When we practice Breathwork and embodiment practices like Sensual Somatics, the subconscious mind will speak to us through the body. This can look and feel like: temperature changes, tingling, sweating, shivering, shaking, tension, tetany, laughing, crying, coughing, heaviness, numbness, pins and needles, pain, twitching (to name a few) and sometimes these sensations are accompanied by visuals, memories, symbols and emotions. That may or may not make sense at the time.
When we experience something traumatic or uncomfortable in our lives and we don’t have the capacity or resources at the time to move through it. Usually because we’re children at the time. We suppress it, deny it, ignore it, or dissociate from it. But just as Bessel Van Der Kolk says “the body keeps the score” and the body remembers what the conscious mind suppresses.
Over the past seven years of working 1:1 with clients I have observed these different body-based releases and have made a list of my findings (along with research to validate those findings).
Here is a glimpse into what your body could be trying to communicate/pointing you in the direction of:
(specifically during a breathwork/somatic session but these could be applied to other modalities and physical injuries and health problems. Focusing more on physical body parts and the general emotions and energetics behind them)
ANKLES: Flexibility related to the future. Control issues, stubbornness and conflict with Mother.
ARMS: Fear of being powerful and reclaiming your own personal power and identity.
BACK: Support, structure, responsibility, and stability.
SHOULDERS: Carrying responsibility (financial/family) guilt about having fun.
MIDDLE BACK: Feeling responsible for others, blurred line between what is your issue and what is not. Humiliation, embarrassment; feeling dominated or controlled.
LOWER BACK: Debt, holding onto the emotional baggage of others. Feeling under pressure and hopeless.
BONES BROKEN: Support has been pulled out from under you. Losing control of your life. Fear of change. Self sabotage. Needing to break away from old habits.
BREASTS: Self-love, ability to give, receive and nurture. Trauma related to love, our mother or close persons.
CHEEKS: Insecurities, embarrassment. Feel intimidated by confrontation.
CHEST: Feel pushed away by a mother and also pushing others away. Fear of intimacy.
FEET: Fear of stepping forward, loss of direction. Resistance to change. Fear of moving away from family and family values.
HANDS: Blocks around receiving, giving, delegating without guilt. Working in the wrong workplace.
HIP: Balance and moving forward, being flexible, relationship problems, sexuality, confidence.
PELVIS: Ancestral trauma related to sexual abuse, feeling unimportant, cannot stand your ground, feel powerless.
WRISTS: Feeling caught in the middle of something. Fear of failure.
The beauty of attending a 1:1 session or group workshop is that we’re able to unpack this, and intuit what these sensations may mean for you specifically. But this is a pretty good starting point!
Take note next time you do Breathwork or some sort of movement modality like Sensual Somatic, Yoga or Non-Linear Movement of what sensations you feel in the body. Reflect back on this list and notice what comes up for you!
