11/22/2025
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The body remembers everything it survives. Every tightening, every holding, every moment when an emotion was too much to feel fully is woven into the tissues in ways that are subtle but unmistakable under a practitioner’s hands. Once we understand the three autonomic states, we begin to see how they manifest within the fascia, posture, organ tone, and movement. The body becomes a map of the nervous system’s history.
In sympathetic activation, the fascia behaves differently. It pulls upward and inward, becoming denser, warmer, and more reactive to touch. You can feel it in the diaphragm that won’t descend, the psoas that refuses to soften, the jaw that stays rigid no matter how gently you cradle the head. The organs tighten as well. The stomach feels guarded, the liver feels congested, and the intestines lose their rhythm. These are not random patterns. They are the body preparing to move, fight, or flee. Over time, this creates postures that resemble bracing, characterized by lifted ribs, a forward head, gripping hips, or a chest that fails to open fully. The emotional patterns are equally clear. Clients often report irritability, restlessness, heightened sensitivity, or a feeling of being constantly “on alert.” The tissue mirrors the story.
In dorsal vagal shutdown, the patterns shift in an entirely different way. Fascia becomes cool, heavy, and slow to respond. It loses its elastic quality and begins to feel more like clay than silk. The organs can feel sluggish or almost silent. The breath moves minimally. The body may sink into the table as if gravity suddenly intensified. These are survival patterns, too. They emerge when the body has endured more than it can process. Posturally, this state creates collapse—rounded shoulders, a folded chest, a withdrawn abdomen, or a neck that tucks inward. The emotional presentation often includes numbness, exhaustion, disconnection, or a sense of being far away from oneself. Again, the tissue mirrors the story.
And then there is ventral vagal engagement, the state where healing begins. In this state, fascia becomes supple and responsive, gliding under your hands instead of resisting or collapsing. The organs start to move with the breath. The diaphragm opens. The ribcage expands—the tissue warms. The face brightens. Clients often describe a sense of clarity, groundedness, or a feeling of coming home to themselves. The posture reflects it, too. Shoulders ease back into their natural alignment. The spine lengthens. The pelvis finds neutral. The whole system becomes more coherent, more alive, more available for emotional integration.
When we understand how these states shape fascia, posture, organ tone, and emotional expression, the work becomes clearer. You begin to sense when a client is guarding emotionally because their physical tissue is guarding. You notice when a dorsal body is not ready for deep work because the system is still protecting itself. You learn to wait, soften, and co-regulate until ventral safety rises. Emotional release stops being a surprise. It becomes a physiological shift you recognize as soon as it begins.
This is the heart of somatic work. The nervous system writes its memories into the body, and with the right touch, pacing, and presence, those memories begin to unravel. Fascia melts. Breath returns. Organs move. Tears rise. Tremors release. The body prioritizes safety over survival.
