We share a common grammar of stress with all animals down to the single cell.
When resources are abundant, when we feel safe and when we are attuned to our desires and curiousity, the natural movement of organisms is outward, in a synchronized pattern of expansion and relaxation.
Alternately organisms from the amoeba upward tense, retract and shrink inward when these conditions feel under threat. This is the familiar experience of stress that we can identify in moments through life.
This physiological language exists beneath our conscious awareness, operating through ancient pathways that prioritize survival over comfort. Our bodies are constantly sensing the environment, making split-second assessments about safety and resource availability. These assessments trigger cascades of biochemical responses that prepare us for either connection and restoration or protection and defense.
And the impacts of these internal choices can remain in our bodies far beyond the moment of decision
In modern life, these primitive stress responses are often activated not by physical dangers but by psychological threats – deadlines, social tensions, financial worries, and existential uncertainties. Yet our bodies respond with the same ancient programming: muscles tighten, breath becomes shallow, digestion slows, and our perception narrows to focus on potential threats.
This simple language of stress can impact every organ and tissue system in our bodies, as well as our relationships and sense of the world and Self.
What makes humans unique is our capacity to get caught in cycles of stress through anticipation, memory, and imagination. We can activate our stress response by merely thinking about a future threat or remembering a past difficulty. This cognitive dimension of stress means we can remain physiologically contracted for extended periods without natural resolution.
Ultimately, our work aims not to abolish tension, but to pair it with relaxation in a joyous unfolding dance.
Our somatic therapy approach recognizes this fundamental biological grammar and works directly with these patterns of expansion and contraction in the body. By cultivating awareness of these subtle physical states, clients learn to recognize when they’ve moved into defensive postures and develop skills to return to states of openness, connection, and ease. There is always room for connection!
Rather than simply managing stress intellectually, we help clients directly address the bodily patterns that perpetuate cycles of tension and vigilance. This embodied approach creates lasting change by rewiring the fundamental physiological patterns that underlie our emotional experiences and behavioral habits. Stress is an invitation to unfoldment and discovery..