Tension: a relational view (part I)
Written by Shaina Cantino, edited by Adam Brady.
For many of us, our first impulse when feeling a tension in our bodies is to try to push it away. Rejectionary messaging — ‘You need to go away’ — may be motivating our efforts to stretch or relax. Tension is bad, right? Or is it? Could you dare to believe that allowing tension to exist might actually be the most effective route towards comfort?
What does it mean to say ‘yes’ to tension?
I relate to tension as a sign of our somatic system embracing a vulnerable part, attempting to increase safety, support, and comfort. When your body is not able to integrate an experience, to move through to the end of a tension into release on the other side, you may remain in a no-longer advantageous pattern.
We could call such unresolved tension-patterns ‘body memories’ or ‘stuck energies.’ I am talking about experiences that we didn’t get to fully process and are now subconsciously stuck in.
I am interested in how to move towards and into tension as a means to say to our bodies, ‘Thank you, I see you. I see how you’re trying to support this challenging pattern, let me listen to you.”
In some languages, such as French and Latin, the word ‘memory’ has its roots in the…
