27/12/2025
🌿 The Little Signals We Often Ignore
That little cough
A tight chest
A funny tummy
Groyn pain
Rubbing your eyes
And What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You
It’s rarely the big things that speak first.
It’s the quiet ones.
A tightness in the throat you can’t quite explain.
An inability to take a full, satisfying breath.
Arms that feel heavy, as if they’re pulling on your rib cage.
A dull ache low in the abdomen.
A gurgle, a flutter, a churn in your tummy.
Eyes feeling dry or crusty
Most people brush these off.
But they’re not random.
They’re not “nothing”.
They are signals.
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🌊 Your enteric nervous system is always listening
Inside your body lives a vast sensory network — often called the gut brain.
It doesn’t speak in words.
It speaks in sensations.
Pressure.
Heaviness.
Restriction.
Unease.
Relief.
You don’t consciously control it —
but it constantly informs how safe, supported, and coordinated you feel.
When something isn’t moving well internally —
when tissues are restricted, inflamed, or under strain —
the enteric system reaches out.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
🧠 Why these signals show up during testing and movement
When I test the body —
the competence of an arm, the support of the head, the ability to lift a leg —
I’m not just looking at strength.
Do the eyes blink or close as they cross from side to side
I’m listening for communication, integrated communication
Sometimes an arm tests weak, not because the shoulder is the issue —
but because the rib cage can’t respond.
Sometimes lifting a leg feels heavy —
not because the hip is weak —
but because the lower abdomen or pelvis isn’t free to move.
Sometimes stiff or unstable ankles tell a much bigger story —
about balance, safety, and how the whole body relates to the ground.
These patterns aren’t failures.
They’re messages.
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🔁 The body works as one integrated system
Your arms don’t work alone.
Your head doesn’t float independently.
Your legs don’t move in isolation.
Every movement is supported by:
• breath
• internal pressure
• fascial glide
• organ mobility
• nervous system trust
When something inside is restricted, the body adapts — often brilliantly —
but those adaptations come with sensations.
That tight throat.
That shallow breath.
That pulling feeling.
That abdominal ache.
The body is saying:
“Something here needs attention.”
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🤲 Why hands-on work and movement matter
These signals don’t disappear by ignoring them.
They respond to:
• skilled touch that restores glide
• movement that reintroduces rhythm
• gentle challenge that rebuilds trust
• awareness that tells the nervous system it’s safe to change
When the body feels heard, it often softens.
Breath deepens.
Movement feels lighter.
Coordination improves.
The “background tension” quietens.
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💛 A gentle reframe
Your body isn’t being difficult.
It’s being communicative.
Those little sensations aren’t problems to suppress —
they’re invitations to listen more closely.
And when you do?
The body doesn’t need to be forced.
It reorganises itself —
one small, meaningful signal at a time.
