It seems obvious that this anger was exacerbated by the prescribed isolation. Without access to safe social interactions to offer us resilience and access to the Green state, our bodies fall into the defensive Yellow state.

Blame is a coping strategy. But as a coping strategy, it is both easy to fall back on and highly ineffective.

Our body and brain physically heal faster and better when we’re in the Green state. As a result, architectural, acoustic, and aesthetic features that make us feel safe may make a real difference in our body’s ability to heal itself.

Trauma changes our bodies, in addition to our brains. The Polyvagal Theory offers an explanation for how these changes occur—and how we can deal with them.

Feeling threatened retunes our nervous system to respond to everything as if it is a threat. Just think about the many instances of road rage, in which a stressful situation can cause minor grievances to quickly and tragically escalate.

But the first step to breaking a vicious cycle is to acknowledge it.

Trauma is not defined by the actual event, but by how our nervous system responds to it.

Our bodies rely on the Yellow system for survival. But tapping into it is metabolically costly, and keeps us from properly healing and restoring our bodies—not to mention properly enjoying our lives.

Trauma retunes our nervous system to pick up signs of danger where there may be none.