Tension VS Trauma: Understanding the Psoas, the Shaking Response and Trauma Release

There’s a moment that can feel unfamiliar, even alarming, if you’ve never experienced it before. Your body starts to shake. Not from fear. Not from cold... But from something deeper...something ancient.

This is not dysfunction. This is release.

Is there a Difference between Tension and Trauma in the Body?

If we were sitting at coffee and you were asking me this question. I'd say no, because there isn't really a difference.

The body doesn't compute this is trauma. It's storing what is happening as tension...... and SURVIVING THIS MOMENT is the most important thing it needs to do.

The body holds onto trauma... stores it... hides it... so you can continue to function.

Releasing Trauma stored in the Psoas

You begin to notice the tightness in you lower back... in your hips... and pelvis. You become a little more rigid; closed off. In yoga, we'd explain this tightness as a form of preservation.... But it's no coincidence, your psoas muscles, which connect the spine to the legs and contract during fight-or-flight responses creating lower back tension. Chronic, unresolved trauma or stress keeps these deep hip flexors tight, causing lower back pain, hip issues, and postural issues like hyperlordosis.

What Is Trauma in the Body?

Trauma isn’t just what happened to you. It’s what your body had to hold onto when it didn’t have the capacity, safety, or support to fully process an experience.

When we experience stress or threat, the nervous system activates a survival response:

• Fight

• Flight

• Freeze

  
  

But often, especially in modern life, we don’t complete the cycle. We override it.We suppress it. We move on. And the body… remembers.

fetal position, the original safety position of the human body

The Role of the Psoas in Trauma Release: Your Survival Muscle

The psoas muscle (pronounced so-az) is one of the deepest muscles in the body. It connects your spine to your legs and plays a major role in posture, stability, and movement.

But more importantly—it is deeply tied to your survival response.

When you perceive danger, the psoas contracts to prepare you to:

• Curl into protection

• Run

• Brace

  
  

  

  Fetal position, soothing technique

If that energy doesn’t get released, the psoas can stay in a chronic state of tension.

This can show up as:

• Tight hips

• Lower back pain

• Anxiety or restlessness

• Feeling “on edge” without knowing why

Many animals once caught will lay "dead" as a trauma response - a survival technique... be able to get up and escape... only to shake off the trauma as a body reset.

The Shaking Response: Your Body Completing the Cycle

In the wild, animals naturally shake after a threat. A deer escapes a predator… and then trembles. This is how the nervous system discharges excess energy and returns to baseline. Humans have this same built-in mechanism. We’ve just been conditioned to suppress it.

When your body begins to shake during rest, breathwork, or specific movements, it can be:

• A neurogenic tremor

• A natural unwinding of stored tension

• The nervous system saying: “It’s safe now.”

We've been told to NOT openly heal. Shaking, releasing trauma (emotions) is weak. So, we repress our feelings... holding onto the trauma.

Why We’ve Lost Trust in This Response

Most of us were taught:

• “Stop shaking.”

• “Calm down.”

• “Hold it together.”

So we did. We learned to override the body’s wisdom in favor of control. But healing isn’t about more control.It’s about reconnection.

What It Feels Like to Let the Body Release

When you allow the shaking response, you might notice:

• Gentle or intense tremors in the hips or legs

• Waves of heat or emotion

• Spontaneous breath shifts

• A sense of relief, lightness, or even fatigue afterward

There is no “right” way it looks. The key is safety and awareness.

Modified HAPPY BABY POSE, sanskrit = Ananda Balasana (-nan-dah bah-LAHS-anna).

How to Begin Exploring This Safely

You don’t have to force anything. In fact, please don’t. Instead, start with:

• Grounded movement (slow yoga, especially hip openers - like Happy Baby Pose)

• Breath awareness

• Lying on your back with knees bent and feet on the floor

• Noticing sensation without trying to change it

If shaking begins, let it be small. Let it be slow. Let it be yours. And if it feels overwhelming, pause. Regulation always comes before release.

When we begin to listen to our body and understand what it needs... not instant gratification to shield us from the emotional repressed pains... our internal barometer gets stronger.

Release Is Not the Goal—Safety Is

The body only releases what it feels safe enough to let go of.

So this work isn’t about chasing a cathartic experience.It’s about building a relationship with your nervous system.

One where your body trusts:

• It doesn’t have to hold everything anymore

• It won’t be pushed beyond its limits

• It can return to balance, again and again

Return to Baseline

This is the essence of healing. Not becoming someone new, but returning to a state where your system can move fluidly between activation and rest. Where tension can rise… and fall. Where energy can move… and complete. Your body already knows how.

The question is: Can you listen?

I hope you found this information helpful on your journey to releasing what's holding you back and resetting yourself back to your personal baseline.

Polly Behringer

Founder | Release Reset

Babaylan & Holistic Modalities for Releasing Trauma