The Body Remembers: Understanding the Nervous System in Healing
We often think of emotional distress as something that happens in the mind. Yet many people notice that their body responds long before their thoughts catch up. Perhaps your heart races, your chest tightens, your stomach drops, or your muscles tense.
This is because the nervous system remembers.
When we have lived through stress, trauma, or emotional overwhelm, the body learns to stay prepared for danger. It holds this readiness in muscles, breath, posture and sensation.
This is not a failure.
It is your system trying to protect you.
Why It Can Feel So Intense
When the body senses something that feels familiar to past pain, it can react automatically, even if you logically know you are safe. This is why reassurance or reasoning doesn’t always help. The reaction isn’t coming from the rational mind. It’s coming from a place that learned to keep you safe.
How Therapy Helps
In therapy, we move slowly, helping your nervous system learn that safety is possible now. We use gentle grounding approaches, such as:
feeling the body supported by the chair
noticing the breath without trying to change it
orienting to the environment
using small movements to settle the body
As the nervous system feels safer, thoughts soften, and emotional balance becomes more possible. The work begins in the body, not through effort or force.
Over Time
You may notice:
more pauses before reacting
a greater sense of inner steadiness
a feeling of being more “in yourself”
connection where there was numbness
softness where there was tightness
Healing does not rush.
It unfolds, gently, in its own time.
If Your Body Feels On Alert
You are not too much.
You are not broken.
Your nervous system learned to protect you.
And together, we can help it rest.
→ You are welcome to reach out when you’re ready.