The Places Qi Hesitates: A TCM Reflection on Trauma

Trauma doesn’t always arrive with dramatic scenes or clear labels. Sometimes it comes in a sudden shock — an accident, an assault, a medical crisis. Other times it settles in slowly, through years of emotional neglect, constant criticism, unstable relationships, or experiences where you felt unseen or unsafe. Some trauma is obvious from the outside; some is quiet, almost invisible, carried deep in the body long before we have words for it.

From a biomedical perspective, trauma leaves traces in the nervous system. The brain’s alarm center becomes extra sensitive, acting as if danger might return at any moment. Memories can feel tangled or too sharp. The thinking part of the brain struggles to stay calm when the body senses even a hint of threat. Stress hormones rise and stay high. Muscles stay tight. Sleep grows light. Your whole system leans toward survival, even when you’re no longer in danger.

You might wonder whether what you’ve lived through “counts” as trauma. Many people do. But trauma isn’t measured by how big or small the event looked from the outside; it’s measured by how overwhelmed you felt on the inside.

Signs that you may be carrying trauma can be loud — nightmares, panic, sudden emotional floods — or incredibly subtle. You might feel jumpy or on edge for no clear reason. You may shut down or go numb when things feel too much. You might avoid certain places or conversations without fully knowing why. Trust may feel hard. Your body may hold tension that never fully releases. You may simply feel that something inside you is always bracing, waiting, or tired.

None of this means you’re broken. It means your body learned to protect you — fiercely, instinctively, and with everything it had.

And there is real hope here. The brain and nervous system can change. With safety, connection, grounding practices, therapy, or simply gentle support over time, the alarm begins to quiet. The breath softens. The body learns to trust again.

How Chinese Medicine Identifies Trauma

In Chinese medicine, trauma isn’t seen only as something that affects the mind. It is understood as an experience that settles into the whole body — into the qi, the organs, the breath, the heartbeat, the sleep, the spirit (shen). Trauma is something that disrupts flow. It creates places inside us where movement becomes stuck, too fast, too slow, or uneven.

Where Trauma Lives in TCM

Chinese medicine looks at trauma through the relationship between the five zang organs, each of which holds an aspect of our emotional and spiritual world:

• Heart (Shen): Trauma can disturb the shen, leading to insomnia, anxiety, restlessness, palpitations, or a feeling that you can’t “settle” inside your own body.

• Liver (Qi Flow): The Liver governs the smooth movement of qi. Trauma can cause qi to stagnate, showing up as irritability, mood swings, chest tightness, sighing, or feeling emotionally stuck.

• Spleen (Grounding): Worry, overthinking, and chronic stress weaken the Spleen, leading to fatigue, digestive troubles, brain fog, and a sense of heaviness.

• Kidney (Fear + Core Resilience): Deep or long-lasting trauma can deplete Kidney qi or Kidney essence, showing up as fear, hypervigilance, low energy, low libido, chronic exhaustion, or a feeling of being “on empty.”

• Lung (Grief + Letting Go): Trauma may settle in the Lung when there is grief, loss, or unresolved sadness — showing up as shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, crying easily, or feeling emotionally closed.

In TCM, trauma is not just a psychological wound. It is energetic, physical, and spiritual all at once.

Signs of Trauma Through a Chinese Medicine Lens

A practitioner may identify trauma when there is a combination of:

• Sleep disturbances: difficulty falling asleep, waking often, vivid or disturbing dreams.

• Qi stagnation: tightness in the chest or throat, frequent sighing, digestive tension, menstrual imbalance.

• Shen disturbance: anxiety, forgetfulness, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, feeling “scattered” or ungrounded.

• Kidney depletion: chronic fear, burnout, exhaustion that rest doesn’t fix, cold hands and feet.

• Breath imbalance: shallow breathing, difficulty taking a full breath, a sense of holding grief in the chest.

• Trauma pulse: practitioners may feel a pulse that is tight, thin, rapid, or uneven — a reflection of how the body holds the memory of overwhelm.

The tongue can also show signs: a red tip (Heart heat), teeth marks (Spleen deficiency), or a pale, thin body (Kidney or qi deficiency).

However, the fundamental principle of TCM is profoundly optimistic: What is stuck can be set in motion. What is weak can be strengthened. What is scattered can be collected once more. Meanwhile, acupuncture provides a calm, grounding environment where your nervous system can relax, allowing your qi to flow again.

If you feel ready, I’d be honoured to support you. You’re welcome to book a consultation with me, and together we can explore what healing might look like for you — slowly, safely, and at your own pace.