Tension Isn’t Just Physical

Muscle Memory, Cortisol, and the Trauma We Carry in the Body

You clench your jaw at night.
Your shoulders won’t drop — no matter how many massages.
Your calves feel tight. Your neck is stiff.
Your face feels heavy, asymmetrical, worn out.
You’re exhausted, but your body won’t fully relax.

That’s not just posture. That’s memory.


Muscles Remember What You Survived

When your body couldn’t collapse, it braced.
When your nervous system couldn’t regulate, it held.
When your heart broke but you had to keep going,
your body took over — and stored the unshed tears, unscreamed rage, and unprocessed fear into muscle.

That includes:

  • Jaw tension / Bruxism

  • Face asymmetry ("cortisol face")

  • Neck + upper back pain

  • Tight hips, calves, or hamstrings

  • Locked shoulders or ribcage (shallow breathing)

  • Headaches behind the eyes or skull base


Bruxism Is a Message — Not a Flaw

Grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw isn’t “just anxiety.”
It’s your body’s last line of defense — trying to survive a threat that may have passed… but was never fully processed.

Personal Note:

“After my chronic pain surgery — and while writing the script — I started releasing trauma from my system. And suddenly, the bruxism that I lived with for years… was gone. In two weeks, my face lifted. My muscles softened. The tension just dropped. It wasn’t magic. It was release.”

Botox Isn’t a Cure — It’s a Pause Button

You can freeze the muscle, and yes — it might help short term.
But the real source lives deeper: in the trauma loops, the grief you buried, the rage you couldn’t express, and the cortisol your body still thinks it needs.

You didn’t do anything wrong.
Your body protected you.
It did what it had to.

Now — it wants to exhale.

Cortisol Face Is Real

Prolonged stress or pain floods your system with cortisol.
That stress hormone:

  • Inhibits deep sleep

  • Alters your face shape (tension, inflammation, bloating)

  • Freezes expression

  • Keeps your jaw locked and nervous system stuck

So you’re not imagining it.
Your body doesn’t look “off” because you’re aging.
It’s because you haven’t felt safe to fully rest.


So What Helps?

It’s not just stretching or massage. It’s safety.

The body needs:

  • Emotional expression (crying, movement, journaling, voice)

  • Somatic release (breathwork, trauma-informed bodywork)

  • Grief processing (rage included — it’s sacred)

  • Nervous system repair (slow, safe, repetitive cues)

  • Sleep (not fake rest — real, deep repair)

  • Support (sometimes it takes a practitioner to hold the space)

You’re Not Crazy for Feeling This Much

The pain is real.
The tightness is real.
But it’s not your fault — and it’s not your forever.

Your body is wise.
And now, it’s speaking.

It doesn’t want to be numb.
It wants to release.
And finally — come home.