Why Your Body Feels What Your Mind Can’t Say: Understanding Somatic Emotions

When a stressful week leaves your shoulders hunched up to your ears, or a sudden surge of frustration gives you a knot in your stomach, you aren't imagining things. 

We all experience emotions as physiological events. It can be momentary, like neck tension after a stressful call with your boss, or emotions can become “stuck” for much longer, leading to (VERY REAL) chronic pain and fatigue.

What Are Somatic Emotions?

In Tell Me Where It Hurts, pain psychologist Dr. Rachel Zoffness explains that pain and distress are constructed by a “biopsychosocial recipe”. This blend of biology, psychological state, and environmental context highlights how our body reacts physically to our emotional experiences.

So, is the pain in my head?

Your pain is very real. The sensation of pain in our bodies isn’t made up (even if doctors suggested so!) and our brain has the ability to heal it. 

When your brain perceives emotional danger, your nervous system triggers a cascade of stress hormones. Heart rates spike, muscles contract, and digestion slows down. This makes pain worsen! If an emotional event isn't processed, that survival energy stays trapped in our muscles and nervous system, showing up as: tension, stomach pain, muscle and joint pain, or chronic fatigue.

Like millions of other Canadians, I live with chronic pain. I viewed it as purely biological (a diagnosed genetic condition) until reading Dr. Zoffness’ book. As I began to write my “pain story” it became clear that each time my pain worsened, to the point I required medical intervention, it overlapped with a period of emotional distress in my life. 

Without processing or verbalizing our emotions, they become trapped in our body. Over time, our nervous system becomes highly sensitized.

A combination of perceived danger, past experiences, labels we attribute to the pain, and emotional distress impacts the level of physical pain we experience. 

If you’re struggling with constant pain, there is hope! Pain is constructed in our brain, which is great news! With the tools to rewire our brain, we can turn down the “pain dial”, desensitize our nervous system, and dismantle previously constructed pain pathways. 

3 Steps to Release Somatic Symptoms

Instead of trying to “think” your way out of physical tension, address the physical symptom directly.

1. Locate and Name: 

Close your eyes and scan your body from head to toe. Find where you're holding tightness (ie: clenched jaw, heavy chest) and describe the physical sensation neutrally without judgment.

Visualize what the pain looks like. Is it black pavement? Heavy bricks? Pointy spikes? 

Now, visualize what healing that pain would look like. A glistening waterfall? A sponge soaking up the pain? A smooth rock with no spikes?

Visualize gently bringing that healing to the part that hurts. If visualization sounds hooky-pooky, just remember that every time we dream, zone out, or day dream, we are using visualization. It’s powerful!

2. Complete the Stress Cycle: 

Give the trapped physical energy an outlet. Take 60 seconds to shake out your arms and legs, punch a pillow, or sprint up a flight of stairs to signal to your body that the threat has passed.

3. The Extended Exhale: 

Take a deep breath in, then exhale through your mouth for twice as long as 

the inhale. A prolonged exhale directly stimulates the vagus nerve, dropping your heart rate and returning your body to a state of rest.

Your body isn't failing you. It is trying to communicate what your mind hasn't had the space to process yet. 

Listen to it. Visualize the pain, then softening the pain with the healed version of it. Begin reconstructing your pain pathways. 

Remember: disease processes are not the same as pain processes! We may not be able to change a disease, but we can shift our experience of that condition. I have seen clients with MS, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Degenerate Disc Disease dramatically improve their pain, even though the disease itself persists.

Pain fluctuates and flares. That’s good news! 

Pain changing means that pain can change.