Holding yourself back by accident?

I was tuning into my client during her session last night. She has improved so much in our work together and it was time to go deeper.

As I tuned into her body, I felt a distinct pulling back. Have you ever been sitting in a theatre, and someone needed to get by your chair? You have to lean back, pull your legs to the side and back, constricting your body to make space. This was that feeling. A withholding and leaning back.

Hmm. And then it dawned on me.

This is what we all do when we are:

1- afraid of taking a next step

2- yielding to others, a.k.a. letting them go first

I do this all the time! And I don’t want to anymore.

I’m the type of person who loves to watch, wait and learn. I’m not the person who will immediately jump without some forethought. You can argue this keeps me safe but you can also argue this holds me back at times. Can you relate?

This energy of holding back can get stored anywhere – the digestive system (where it might cause constipation, diarrhea, or irritability in the bowel), the nervous system (where it might cause anxiety or feeling that change isn’t safe), the chest (where it might cause palpitations, difficulty getting really big deep breaths, or even lingering respiratory symptoms when you get sick), the muscles (where it might cause weakness, instability, or postural imbalances), and the list could go on and on.

One place I want to bring to your attention is the adrenal glands, because it can shift as you read these words. Our endocrine system is sensitive to our thoughts, emotions and stored energy within us.  When the body doesn’t feel safe moving through life, or feels a sense of hesitancy, the adrenal glands will be overtaxed. The brain will cause them to pump out more cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, they will become tired from having to shoulder this stress. And our health will start to suffer: we will be less resilient to stress.

“I just can’t stay up all night like I used to,” is a common example of the adrenal glands not being as strong as they once were.

So let’s just recognize this tendency to hold back energy (if this is you) and allow it to start coming to your awareness in every day moments. Maybe “oh I’m not sure if I’ll be too tired to go bowling” could become “yeah, let’s do it!” Or “I’m afraid to speak to my community group about my experience” could become “I’ve got value to add, I’m willing to put myself out there.”

👉 Look for every day moments where you might be holding your energy back, letting others go first, or keeping yourself small. And consider a new paradigm: allowing yourself to be pulled forward by life.

These simple every day moments can lead to big energy shifts and big healing in the body. And if you feel stuck with this, let’s chat. Energy medicine is the perfect tool to release this limiting pattern from your body. ✨