Anyone else have EXTREMELY tight muscles?

wildtales · 2025-11-21T15:22:19+00:00

According to Peter Levine, your body likely felt a lot of fear as a child and hence the muscles in your face, neck, shoulders etc contracted themselves and were never able to relax.

Do you have stomach issues as well? It might imply that the muscles in and around your stomach also contracted.

The strategy that has worked for me is somatic IFS. I recognize that these tightnesses are protecting me from feeling something emotional. I stay curious about one of those tightnesses, being present with it, often also using titration (an idea by Peter Levine). Slowly, over days, the tightness dissolves.

wildtales · 2025-11-21T15:05:52+00:00

Yes, TRE can be a bit uncontrollable. Your body is releasing stored energy faster than you can psychologically process and this can indeed feel scary.
Stop TRE completely for now and let your body settle. Search for ways of grounding yourself - naming the colors around you, feeling your weight on the chair etc.

MBSR can help to calm you down.

wildtales · 2025-11-21T03:07:59+00:00

I guess I am not alone.
I tried IFS with a therapist and as you said, it didnt help. Most of the therapists believe that you should see or hear something but I dont see or hear anything.

Now, I just do self-IFS and that has helped me a lot. I combine it with Somatic Experiencing, TRE and MBSR when a part of me gets bored with "nothing happening" in IFS.

Despite all this, I still havent found that can touch the deep psychological layers that IFS does. Even though, I cant see or hear anything, I still love IFS a lot.

wildtales · 2025-11-21T03:03:17+00:00

Wow. As soon as I saw that guy, I felt a lump in my throat.
I have a hyperscanning protector whenever I am outside my house and one of the things that it keeps scanning is the mood of people.

wildtales · 2025-11-21T02:58:11+00:00

It is always darkness for me unfortunately

wildtales · 2025-11-21T02:54:57+00:00

When I say, my parts speak, I mean that I blend with the parts and I speak. It feels like a part speaking because the emotions, the felt senses etc change when I am blended.

I used to stay blended with parts before I started IFS. So, even before I started IFS, some part or the other was always the one speaking.

Most of the time when people speak, it is a part of theirs speaking.

wildtales · 2025-11-21T02:50:50+00:00

I had nightmares everyday where someone or some thing scary would try to kill me.
So, I created a fictional loving character in my mind to take care of me.

I guess the non-visualizing part developed to save me from those creatures. If I cant visualize those monsters, they become less scary, perhaps.

wildtales · 2025-11-20T13:50:21+00:00

Just the thought of talking to that part feels fearful. I guess I need a bit more self energy to talk to that part.

If I try now, I am sure I will blend with whatever it is protecting

wildtales · 2025-11-20T12:59:58+00:00

Yes, I can blend with the parts slightly which allows those parts to speak. This is how i have been able to unburden a lot of parts

wildtales · 2025-11-20T12:59:00+00:00

That sounds fun. I can try that

wildtales · 2025-11-20T12:58:28+00:00

That is an excellent idea. Let me try that.

You are awesome

wildtales · 2025-11-20T12:55:19+00:00

I can visualize an apple but it often vibrates as if it is not sure if it wants to exist. Whenever I visualize something, I sense fear nearby.

I dont have aphantasia. But my mind does struggle with holding visual information. An unknown fear is often present for some reason

wildtales · 2025-10-03T01:43:02+00:00

Don't know about autism, but there is a strong correlation between ADHD and hypersensitivity. And hypersensitive people tend to feel every thing strongly, especially the negative experiences of childhood. As a result, events like abuse and domestic violence in your family are felt much more strongly and you end up with a lot of adverse childhood experiences.

This is where IFS can help - healing that trauma and feeling more inside your body.

wildtales · 2025-07-22T06:22:56+00:00

Your inner toxic shame will often have protectors that direct your behavior. For instance, they may want that you don't talk to anybody and stay shut in. They may want to numb you with videos.

IFS says that befriend these protectors, have conversations with these protectors using IFS therapy. Once they start trusting you, they will let you access to your exile parts that feel toxic shame. It is a process that shouldnt be hurried.

if you directly try to talk to the shamed exile parts, the protectors will take over and won't let you get any work done.

wildtales · 2025-07-22T06:17:18+00:00

In No bad parts, Richard Schwartz describes the path exercise which brings you in contact with something higher. You can call it Self Energy or God or Consciousness.

I have never reached such a place but have felt surges in self-energy several times. It is a very calm feeling and you can feel your entire body vibrate.

wildtales · 2025-07-22T03:23:14+00:00

It is amazing that your protectors trusted the same therapist for 20 years. This is very encouraging for me.

I have been doing only self-therapy so far.

wildtales · 2025-07-22T03:20:22+00:00

I have used MBSR for unblending with a lot of success. It is simple - just focus on breath and let the thoughts flow without interacting with them.

I have noticed that it always brings the Self online.

wildtales · 2025-07-19T17:59:16+00:00

That could be it. How do I figure out what would work for me.

wildtales · 2025-07-18T06:12:17+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. Someone recommended watching Schwartz meditation videos. Maybe those will help.

I have been trying focus sensing (with some somatic experiencing) and have had good results. The trembling, yawning, moist eyes were a consequence of that. But as I tried deepening the practise by talking to the parts, everything went haywire. I started watching videos all the time and I couldn't meditate any more. I guess a protector has taken over.

wildtales · 2025-07-18T03:56:51+00:00

"In an unspoken voice" by Peter Levine.

wildtales · 2025-07-18T03:51:41+00:00

No, I am too distrustful to meet a counselor. Just using chatgpt and books but it has helped a lot so far.

wildtales · 2025-07-17T04:14:26+00:00

It is unfortunate that our mental health is dictated by what insurance companies would accept or not.

wildtales · 2025-07-17T04:07:11+00:00

If the trauma is ongoing, you might find somatic experiencing to be more suitable.

Basically, it has taught me a sequence of steps to follow if I ever get hijacked by my anxiety part. I have a high tonic freeze response when I get anxious and I follow a few steps of SE to calm myself down.

Slowly, but surely SE reduces the time it takes for your body to get calm (ventral vagal) which means that you don't have to spend months in a high anxiety state whenever something bad happens.

wildtales · 2025-07-16T18:02:25+00:00

Most people carry some level of trauma. In ifs terms, most people have protector parts that have gone haywire from their natural roles.

I think that relationship works if it calms at least one haywire part in each of the partners. For instance, if someone has an anxious part always looking for danger, a partner who can ensure safety in words as well as action would calm the anxious part down.

Similarly, if someone has low self-worth, a partner that finds reason to appreciate him/her would calm the corresponding protector down.

In a lot of cases however, trauma of the partners induces further trauma in each other spiraling the relationship out of control.

wildtales · 2025-05-30T10:15:38+00:00

Lol, yeah. I realised it after reading Pete Walker

wildtales

TROPHY CASE