Turns Out Your Glutes Are Storing Secrets

September 19, 2025•6 min read

Emotions Aren’t Just Mental. They’re Muscular

You’ve probably heard it before ... maybe from me, maybe from your massage therapist, or maybe from that one reel that made you cry a little and then start stretching your hip flexors. “Emotions are stored in the body.” It sounds deep. But what does that actually mean?

It means your tight shoulders might not just be from your workout. They might be holding onto something from three Tuesdays ago that never got resolved. This isn’t woo. It’s biology. Your muscles aren’t just there to help you walk up stairs or carry groceries. They’re part of a constant feedback loop with your brain: reacting to your thoughts, emotions, and environment in real time.

Your Muscles Have a Direct Line to Your Brain

Muscles are emotional responders. Every time your brain perceives a threat, whether it’s a bear or a passive-aggressive email, it sends signals to your body to prepare for action. That means bracing, tightening, and clenching. Even when you’re not moving, your muscles are gearing up for survival.

Imagine your muscles as rubber bands. When you twist a rubber band, it gets shorter and tighter. That’s what your muscles do when you’re under chronic stress or emotional strain. The more tension builds, the more your posture and alignment are affected. And since muscles cross over joints, that tightness creates a chain reaction across your whole body.

Tension Turns Into Pressure Turns Into Pain

Here’s something most people don’t realize: muscles are the only tissue in your body that apply pressure to your bones. That means if they’re constantly tense, they’re also constantly compressing your joints, nerves, and spinal discs. This is why people with complete paralysis don’t develop bulging or herniated discs, because their muscles aren’t firing, so there’s no compression.

Now add chronic stress to the equation, and your emotions become physical pressure. That pressure builds up in places like your low back, your neck, or your hips, often without you even realizing what’s causing it.

The Front of Your Body Is Living Rent-Free in Your Pain

Let’s talk posture. Most of modern life is spent hunched forward. Driving, typing, texting, cooking, scrolling. We’re constantly living in front of ourselves. This makes the muscles in the front of your body (your chest, your hip flexors, your neck) tighten over time. That tightness pulls you forward and compresses your spine from the front.

But where does the pain show up? Usually in your back. So most people try to stretch or ice the spot that hurts, without realizing that the tension might actually be coming from the opposite side of the body. Treating the pain without addressing the cause is like seeing smoke in the kitchen and trying to put out a fire in the garage.

Your Nervous System Is the Boss (Even When It’s Wrong)

Your brain’s number one job is to keep you alive. When it senses danger, whether it’s a gorilla or a missed deadline, it triggers your fight-or-flight response. This tells your muscles to prepare for action. That’s great when you’re running from danger, but not so great when you’re just trying to make it through Monday.

If your nervous system stays in a chronic state of alert, your muscles stay braced. Constantly. Silently. Like overprotective bodyguards who never got the memo that the threat is over. This is why people feel sore or exhausted even if they haven’t “done” anything physical. The body is constantly working behind the scenes to keep you safe, but it never gets to shut off.

Why “Just Stretch It” Doesn’t Work

This is where traditional stretching falls short. Yanking on a tight muscle isn’t going to help if your nervous system still thinks you’re in danger. Real release doesn’t come from forcing a stretch. It comes from helping your body feel safe enough to let go.

That’s why I teach people to stretch with compassion, not ego. Use a strap, a wall, or even your own breath to ease into tension rather than push past it. You’re not trying to win a prize for touching your toes. You’re inviting your body to soften. Because often, you’re not just releasing a muscle. You’re releasing an emotion that got tangled up in your body when life got hard.

So What Can You Actually Do?

Let’s move from awareness to action. Here are five things you can do to start unwinding emotional tension stored in your body:

1. Breathe like you mean it. Slow, intentional breathing helps your nervous system shift from stress to safety. Try inhaling through your nose, exhaling through your mouth for just two minutes. This tells your brain, “We’re good now,” and helps your muscles relax.

2. Get curious about your tension. Next time your neck seizes or your jaw locks up, don’t just push through it. Ask yourself, “What just happened? What emotion might be underneath this?” You don’t have to solve it. Just notice it. That’s where healing starts.

3. Stretch with support, not struggle. Use a yoga strap or towel. Find the edge of tension, not the edge of pain. Hold, breathe, and give your muscle space to decide when it’s ready to release.

4. Move your body in ways that feel good. That could mean walking, dancing, wiggling, foam rolling, or laying on the floor and sighing loudly. Movement helps process stuck emotions. Don’t overthink it.

5. Rest. Like, really rest. Rest isn’t laziness. It’s medicine. Take five minutes to lie down, unplug, and breathe. Your body can’t heal if it’s constantly in defense mode.

Final Thoughts: Your Body Isn’t Broken

If your body feels like it’s fighting against you, please hear this: it’s not broken. It’s not too old. It’s not beyond repair. It’s just been holding a lot, emotionally and physically, without a break. That tension? It’s a message. It’s your body’s way of saying, “I’ve got you… but I’m tired.”

You don’t need to overhaul your life. You need a few moments each day to listen, breathe, and unwind. Because when your body feels safe, it can finally let go of what it’s been holding.

And that, my friend, is what it means to unveil the beautiful Beast within you.

Check out the YouTube Video Here!

Sources & References

1. Somatic Experiencing and Trauma Stored in the Body

Study: Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy
Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00093/full

2. Muscle Co-Contraction from Emotional Suppression

Study: Facial EMG as a tool for inferring affective states
Link: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://dl.icdst.org/pdfs/files/2e323a09c6205b4d4010e9992bbea835.pdf?utm

3. Pain, Emotion, and the Brain. Body Link

Study: Pain and emotion: a biopsychosocial review of recent research

Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21647882/

Kaitie Entrikin

Kaitie Entrikin is a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, and neuro-transformational coach who helps people heal their relationship with food, movement, their bodies, and most importantly, themselves. She knows firsthand that health isn't found in a meal plan or a workout schedule. It’s built in the quiet, in the everyday choices that either drain us or bring us back to life. After a childhood shaped by body shame and generational pressure, years of disordered eating, and a relationship that nearly erased her, Kaitie learned that real wellness goes deeper. It's in how we rest, how we breathe, how we treat our bodies when no one is watching. Through her coaching and her podcast Unveiling the Beast, she guides people out of survival mode and into something softer, stronger, and more sustainable. Because true health isn't about shrinking. It's about becoming whole.

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