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February 19, 2020

What the pain in your *ass situation does to your body

We often divide brains and bodies: we see a therapist for our brains and emotions and a doctor and trainer for our cells and tissues.

Yet these same cells and tissues hold the story of our emotions. Ought we have such a division between the brain and the body?

Therapists often have us do somatic exercises, where we feel what’s happening in our body. The interconnection that emotion feeds into the body is acknowledged.

So why are exercise professionals typically not also having us similarly examine what’s going on emotionally as we stress and release tissue?

In my role as a movement specialist, working with improving people’s movement capabilities and comfort, I have noticed that releasing the tension of the body also releases the tension in the mind. And that conversely releasing tension of the mind immediately calms the body.

Imagine walking around all day with your fists clenched. Would you start to feel tense? Is it possible that you would feel your ire rise?

If you imagine release that tension of those clenched hands, is your mind calmer? Are you more at ease? Do you breathe a sigh of relief?

This is what it’s like to carry around un-resolved shame, grief, anger or frustration. These might be years old. Our muscles tense against this underlying situation, which then creates a sense of mental distress.

Many of us are carrying around this tension in areas of the body that escape our attention.

For example, our glute muscles. Linguistically, we have a term for situations that irritate us, for we describe these as a “pain in the a**”.

Next time you describe something thusly, note if your actual bottom muscles have contracted or are holding tension.

When you release or stretch the glutes after being irritated by a pain in the butt, do you notice that you are calmer?

The abdomen is another area ripe for experimentation of the emption-to-body-sensation relationship. We have a rich tapestry of language around our abdomen: “gut feeling”, and “butterflies in my stomach” included.

These these feelings result in actual muscle contractions or tension patterns in the abdominal cavity. Our body provides muscular feedback to match our emotions, or our emotions are a result of our muscular alert system that a dangerous situation is unfolding.

So when we release the abdomen from tension, we may notice that nervous feelings subside.

The primary path given to cope with emotions in our culture is with a therapist. I would argue that an effective therapeutic program also need involve the body, for releasing emotions without releasing the body means the emotional residue and tensions are still left behind.

Our muscles have patterned for the tension and load in our life. Our joints have contracted to create false strength in order to bear the burdens of life.

If we wish to adequately process and rid our  body of these patterns, we must first simply acknowledge that these relationships exist.

Second, we must develop a vocabulary around them. What does the tension in our bum do to our brain?

Third, we must co-tackle the brain and the body. There’s a huge psychological and emotional piece to working out. And a huge somatic piece to therapy.

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