and safe?

Host Ana Mael, a genocide survivor, somatic therapist, and founder of the Somatic Trauma Recovery Center, unpacks the neuroscience of survival mode and how the body learns to shrink in order to endure pain. Through deep reflection, body-based insights, and trauma-informed somatic healing, this episode is a guide to understanding how resilience is not about heroism, but survival itself.

Key Topics Covered:
The Wound of Non-Existence – Why trauma makes you shrink and disappear.
Survival & The Nervous System – How trauma rewires the brain for protection.
Exile, War, and the Displacement Experience – How living in hiding affects identity.
Somatic Healing & Reclaiming Space – Body-based strategies to move from survival to self-mastery.
Breaking Free from Trauma-Based Invisibility – How to step back into your full existence.

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Somatic Trauma Recovery Center


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