If You Can’t Feel It, You Can’t Heal It
“What is your body doing right now? Were you aware of it before I asked?”
Perhaps you’re sitting at your desk with your shoulders creeping towards your ears, or your head is pushed forwards as you squint at your phone screen?
Do you drive with your jaw clenched and hands gripping the steering wheel, or brush your teeth with your butt gripped and your stomach sucked in.
None of these things are necessarily a problem occasionally. The issue is when they become our default, and we no longer even realise we’re doing them.
As an osteopath, I often see people who have become disconnected from certain parts of their body. Some muscles are constantly working: gripping, bracing or holding tension. Others may be doing very little. A rounded upper back and forward head may become normal after years at a screen. Someone experiencing pelvic floor problems may constantly squeeze their pelvic floor because they’re frightened of leaking or prolapse, yet never allow those muscles to properly relax.
And sometimes the first challenge is simply learning to feel the difference.
Your brain is listening
Your brain is constantly receiving information from your body. Proprioception helps you sense where your body is and how it is moving, while interoception helps you notice what is happening inside it, including sensations such as tension, effort and changes in breathing. Together, these contribute to our overall body awareness.
If you repeatedly adopt the same position or muscle pattern, your nervous system becomes very familiar with it. What once felt tense, uneven or awkward can gradually start to feel completely “normal”.
Stress can reinforce this. When we’re mentally under pressure, many of us unconsciously brace: shoulders rise, breathing becomes shallower, the jaw tightens, abdominal muscles grip and the pelvic floor may tense too.
This is why simply telling someone to “stand up straight” or “relax your shoulders” rarely creates lasting change.
Awareness comes before change
Try becoming curious about your body during everyday life.
When you’re waiting for the kettle to boil, sitting at traffic lights or brushing your teeth, notice: Where is my weight? Am I gripping anything? Can I soften my jaw? Are my toes relaxed? Can my ribs expand when I breathe? Can I relax my butt, belly or pelvic floor?
Use a mirror occasionally. Set a reminder on your phone. Take a slow breath and deliberately release areas that don’t need to be working so hard. Move out of the position you’ve been holding rather than searching for one “perfect” posture.
Osteopathic treatment can help by giving you feedback about alignment, tension holding patterns, and areas that are overworking or poorly coordinated. Then between appointments you can begin recognising the habits you have developed over time.
Because once you can feel what your body is doing, you have the opportunity to change it.
And that awareness is where healing begins.
If you are interested in improving pelvic floor awareness and healing, I have a series running on social media at the moment and you might like to follow along (handle below).
Emma Wightman
www.the-sop.com
@stockbridgeosteopathy