Stress, your nervous system, and a body stuck in overdrive
Tension pain often doesn’t appear all at once. Your body can send signals for a long time: tight shoulders, a tense neck, back pain, jaw tension, restlessness in your body, poor sleep, or the feeling that you can no longer really settle down.
Under stress, your body automatically switches to action and alertness. That’s useful when you need to react quickly, but if that mode stays active too long, your body can keep holding on to tension. Muscles stay tensed, your breathing can sit higher in your chest, and your mind stays active.
Your autonomic nervous system plays an important role here. This system regulates many functions without you consciously thinking about them, such as heart rate, breathing, digestion, and tension or relaxation in your body.
The vagus nerve is an important nerve within your body’s rest-and-recovery system. This nerve runs between your brain and, among others, your heart, lungs and digestive system. It’s often mentioned in relation to rest, recovery, breathing and switching back down out of stress.
What this means in practice
To me, this is mainly a down-to-earth explanation of why touch, warmth, breathing space and attention can matter so much. Your body often only truly relaxes once it notices it’s safe to let go.
In my treatment I therefore work step by step. First with targeted massage and appropriate pressure, so I can feel where tension sits and your body can settle. Then I continue calmly, working with my hands and full attention, so your body gets time to relax further.
The goal is for your body to recognise again how relaxation feels, during the treatment and afterwards: noticing signals earlier, not pushing through for as long, and listening better to what your body is telling you.
Important to know
This explanation is meant to make tension pain and relaxation easier to understand. My treatment is complementary and focused on relaxation, body awareness and tension pain. For severe, sudden or unexplained complaints, shortness of breath, heart complaints or panic complaints, I always advise contacting your doctor or specialist.
Would you like to experience what my way of working feels like for your body?
The introductory massage gives you 45 minutes to experience how I work. Afterwards, you can calmly decide whether you would like to continue. There is no obligation.
Would you prefer to ask something first? Feel free to send me a WhatsApp message. I’m happy to think along with you.