21/12/2025
If you work with fight energy, the body needs somewhere for that energy to go.
Many practitioners are taught to soothe anger quickly slow the breath, calm the system, bring clients back into regulation.
But fight energy doesn’t always want to be calmed first.
Fight is an outward-moving survival response.
It wants resistance.
It wants exertion.
It wants completion.
When that energy has nowhere to go, it stays trapped in the body fueling tension, shame, and self-attack instead of resolution.
This is why clients can understand their anger
but still feel charged, restless, or stuck afterward.
The body never got to finish what it started.
Here are two simple somatic ways to work with fight energy in session or as integration outside the room:
Pushing against a wall
Use a ball or resistance so the client can push and win.
Let the effort complete. Tense all muscles.
Towel gripping and twisting
Invite tension through the arms, shoulders, and core.
Allow the body to express strength and exertion.
Then pause and track what happens next
breath, sensation, settling, or emotional shift
Bonus points: speak some affirming assertive language in there. Like get out, back off, this is my space, NOT TODAY.
This isn’t about acting out anger.
It’s about helping the body experience that anger can move, resolve, and settle.
Fight energy doesn’t need suppression
it needs safe completion.
Used gently and intentionally, these practices become powerful preparation for deeper trauma processing and integration work.
Used recklessly, you do unhinged rage releases and don’t integrate just yell.
Somatic tools help clients build trust in their capacity to move through activation
instead of fearing it.
This is one of the small, precise details that changes how trauma work lands in the body.
If this is useful, save it for your practice or your next session.