The Armour We Carry

Hello Beautiful Soul,🌷

Have you ever noticed that your body sometimes stays tense even when there is nothing to be afraid of?

Your shoulders slowly creep towards your ears.

Your jaw stays clenched.

Your stomach feels tight.

Your breathing becomes shallow.

You tell yourself to relax…

But your body doesn’t seem to know how.

Perhaps, at some point, your body simply learned to protect you.

In the early twentieth century, Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich began exploring the relationship between emotional defences and the body.

He developed the idea of what he called “muscular armour” - habitual patterns of muscular tension, posture and restricted breathing that could become part of the way a person carries themselves through life.

The idea is fascinating.

Because sometimes what once helped us cope can eventually become something we no longer need.

A tense jaw.

Raised shoulders.

A rigid chest.

A constantly contracted abdomen.

A body that is always slightly prepared for the next thing.

And perhaps the most interesting part is that we may not even notice it anymore.

We become so used to our own tension that we start calling it normal.

“That’s just how my shoulders are.”

“I always have a stiff neck.”

“I just carry stress in my back.”

But what if your body doesn’t have to stay that way forever?

This is one of the reasons I love massage.

Not because I believe a massage can erase the past.

It can’t.

And it doesn’t need to.

But touch, warmth, breathing and focused attention can create a moment in which the body is finally allowed to soften.

The shoulders can drop.

The jaw can unclench.

The breath can become deeper.

The muscles can stop working so hard.

And sometimes, when we finally slow down, we realise just how much effort we have been carrying without even knowing it.

I think of this as putting the armour down for a little while.

Not forever.

We all need protection sometimes.

Our bodies are incredibly intelligent. They adapt to our lives, our environments and the things we experience.

But we also deserve moments when we don’t have to be guarded.

Moments when we don’t have to hold everything together.

Moments when someone else takes care of us.

Maybe this is one of the quiet gifts of massage.

Not fixing you.

Not changing who you are.

Just giving your body permission to breathe a little deeper and soften a little more.

Because sometimes strength isn’t about holding on.

Sometimes strength is knowing when it is safe to let go.

With love,

Olena💖
Founder of inSoul Wellness