Ever notice your muscle twitch when you're mad? Or shake when you're sad? That's not a coincidence—it's a signal. Your body holds stories, even the ones your mind tries to forget.

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Your Tension Tells a Story

When the body’s in distress, muscles tighten. Trauma lives in that tension and often shows up in the jaw, neck, hips, shoulders, or as that mysterious ache you can’t quite stretch out. It’s part of the growing science behind the mind-body connection, and how somatic healing helps us release what words can’t reach.

Our bodies don’t move in ways the mind hasn’t already approved. That behavior gets stored – remembered, repeated, learned. Learned as a coping mechanism to help keep the peace between brain and body.

And once it’s learned, the body doesn’t question it. It just protects.

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Your Body as The Protective Boyfriend

Your body is like your mind’s overachieving boyfriend. He carries the bags, reads between the lines, keeps the peace, even when you don’t ask him to. He over-functions so your mind doesn’t have to.

But sometimes? He carries too much.

Shielding. Bracing. Absorbing. The body protects with good intentions, but like any partner who’s always on guard, it ends up tired… and misunderstood.

 

How to Start Listening to Your Body

Consciousness is key to staying in tune. Most of us move throughout the day so disconnected that we don’t notice the tension until it hurts.

There’s a kind of “fourth wall” the body puts up in survival mode – a barrier between what you feel and what you let yourself process. Breaking it can feel like betraying everything you’ve known as “safe.” But it’s also how you begin to heal.

The truth is, the body often knows how to calm down before your thoughts catch up. You don’t have to understand every feeling to release it. You just have to be willing to listen.

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Cover Photo by Ilona Panych