Understand how your body responds to stress and pain.
We often think of trauma as a moment in time a single event that disrupts our lives. But in truth, trauma is not what happens to you it’s how your body stores what happened, how your mind protects you from it, and how your nervous system continues to respond long after the event has passed.
Your reactions to stress whether it’s anger, withdrawal, emotional shutdown, or people-pleasing may not be personality flaws. They could be trauma responses. And the more you understand these responses, the more you can shift from survival mode to a place of conscious, regulated healing.
As Uzma Naqvi, a faith-based transformational coach, reminds us:
“Recognising your trauma responses is the first step. Healing begins when you stop blaming yourself for how you coped.”
In this article, we will explore the four primary trauma responses Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn and how each reflects your body’s intelligent attempt to protect you. We will also uncover how healing, rooted in self-compassion and spiritual connection, can help you move from reaction to regulation.
What Are Trauma Responses?
Trauma responses are automatic nervous system reactions designed to help you survive a perceived threat. They are not chosen consciously they are instinctual. Your body, without your permission, decides how to respond in the moment to keep you safe.
These responses are not signs of weakness. In fact, they are signs that your body did exactly what it needed to protect you. The problem arises when these responses become chronic patterns running your life long after the danger has passed.
1. Fight: When You Feel the Need to Control
The fight response is often misunderstood. It can manifest as:
- Anger or aggression
- Controlling behaviours
- Defensiveness
- Strong need to be right or dominate
At its core, fight is a way of reclaiming power. If you were hurt, violated, or betrayed, fight might become your armour. You lash out not because you’re heartless but because your heart has been wounded.
From a healing perspective, fight can soften when you feel emotionally and spiritually safe. When you realise that not every moment is a battlefield. That Allah is Al-Muhaymin The Guardian, and you don’t have to defend yourself at all times.
2. Flight: When You Run from Discomfort
The flight response shows up as:
- Overworking or overthinking
- Avoidance and perfectionism
- Anxiety or panic
- Feeling unsafe unless constantly doing something
Flight is the nervous system’s way of saying, “Escape! Run! Get away from the pain!” This could have developed from growing up in chaos, where staying still felt dangerous.
You might flee emotionally avoiding closeness, vulnerability, or silence. But in healing, flight is gently guided towards stillness. Towards safety in the present. Towards trusting Al-Wakeel The One Who Manages All Affairs, so that you don’t always have to run.
3. Freeze: When You Shut Down or Numb Out
The freeze response might look like:
- Feeling stuck, numb, or disconnected
- Brain fog or disassociation
- Difficulty making decisions
- Emotional flatness or lack of motivation
This response often emerges when escape doesn’t feel possible when both fight and flight have failed. So the body “freezes” to survive.
Freeze is a silent pain. On the outside, you seem calm but inside, you’re barely holding on. Healing freeze requires compassion, routine, body-based practices, and most importantly gentle presence.
In Islamic healing, connecting with Allah through stillness, salah, and reflective du’a can help unfreeze the soul. Al-Haleem The Forbearing meets you where you are, without rushing your process.
4. Fawn: When You Please to Feel Safe
The fawn response is one of the least known but most common in women, especially those raised in environments where love was conditional.
It manifests as:
- People-pleasing
- Difficulty saying no
- Suppressing your needs
- Merging your identity with others
Fawning is how you learned to survive by making others happy. By becoming who they needed you to be. But this comes at the cost of your own voice, your own truth.
Healing from fawning involves rebuilding self-worth, learning to set boundaries, and trusting that you are loved not for how useful you are, but simply for who you are by people, and most importantly, by Allah (SWT).
“Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.”
(Qur’an 2:286)
That includes your need to say “no.” That includes your healing boundaries.
From Reaction to Regulation
Recognising your trauma response is powerful. It gives you language. It gives you awareness. But the next step is even more important: regulation.
Regulation means calming the nervous system. It means teaching your body and brain that you are no longer in danger. That you are safe. That you don’t have to react the same way forever.
Uzma Naqvi’s coaching framework often includes:
- Breathwork and grounding
- Journaling with self-reflection
- Emotional release through spiritual practices
- Reprogramming limiting beliefs through subconscious work
- Somatic practices that anchor the body in peace
But most of all, she teaches women that healing happens in divine connection that as your nervous system calms, your soul draws nearer to Allah.
Spiritual Healing Through Trauma Work
Trauma disconnects you from your body, your relationships, and often, from your faith. Many women silently ask:
- “Why did Allah let this happen?”
- “Am I being punished?”
- “Why can’t I just trust and have tawakkul?”
These are not signs of weak imaan. They are signs of a nervous system trying to survive.
Uzma Naqvi gently reframes this:
“You are not spiritually broken. You are emotionally wounded. And both can be healed with love and divine mercy.”
Through her holistic approach, healing becomes an act of worship. Each moment you choose regulation over reaction, you honour Al-Jabbar the One who mends. Each time you soothe yourself instead of sabotaging yourself, you come closer to Ar-Rahman the Most Compassionate.
Healing Is a Journey, Not a Switch
You will not wake up one day and never fight, flee, freeze, or fawn again. Healing is not about erasing trauma it’s about responding differently when it resurfaces.
Progress looks like:
- Pausing before reacting
- Naming your emotions with honesty
- Asking for help
- Letting yourself rest without guilt
- Turning to Allah when your body feels unsafe
You don’t need to be “fixed” you need to feel safe enough to return to yourself. Safe enough to stop surviving and start living. Safe enough to see your story not as a shameful secret, but as sacred proof of your strength.
Final Reflection
Your trauma responses were never flaws; they were intelligent survival strategies crafted by your body and soul to protect you in moments of deep distress. Whether you fought, fled, froze, or fawned, you did what you had to do to survive. And now, you are safe enough to choose differently. Healing doesn’t mean erasing your past; it means meeting it with compassion, understanding, and divine remembrance. With each step towards awareness, with every moment you pause and respond rather than react, you’re not just regulating your nervous system, you’re reconnecting with your fitrah, your true self, and your Creator. Healing is not about becoming someone new. It’s about returning to who you were before the world told you to be afraid. And in that return, there is peace, there is power, and there is purpose.
Discover your patterns book your call now
If you’re ready to explore how your trauma patterns are shaping your life and how you can begin your healing journey with compassion and spiritual alignment, Uzma Naqvi’s transformative coaching is here to hold space for your growth, gently and holistically.