The Body Remembers First

For a long time, I tried to understand everything with my mind. I thought healing came from insight. If I could just figure it out—trace it back, name it, reframe it—then I’d be free.

But I’ve learned that clarity doesn’t always come from thinking. More often than not, it starts in the body.

The body remembers before the mind does. It reacts before your story catches up. That tightness in your chest when someone crosses a boundary? That’s wisdom. That gut drop when something looks good on paper but feels wrong? That’s guidance.

I’ve had moments where my body screamed no and I couldn’t explain why. I’ve ignored it, overridden it, chosen what was logical—and paid the price. Because when the body isn’t safe, no amount of mindset work can override that.

The nervous system has its own language. And most of us were never taught to speak it. We were praised for pushing through, for being polite, for saying yes when we meant no. We learned to leave our bodies to survive.

So much of the healing journey—for me, and for so many of us—is about coming back. Not to some ideal version of ourselves, but to the animal wisdom that never left. The knowing that lives in our breath, our skin, our gut.

This is the work I’ve come to trust most: slowing down enough to listen. Recognising when my body is in truth, and when it’s in survival. Creating the safety I didn’t always have.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not always Instagrammable. But it’s real. And it’s where freedom begins.

If your body’s been speaking to you—through pain, tension, fatigue, restlessness—pause. Listen. It might be trying to bring you home.