The Listening Body: Why Fascia Remembers What the Mind Understands
- jacquihoitingh
- Jan 21
- 2 min read
Many people come to therapy with insight.
They understand their history.
They know why they feel the way they do.
And yet, the body tells a different story.
A tight chest.
A knotted stomach.
A jaw that never quite relaxes.
A nervous system that won’t switch off.
This is because trauma is not only stored in memory - it is stored in the body.
Fascia: The Body’s Sensory Communication Network
Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps every muscle, organ, and nerve.
Far from being inert packaging, fascia is a sensory organ rich in nerve endings, constantly reporting to the brain about internal safety and threat.
Research in somatic neuroscience and bodywork confirms what osteopaths and Bowen practitioners have long observed:
fascia has memory.
When a person experiences acute stress or trauma and cannot fight or flee, the nervous system often enters a freeze response.
At that moment, the body does something intelligent - it braces.
Fascia contracts to protect, forming a kind of internal armour.
If that tension is not released, it becomes familiar, dehydrated, and habitual.
Where Emotional Patterns Live in the Body
Certain patterns are seen repeatedly in clinical practice:
Psoas – associated with fear and survival responses
Trapezius muscles – linked to chronic responsibility and over-holding
Jaw and TMJ – commonly hold unexpressed emotion, vigilance, and control
As long as this tension remains, the brain receives continuous “danger” signals via interoception - the body’s internal sensing system.
This is why insight alone is often not enough.
You cannot calm the mind while the body is still signalling threat.
Why the Body Often Releases Emotion Before Thought
Many people are surprised when emotion arises during body-based therapies.
Tears during massage.
Unexpected emotion in yoga.
A deep sigh or tremor during somatic work.
This is not regression.
It is release.
The body is letting go of stored tension - not reliving it.
Where Bowen Therapy Fits
Bowen Therapy works directly with fascia and the nervous system through gentle, precise moves followed by intentional pauses.
These pauses are crucial.
They allow the nervous system — including the vagus nerve - to register safety and reorganise.
Bowen does not force change.
It does not chase release.
It listens.
When fascia softens, the nervous system recalibrates.
When the nervous system settles, thoughts change naturally.
For therapists trained primarily in cognitive or verbal modalities, Bowen does not replace talk-based work - it complements it.
It completes the loop.
The Listening Body
Healing does not always begin with understanding.
Sometimes it begins with sensation.
The body has been listening all along.
When we listen back - gently, respectfully - it knows how to heal.
Listen to the Podcast
The Listening Body
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