I had a revelation the other day during class.

I realised that my jaw and neck tension is not only anger — which I already knew — but also anxiety.

I had not realised that part yet.

I thought I was just angry.
Angry at the patriarchy.
At capitalism.
At the state of the world.

But I am not only angry. I am also anxious. What a combination to hold.

Especially the pressure around the ears. That pressure was created by unacknowledged anxiety.

And strangely enough, this realisation felt relieving.

Because anxiety feels more workable than anger.

Anger can feel ancient. Collective. Systemic.
But anxiety?
To me anxiety suggests something I might actually be able to regulate.

And this is exactly why body awareness matters.

Because sometimes the body knows something before the mind does.

The body speaks in sensations first

For this kind of realisation to happen, two skills are needed.

The first is the ability to feel bodily sensations internally:
Where is the tension?
What kind of sensation is it?
Pressure?
Tightness?
Heat?
Numbness?
Constriction?

Photo by Ananya Dutta Photography

In neuroscience, this ability is called interoception:
the capacity to sense and interpret signals arising from inside the body.

Interoception is what allows us to notice:

  • a tightening jaw,
  • a racing heart,
  • shallow breathing,
  • heaviness in the chest,
  • or relief softening through the body.

And many people are surprisingly disconnected from these signals.

Not because something is wrong with them, but because many of us learned to override the body for years. Push through. Keep functioning.
Ignore the tension. The fatigue. The emotional discomfort.

Until eventually the body becomes loud enough that it can no longer be ignored.

Sometimes through pain.

Sometimes through exhaustion.

Sometimes through anxiety or chronic tension.

Sometimes through sleep:

difficulty falling asleep,

waking repeatedly during the night,

or waking too early with a body that cannot settle again. 

Sensations often carry emotional information

The second skill is more subtle.

It is learning to recognise which emotional state might be connected to a bodily sensation.

This is not always obvious.

Jaw tension may be anger.
Or stress.
Or fear.
Or control.
Or all of them together.

And this is where movement becomes incredibly useful. Because emotions do not only exist cognitively, they exist physically.

Different emotions organise the body differently. Joy moves differently than shame. Sadness breathes differently than anxiety. Pride stands differently than fear.

Photo by Elist Nguyen on Unsplash

In DMB, we explore this directly.

We invite emotions into the body consciously and observe:

  • how the breathing changes,
  • how posture changes,
  • whether movement expands or contracts,
  • where tension increases,
  • where release becomes possible.

I call this: body-informed emotional processing.

Not analysing emotions only through thought, but through sensation, movement, and embodied experience.

It was in this practice that gave me the insight I wrote at the beginning of the article. While we were exploring anxiety, I felt the known sensation around my ears, a pressure that feels like my head is pushed inwards. And then I knew – the tension around my ears is connected to feeling anxious. 

Try this yourself

Stand up if you can.

Remember a moment when you felt genuine joy.

Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash

Close your eyes and let yourself re-enter that memory fully.

Notice:
What happens to your chest?
Your posture?
Your breathing?
Your face?
Do you want to move?

Now try the same with shame.

Did you feel a difference?

Most people immediately feel that the body changes completely depending on the emotional state.

This is not imagination.

The nervous system continuously maps emotional states through bodily processes:
breathing,
muscle tone,
heart rhythm,
facial expression,
visceral sensations,
and movement impulses.

The body is not separate from emotion. The body is where emotion is experienced.

What happens when emotions are suppressed

A client once shared after this practice:

“After the emotion game, I realised that I reject some emotions, or that I do not experience some emotions fully anymore. It was an eye opener.”

I hear versions of this often.

Because many people learned early that certain emotions were unacceptable.

Too angry.
Too sad.
Too sensitive.
Too loud.
Too emotional.

So instead of expressing them, the body learns to contain them. And over time, this can become chronic tension.

Not every pain is emotional, of course. Bodies are physical and complex. But emotional suppression does affect physiology.

Research increasingly shows that chronic stress and emotional inhibition influence muscle tension, breathing patterns, autonomic nervous system activation, and pain perception.

Sometimes what we call “tightness” is not only muscular. Sometimes it is emotional effort. The effort of holding ourselves together.

Why this matters

You might ask:

“Why would I want to know what emotion is underneath my tension or pain? Isn’t it enough to take painkillers and continue with life?”

And honestly, sometimes painkillers are necessary and important.

But what if some other layer could become available?

A level of self-awareness where you begin noticing tension as it emerges.
Where you recognise what state your body is entering.
Where you can regulate and release before everything escalates into pain, shutdown, or exhaustion.

This is a skill.

And like any skill, it can be practiced.

Through breathing.
Through movement.
Through repetition.
Through learning the language of your own body.

Photo by Ananya Dutta Photography

Where this becomes practice

In DMB, we work slowly and safely to reconnect sensation, emotion, breathing, and movement.

Not to perform.
Not to force catharsis.
Not to “fix” yourself.

But to become more aware of what is already there.

Sometimes the body simply wants:

  • a deeper exhale,
  • gentle stretching,
  • shaking,
  • softness,
  • sound,
  • movement,
  • rest.

And often, when we finally listen, the body responds surprisingly quickly. Because many people are not disconnected from themselves permanently. They are simply out of practice listening.

If this resonates with you, I would genuinely love to hear from you.

Where is your tension?
Where is the pain?
What are you holding together?

You are warmly welcome to book a free 45-minute discovery call with me to explore whether DMB and 1:1 work could support you.

— Dr. Katerina Kandylaki

Bibliography

Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 655–666. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn894

Koch, S. C., Riege, R. F. F., Tisborn, K., Biondo, J., Martin, L., & Beelmann, A. (2019). Effects of dance movement therapy and dance on health-related psychological outcomes: A meta-analysis update. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1806. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01806

Mehling, W. E., Price, C., Daubenmier, J. J., Acree, M., Bartmess, E., & Stewart, A. (2012). The multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness (MAIA). PLoS ONE, 7(11), e48230. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048230

Price, C. J., & Hooven, C. (2018). Interoceptive awareness skills for emotion regulation: Theory and approach of mindful awareness in body-oriented therapy (MABT). Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 798. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00798

Tsakiris, M., & Critchley, H. (2016). Interoception beyond homeostasis: Affect, cognition and mental health. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1708), 20160002. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0002