How Do You Heal Trauma When Time Isn't Enough?

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Time doesn't heal all wounds, because trauma isn't stored only in your thoughts. It's stored in your body. When you're in fight or flight, your body floods with stress chemicals. If you never get to feel it and move it, it gets "swept under the rug" and your nervous system stays on high alert. Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is an evidence-based therapy that helps your body process those stuck memories, often in just one or a few sessions.

I know, because it happened to me.

Key takeaways

You can't think trauma away. Your body has to process the stress chemicals it was flooded with.

Animals shake off stress after danger. Humans override it and keep going.

ART grew out of EMDR. It's more targeted, and it's its own evidence-based model.

Bilateral stimulation (eye movements or hand buzzers) sharpens memory recall and calms your heart rate and breathing at the same time.

Your body speaks in sensations and images, not logic. ART speaks that language.

My story: "This is the last thing I'm gonna try"

Five years ago, I lost Tristin, my husband, business partner, and podcast co-host, to cancer after a four and a half year battle. I was his caretaker, then a single mom running the business alone.

Everyone says time heals all wounds. It didn't. Time healed some wounds. But the triggers kept coming back, several times a week, sometimes several times a day. My whole body would go cold and start shaking, like the shock after a car accident. One of my kids would get sick and my body would scream they have cancer.

I'd done all the things. Ketamine. Psilocybin (never again, and if you have trauma, please be careful). EMDR. I was still stuck.

So I booked a session with my friend Alaina Jo Chatterly, a therapist who'd been raving about ART for years. Driving to her office, I thought, this is the last thing I'm gonna try. Maybe this backpack of cancer bricks is just the new me.

I walked out two and a half hours later, and it was gone. The loops, the dread, the weight. It's been months. It's still gone.

🎧 Listen to the full episode: How to Heal Trauma When Time Isn't Enough

Why doesn't time heal all wounds?

When you're in fight or flight, your body floods with norepinephrine, cortisol, and adrenaline. Alaina asks the question nobody asks: where do those chemicals go?

You can't think them away. You can't say, "Well, that's done. He's buried. On to my new life."

In nature, an animal that escapes a predator crawls under a bush and literally shakes it out. Humans have the same instinct. But our big logical brains override it:

I'm too busy to fall apart.
I have kids to take care of.
I have a business to run and a funeral to plan.

So we sweep it under the rug. Again and again. And time doesn't clean under the rug.

Here's what I love about how Alaina sees it: your body isn't the enemy. It's brilliant. It shows you where you're stuck, through the cold pit in your stomach, the tight chest, the throat you can't swallow around. It's saying, hey, please take care of me. And we answer, I guess this is just who I am now.

What is Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)?

ART is an evidence-based trauma therapy that grew out of EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). About fifteen years ago, a therapist who was already using EMDR wanted faster, more targeted results. She changed the method so much that it had to get its own name. ART has since been through the research to stand as its own therapy model.

Alaina is trained in both. Her take: EMDR is wonderful, but it's broad, "kind of scattershot." ART is quicker and sharper.

What happens in an ART session?

You prepare the scenes: moments when you didn't get to feel it all the way, because you had to jump into survival.
You review them while your body reacts, on a smaller scale. A cold pit in your stomach, a tight chest.
Your body gets seen and felt. Sometimes that's all it needs.
You clear it away in your imagination, in a way you couldn't back then. Like standing under a hot shower and feeling it wash off.
You replay the scenes the way you want to remember them.

That last step is wild. Some scenes from my past now play with older me standing next to younger me, giving her wisdom and encouragement.

At the end of my session, I saw myself close a huge photo book of Tristin, our wedding, and all those cancer pages. I set it aside. Then I looked up at the mountains, and my family was on a ski lift (and I hate skiing), smiling and calling me to come. That image is what lives in my nervous system now.

ART vs. EMDR: what does the eye movement actually do?

Both use bilateral stimulation: eyes moving side to side, or buzzers in each hand. It's the same back-and-forth your eyes do in REM sleep, which is how your brain naturally processes the day.

According to Alaina, the research behind ART shows bilateral stimulation:

Sharpens memory recall. I remembered things I'd completely forgotten.
Stimulates the vagus nerve and acetylcholine.
Slows your heart rate and breathing.

So it brings the memory up and calms your body at the same time. That's the magic.

My nerdy add from running neurofeedback at the clinic: chronic stress changes your brain's blood flow and electrical activity, and the brain isn't good at resetting itself to a healthy baseline. It stays in hypervigilance to keep you safe. ART is like watching the sad movie again, but this time your brain and body write a different ending.

Is stored trauma keeping your body stuck? Mindset is step 1 of the Order of Healing™ for a reason. A body stuck in survival can't heal. 👉 Take the free Order of Healing™ Quiz and see which step your body is stuck on.

Why does trauma therapy feel "woo" when it works?

Alaina's soapbox, and I'm here for it:

"Your body, your nervous system, does not speak in words or logic. You cannot talk to it. You cannot make goals. You cannot make lists. Anything that's purely at a brain level will never touch what's below your cheekbones."

Your body speaks in sensations. Your deep subconscious speaks in images and metaphor, just like your dreams. ART speaks that language on purpose.

That's why listening to one more podcast or reading one more book doesn't change it. You have to experience it.

Why the therapist matters

Alaina stays deeply calm and present during sessions so your nervous system can sync with hers. She compares it to clocks on a wall that slowly start ticking together. I felt it. Every time I opened my eyes, she was just there. Not on her phone. Fully with me.

Does ART work for everyone?

Alaina sees major shifts in at least 9 out of 10 clients.

The ones it doesn't work for are usually:

Too "brain bound" to feel their body yet
Not ready to let go. If the story serves you, or you don't know who you'd be without it, it won't stick.

Her ideal client? Someone who's already done the homework. They've read the books, listened to the podcasts, they understand trauma. They've just hit a wall. The missing puzzle piece is their body.

After a session, she tells clients they're at a fork in the road. You can keep seeing the memory the old way, or the new way you just created. Whichever path you walk down is the one that stays alive.

Listen and connect

🎧 Listen to the full episode on the Gutsy Health Podcast.

Alaina Jo Chatterly works with clients virtually and in Lehi, Utah. Her links are in the episode show notes. Her sessions are usually 2 to 21⁄2 hours. Many ART therapists work in 1-hour sessions (some take insurance), so ask about longer sessions if you want to clear a whole storyline at once.

Frequently asked questions

What is Accelerated Resolution Therapy?

ART is an evidence-based trauma therapy that grew out of EMDR. It uses eye movements or hand buzzers while you review distressing memories and body sensations, then helps you replace them with new images.

Is ART better than EMDR?

They're related. Many people find ART faster and more targeted, often working in one or a few sessions. The best fit depends on you and your therapist.

How many ART sessions do you need?

Often fewer than traditional talk therapy. Some people clear a whole storyline in one longer session; others work in several 1-hour sessions.

Can trauma be stored in the body?

Yes. Stress chemicals and survival responses that never get processed can keep your nervous system on alert, showing up as triggers, tension, and physical symptoms.

Where do you start?

Healing your body starts with a nervous system that feels safe. That's why mindset is step 1 of the Order of Healing™, and why nothing above it holds until it's in place.

👉 Take the free Order of Healing™ Quiz to find your top 3 areas and know exactly where to start.

This post is for education only and isn't medical or mental health advice. Talk with a qualified provider about your care. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 in the US.