When our bodies carry stress or other distressing emotions, it has a physical effect. Emotional experiences trigger our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which includes our Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). In layperson’s terms, we often refer to the SNS as our ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response while our PNS houses the ‘rest and digest’ activities. But what does this mean for us?
Those emotional responses, when activating our ANS, cause our muscles to tighten as stress floods the body because it’s preparing to run or fend off a threat. Our systems are responding to this stress the same way it would seeing a bear in the wild—preparing us to run, to hide, to fight. Our ANS is beneath conscious control, and it can’t always tell that day-to-day stressors aren’t as big as truly life-or-death threats.
If your stress is chronic or related to a traumatic event, especially when it’s ongoing or unrelenting, your body is constantly being flooded with those stress hormones that lodge themselves in your cells. The muscle tension becomes unavoidable, something too difficult for our body to break out of, which can have additional mental ramifications as we’re weighed down by this unfortunate state.
Much like other common body stressors—prolonged sitting or bed rest, injury from overuse, poor posture, etc.—this stress response puts tension in the body that can feel impossible to disrupt. These triggers can contribute to ‘knots’ in our muscles, making our day-to-day even more difficult with this chronic tension.
But massage directly helps affect the ANS through activating those ‘rest and digest’ activities and promoting decreased heart rate, stimulating digestion, promoting energy storage, as well as simply facilitating relaxation and recovery. On top of that, it also inhibits the SNS, meaning our ‘fight or flight’ response with its increased heart rate, inhibited digestion, and constricted blood flow, is forced into a break. Your body is given an opportunity to process through the trauma, pain, and emotions being held in your muscles.
This is why our bodies can have such emotional responses to the act of massage beyond the normal pain modulation and reduction. Those same feelings that caused the initial tension are still locked within the tautness and knots, so that when they’re finally released, our system is yet again flooded with that same initial feeling.
One way to counteract existing in a constant ‘fight or flight’ response state beyond massage is emotional regulation work, or reminding your body you’re not being chased by that bear. Activities like breathwork, meditation, or even literally slowing your body down as you’re running errands, remind you to be present and that your body can relax for a minute. The more we can get these gentle reminders to our ANS in-between bodywork, the better off we’ll feel within ourselves daily.
Written by: Annie Lindenberg, MFA Creative Writing, Menari Blogger