Where the body holds what the mind has explained away
The body map is not a diagnosis and it is not a chart I apply to you. It is a way of asking a better question: not why do I feel this, but where am I feeling it.
awaiting asset
A better question than “why”
By the time most people arrive in my office they can explain their pattern in detail. They know where it came from. They have a name for it. And they are still doing it.
That is usually a sign the pattern is not being held by the thinking part of them. It is held lower down — in a jaw that tightens before an argument starts, in a breath that stops halfway, in a stomach that drops when the phone lights up.
So we go there. Not metaphorically. We find the actual physical location, and we work with it.
What tends to live where
These are tendencies, not rules. Yours may be somewhere else entirely, and your body gets the final say over any list.
- Jaw & throatWords that were not safe to say. A lot of people find their jaw has been clenched for years and they had stopped noticing.
- Neck & shouldersCarrying. Bracing for the next thing. The posture of being responsible for everyone.
- Chest & heartGrief and love, often the same place. Tightness here frequently turns out to be something held rather than something wrong.
- Diaphragm & ribsThe held breath. Where anxiety gets locked in and where a lot of shutting down begins.
- Belly & gutFear, and knowing. The part that registers a situation before you have thought about it.
- Hips & pelvisOld fight and flight that never got to finish. Frequently connected to safety, sexuality and boundaries.
- Legs & feetGround. Whether you feel able to stand, stay, or leave.
[Sharon to review this list — the regions and the wording should be hers, not a generic somatic template]
How we actually use it
We notice
Something comes up in conversation and instead of moving on, I ask where you feel it. Most people can locate it immediately once someone asks.
We stay
We slow down and give that place attention without trying to fix it. This is usually the part that feels strange at first and then obvious.
We let it move
Held things tend to shift on their own once they stop being ignored. Sometimes that is a breath, a shake, tears, or simply the tightness letting go.
What this is not
Working with where you feel something is not a medical opinion about what is happening in your body. If you have pain, a symptom or a condition, that belongs with your doctor, and somatic work sits alongside medical care rather than in place of it.
There is also no touch involved unless we have discussed it explicitly and you have agreed to it in advance. [Confirm whether Sharon uses any touch at all — if not, simplify this to a flat no]
Curious what that would feel like?
The free consultation is the easiest way to find out. We can talk through what you are carrying and I can describe exactly what a first session would involve.