How the Body Holds Stress

Hey there,

Darling.

I want you to take a deep inhale.

Now exhale slowly.

And just feel.

And then I want you to think about the last time you were really stressed out.

Not the surface level busy.

I mean,

The kind of stress where Something felt.

.

.

Genuinely overwhelming.

Maybe it was a deep.

.

.

And difficult conversation.

A financial scare.

Or a moment where everything felt like it was too much.

Where did you feel that in your body?

I'm willing to think and bet that you probably felt a little tightness in your chest and not in your stomach.

Maybe your shoulders were starting to rise towards your ears,

Or just maybe.

Your breath got a little shallow.

And it stopped altogether just for a few seconds.

And I want you to know that was not coincidence.

That was actually your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Here's to science.

When your brain perceives a threat.

Real or imagine,

It starts to send signals through your nervous system that tells your body to prepare.

Prepare for a fight.

A moment of fleeing.

Or even freeze.

This is basically a stress response.

And it is one of the most ancient intelligent systems.

In our human body.

Your heart rate goes up.

Your muscles.

Tense and tighten,

Your breath starts to shorten,

And even your digestion slows down.

Your body basically is immobilizing every resource it has towards these basic goal of survival.

And now here's what most people don't know.

That response was designed so when a threat arrives,

The body responds,

The threat passes,

And then the body returns to its reset.

That's a full cycle.

But most of the stress we carry today in this moment doesn't work like that.

Doesn't arrive and leave,

It actually starts to linger a little bit more.

The difficult emails that show up.

That hang out in our minds until midnight.

The relationship tension that never ever resolves.

And even the financial pressure.

Just kind of.

Impacts us in many ways.

Basically,

The world keeps sending signals our way and our nervous system just keeps responding over and over and over.

And basically,

When the stress response never gets to complete its process,

It stays in our body.

Not just as a memory,

But as a physical charge.

As a held breath,

As a chronic moment of tension,

As our jaw muscles continue to clench,

Even while we're sleeping.

And this is how our body,

Yes,

This is how our body holds stress.

The body holds what you can't put down.

It carries what the mind can't fully process.

And the work.

Of somatic practice.

Is to give that stored energy.

Somewhere to go.

Now these are not new discoveries.

Indigenous cultures and ancestral healing traditions around the world have always understood that the body is the first place where healing happens.

That grief.

Here.

Trauma must move through the physical portal before they can truly leave.

We're not inventing this.

We're remembering it.

Not by forcing it out,

Not by relieving what caused it,

But by gently,

Deliberately,

Intentionally creating conditions where the body feels safe.

Enough to release.

Now that might look like conscious breath,

Movement,

Or shaking.

It also looks like placing your hand on your chest and simply saying,

I am here,

I am present,

I am whole,

And I am okay.

Your body is not your enemy.

It is simply doing the best it can do with everything it was given.

And understanding how you hold tension.

Is not about fixing it.

Because nothing is broken.

It is simply about connecting to your body.

And speaking your body's language.