The body never forgets.

It holds your stories beneath the skin, tucks your grief into the soft tissue of your belly, braids your unspoken words into the tension at the back of your neck. Every sigh unsighed, every boundary unheld, every heartbreak you swore you moved past. It’s all there, written into the architecture of your bones.

Because what we do not process, we store.
And what we store, the body will eventually speak.

The Language of Symptoms

We are taught to see symptoms as problems to fix. A headache? Take a pill. A tight chest? Just breathe. An aching back? Stretch it out.

But symptoms are not malfunctions, they are messages.

• The jaw that clenches so tightly you wake with headaches… what have you been holding back?
• The stomach that knots and twists… what have you swallowed that was never yours to carry?
• The chronic fatigue… what part of your life is draining you more than you are admitting?

The body is not working against you. It is working for you, begging you to look where you refuse to see.

Where Emotions Take Root in the Body

Unresolved emotions do not simply fade. They transmute. They find a home. And if left too long, they settle into the physical form, whispering first, then shouting when ignored.

1. The Throat: Swallowed Truths and Unspoken Words

• Tightness, lump-in-throat sensation, frequent sore throats
• The body’s way of saying: “You are silencing yourself.”
• Suppressed words, withheld truth, the things you wanted to say but didn’t.

2. The Chest: Grief, Anxiety, and Unexpressed Longing

• Shortness of breath, pressure in the heart space, panic attacks
• The body’s way of saying: “You are holding too much without release.”
• Unprocessed loss, heartbreak, the weight of unshed tears.

3. The Gut: Fear, Intuition Ignored

• Bloating, IBS, digestive issues that come and go
• The body’s way of saying: “You are not trusting yourself.”
• When the gut clenches, when digestion stalls, it is often because something feels off, but we override it.

4. The Shoulders and Neck: The Weight of Responsibility

• Chronic tension, stiffness, pain
• The body’s way of saying: “You are carrying more than you should.”
• Over-responsibility, perfectionism, the pressure to hold everything together.

5. The Lower Back: Financial and Survival Fears

• Aching, tightness, weakness
• The body’s way of saying: “You do not feel safe.”
• The root chakra’s domain is security, stability, the fear of not having enough.

6. The Pelvis and Womb Space: Creativity and Self-Worth

• Menstrual pain, pelvic tension, sexual numbness
• The body’s way of saying: “You have disconnected from your own power.”
• Often linked to suppressed creativity, shame, or wounds from past relationships.

The Science Behind the Mind-Body Connection

This is not just poetic metaphor. Science tells us:

• Unprocessed trauma literally changes the brain. The amygdala (the fear centre) stays hyperactive, while the prefrontal cortex (logic, reason) shuts down.
• Chronic stress rewires the nervous system, keeping the body in fight-or-flight mode long after the danger has passed.
• The gut-brain axis means that emotional distress can alter digestion, immunity, and even hormone regulation.

Your body is not just responding to the present moment - it is responding to everything you’ve ever been through.

What Happens When We Finally Listen?

When you begin to acknowledge the message instead of silencing it, something shifts.

• The chronic pain softens when you stop gripping so tightly to what you cannot control.
• The stomach settles when you trust yourself enough to walk away from what no longer serves.
• The headaches ease when you let the words finally be spoken.

And sometimes, the body does not need fixing.
It needs witnessing.

How to Release the Stories Stored in the Body

1. Move What’s Been Stuck
• Dance, shake, stretch - not for fitness, but for freedom.
• Trauma and grief lodge themselves in the body - movement unravels them.
2. Speak What Has Been Swallowed
• Write it out, whisper it in the dark, say it to the wind.
• The truth held in is a weight too heavy to bear.
3. Breathe Where You Hold Tension
• Place your hand where the pain is. Inhale into it. Let it know it is seen.
• The body clenches where it does not feel safe - show it that it is.
4. Ask Your Symptoms What They Need
• Sit with the ache. Ask, "What are you trying to tell me?"
• Listen - not with the mind, but with the heart.

The Body Remembers. The Body Also Heals.

If you have spent years apologizing for your emotions, silencing your instincts, pushing through the pain - you are not broken.

You are being called back home to yourself.

The symptoms are not the enemy.

They are the invitation.

And healing begins the moment you say:

I am ready to listen.


Ready to be embraced in a luscious, heart-centred community and wisdom hub?
Get your first 30 days free in the Peri Moon App.