[Healing Pages] Three “Body Speak” Archetypes

Move Heal Awaken Newsletter Gabriel Shaw

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“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
​– Dr. Wayne Dyer​

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Hello friends,

Most caring achievers treat chronic pain like a mechanical failure. As a broken part that just needs to be fixed. But when mindset shifts and standard physical therapies hit a plateau, the root cause is rarely structural. It is an internal disconnect. Your body is generating pain to send a message that your mind is actively trying to ignore.

Our bodies speak to us in a myriad of ways. Sending us subtle messages about the world around us, as well as our inner landscape in order to help us navigate both inner and outer terrain. Most of the time this felt sense exerts its subtle-yet-powerful influence over our mood and behaviour unnoticed. But occasionally these messages spill over into the realm of consciousness with more volume. The body literally demands our attention through the language pain, tension and fatigue.

To help you better understand what might be going on with you, I’ve outlined three types of somatic bracing that I have observed repeatedly in my clinical practice.

1. The Exhausted Survivor
2. The Blocked Transitioner
3. The Constrained Catalyst

The Exhausted Survivor

This person might look like a massive success on the outside. But their achievement, perfectionism or workaholic tendencies are a reflection of deeply rooted survival patterns.

When someone experiences trauma from a significantly stressful event or more subtle stressors taking place over a prolonged period, the nervous system becomes conditioned to repeat the motor-behavioural patterns that were once needed for survival, even long after the threat has passed. This has been well-expressed by Dr. Peter Levine. The historic flight-or-fight response was frozen mid-stream because it wasn’t safe or permissible to complete it at the time.

This can show up as a rigid need for control, hypervigilance or heightened reactivity. It tends to show up in the body when obsessive productivity is masking lack of self-worth and eventually leads to chronic pain, burnout or illness.

The Blocked Transitioner

We all experience challenging emotions. When a part of us deems it inappropriate to feel an emotion (mostly unconsciously), we develop physical bracing patterns in an attempt to suppress the emotions (what Wilhelm Reich called “character armour”). This can be a necessary survival strategy. But long-term emotional suppression has been linked to asthma, cancer, chronic pain and cardiovascular diseases.

Even in the absence of significant trauma, the added stress of significant life pivots—career transitions, big moves, retirement—can reveal the ways that we’ve been bracing. When you try to power through an identity shift the disruption in the nervous system baseline can force a pause.

On the outside, this person might look “fine”, but on the inside they often struggle with fatigue, old conditions flaring up, and intense internal pressure. They often feel blocked from fully stepping into their next chapter.

The Constrained Catalyst

Living a life that looks successful on paper but is misaligned with one’s values requires an immense amount of daily suppression. The energy required to maintain the facade must go somewhere, and it gets driven straight into the tissues.

This is often the “superman/woman” archetype. The person who carries a lot but is dealing with mysterious body pain and perfectionism.

This aligns deeply with Dr. John Sarno’s distraction theory. The brain creates a very real, acute physical distraction (like a blinding migraine or severe sciatica) because it is less terrifying for a high-achiever to face physical pain than to admit, “I am building a life I don’t actually want.”

The Invitation

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There is nothing “wrong” with you if you identify with any of these types. These are natural and helpful ways the body brings messages into your awareness. You have already taken the first step, which is recognizing it.

You have the option to continue your old pattern, but that way eventually leads to breakdown. The other option is to slow down and start to listen. Taking that step often requires containment and guidance beyond where physical and talk therapies reach. But it’s very possible and rewarding.

If you want to learn more about these archetypes, join my free virtual workshop:

“When the Body Speaks; Decoding the somatic roadmap to energy and freedom”

July 8th at 7:00pm.

Will you please share with one person who you think would resonate?

I’d also love your feedback on these archetypes. Did they match for you? Is there something you feel I missed? Thanks!

On the journey with you,

Gabriel

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Healing pages

• ​The Orange Analogy (2-min video)
  Dr. Wayne Dyer shares the similarity between squeezing and orange and when life squeezes you.
• ​Emotional Armor and the Cultural Performance of Strength (10-min read)
  The Institute for Human Psychology goes more in depth into emotional armour and how our culture is often our collaborator.
• Prose by John O’Danohue (from the book Anam-Cura)
  ​“It is a strange and wonderful fact to be here, walking around in a body,
  to have a whole world within you and a world at your fingertips outside you.
  It is an immense privilege, and it is incredible that humans
  manage to forget the miracle of being here.”

Thanks for being here with us. Did anything stand out to you? Please reply to let me know. We always enjoy hearing about your favourite resources, too.

Gabriel

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