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The Body That Carried The Shame is the sixth Sourel in October’s theme, What Was Never Yours.

This episode turns gently towards the body. The body that may have held what could not be spoken. The body that may have carried shame long before the mind had words for it. The body that may have learned to tighten, shrink, brace, hide, please, apologise or disappear.

The Body That Carried The Shame is for the woman whose body has been shaped by old instructions: be good, be small, be quiet, be pleasing, be careful, do not upset anyone, do not need too much, do not shine too brightly, do not show what hurts.

This Sourel recognises that shame is not only a thought. It can become a posture, a breath held high in the chest, a stomach pulled in, shoulders rounded forward, eyes lowered, a voice made smaller, or a body trying not to be seen too much.

This reflection does not come to the body with criticism. It comes with reverence. It remembers that the body may have been trying to protect, belong and survive rooms where truth, need, voice or light did not feel fully welcome.

The Body That Carried The Shame offers a gentle message to the body: you did not fail me by holding shame. You were trying to keep me safe. You were trying to help me belong. You were trying to survive.

This Sourel reminds us that the body that carried the shame may also be the body that leads us home. Not all at once. Not by becoming perfect. But through one more breath, one more inch of space, one more moment of not turning against ourselves.

This body is not wrong.

This body is not the shame.

This body is carrying me home.

If you find yourself wanting something to return to between these reflections, in the actual moment a pattern like this one takes hold, I also built an app called Settle and Source. It offers a ninety second guided practice for exactly the kind of moment this reflection has been describing, the gap between noticing an urge and knowing what to do with it. It is not a replacement for anything here, simply another door, in case it is the right one for you. https://settleandsource.com

Settle and Source: The Podcast is created by Angela M. Carter, founder of Trauma Release Centre and a trained IFS therapist with over thirty years of clinical experience.

Each episode is a Sourel: a short voiced reflection set to sound. Designed for the small pauses of a full life.

Find Angela and more of her work at www.traumareleasecentre.com.

If today’s reflection landed for you, share it with someone who needs it. That’s how a quiet message travels in a loud world.

Settle and Source: The Podcast is created by Angela M. Carter, founder of Trauma Release Centre and a trained IFS therapist with over thirty years of clinical experience.

Each episode is a Sourel: a short voiced reflection set to sound. Designed for the small pauses of a full life.

Find Angela and more of her work at www.traumareleasecentre.com.

If today’s reflection landed for you, share it with someone who needs it. That’s how a quiet message travels in a loud world.