Constant bracing comes from a body that does not trust the present. Your jaw is clenched, your shoulders raised, your breath heldāpreparing for blows that are not coming but feel inevitable. You cannot relax because relaxation in your history meant vulnerability, and vulnerability meant harm. Your body is doing exactly what it learned: stay ready so you can survive what happens next.
Living braced means chronic tension, physical pain from holding, exhausting your system with preparation for threats that may never come.
Learning to unbrace means teaching your body that safety is consistent, that you can let down your guard, that survival no longer requires constant vigilance.
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Content informed by trauma research, polyvagal theory (Stephen Porges), somatic experiencing (Peter Levine), and nervous system regulation studies. For comprehensive citations and further reading, see Unfiltered Wisdom: The Book.
About the Author
Robert Greene is the author and founder of Unfiltered Wisdom, a US Navy veteran, and a trauma survivor with over 10 years of experience in nervous system regulation and somatic healing. He is certified in Yoga for Meditation from the Yogic School of Mystic Arts (Dharamsala, India, 2016) and affiliated with Holistic Veterans, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving veterans in Santa Cruz, California.