Muscle Bracing

Have you ever noticed that your body feels super tense for no reason?

That shall be called, muslce bracing, which happens with C-PTSD. Your body is always ready for danger, like you're about to get tackled in football.

It's a C-PTSD trigger response - your muslces tighten up without you even realizing it. Your bodys trying to protect you, but from what? Understanding why the body responds this way can be an important part of reconnecting with yourself. I wrote more about this in Your Body Has A Memory, including ways we can begin noticing what our bodies are communicating.

Complex trauma messes with your system. Your brain' gets stuck in survival mode, and your muscles follow orders. The nervous system plays an important role in how the body responds to perceived danger. If you’d like to explore this connection more deeply, read Healing the Nervous System from Trauma.

If you're always tense, have backaches for no reason, or feel like you can't relax- it may not just be stress. It could be your bodys' way of dealing with past experiences.

Healing isn’t about forcing the body to relax. Sometimes it’s about creating enough safety and space to notice what the body is doing without judgment. I explore this more in When The Body Feels Held, The Soul Can Finally Exhale And Begin To Heal.

What is C-PTSD?

Imagine your brain's alarm system going off all the time, even when you're safe. It is so very exhausting.