Why your body carries the weight of your past (and how to resolve it)

Tight shoulders after a particularly stressful day, a stomach that knots up when you think about something from years ago, or a tension headache that comes out of nowhere. We like to think of emotions as things we deal with in our minds, but our bodies remember, too. 

The truth is, many of us are walking around carrying more than we realize. Not just schedules and responsibilities, but old pain. Conversations we never had. Things we pushed down so we could get on with moving on. And even if you’ve “dealt with it”, your nervous system might still be stuck in that past trauma, sounding quiet alarms you’ve learned to ignore. 

Your Past Doesn’t Just Live in Your Head

You’ve probably heard of muscle memory, how your body knows what to do even if your brain “forgets”. But emotional memory works a lot like that, too. When something painful happens, especially if it’s chronic or unresolved, your body stores it as tension, fatigue, or more serious physical symptoms. 

According to studies, over 75% of adults experience at least one physical symptom of stress. It could be headaches, digestive issues, or unexplained aches and pains. And that’s just the people who notice. When your body is in survival mode too long, it adapts by suppressing those signals. Until, of course, it can’t anymore. 

And no, you don’t have to have lived through something horrendous for this to apply. Emotional injuries aren’t measured by drama or disaster. They’re measured by impact, and whether your nervous system ever felt safe enough to process what happened. 

The Science of a Stressed-Out Body

Your stress response is built to protect you. The heart pounds, cortisol floods your bloodstream, your breath gets shallow. In a real emergency, that’s a gift. But when stress becomes constant or tied to something unresolved from the past, your system stays stuck in high alert. 

That’s when your body starts paying the price. Studies show that chronic stress can lead to higher inflammation, a suppressed immune system, and an increased risk of everything from heart disease to gut disorders. The point is: your body doesn’t separate the past from the present. If your mind hasn’t had a chance to process and resolve the past, your body just keeps bracing. 

Which brings us to an important truth. If you’re Googling how to let go of the past, if you’ve tried thinking your way out of it and still feel off, it might be because your body is holding on even when your brain wants to move on. 

According to human potential coach, Kamini Wood, your past can do more than affect your health… It can make subtle (but noticeable) changes to your identity. Low self-esteem, negative beliefs, and harbored resentment are just a few ways this can show up. Which makes it even more crucial to keep practicing the art of letting go. 

How to Start Releasing What’s Been Stored

The good news is that your body doesn’t want to stay in this loop. It just needs help unlearning the patterns it picked up. 

One place to start? Your breath. Slow, conscious breathing isn’t just for relaxing. It psychologically tells your body that you’re safe. Just a few minutes a day of breathing into your belly can begin to lower cortisol (the stress hormone) and shift you out of fight-or-flight. 

Another tool is movement. Not punishment workouts, but gentle, intentional movement, like walking, stretching, yoga, and even dancing in your living room to that song you forgot you loved. The goal is to shake out the stuckness, not perform through it. 

You might also try somatic practices, which bring awareness to how emotions physically show up in your body. One fascinating study in Frontiers in Psychology (2024) showed that somatic-based therapies like body scans or touch-based processing significantly reduce physical symptoms of stress. Your body wants to be listened to. It’s been trying to get your attention for a while. 

What’s more, therapy like trauma-informed or somatic therapy can help you create language around what you’ve carried. If you’ve been emotionally holding your breath for years, having someone guide you through the exhale can be life-changing. 

Healing Isn’t Linear, But It Is Possible

There’s no checklist for healing. No one-size-fits-all path for processing the past. But one thing’s certain: your body is part of that journey. The past doesn’t just live in memory. It lingers in a physical sense, shaping how we move through the world. 

But awareness is the beginning. You don’t have to feel pressured to fix everything all at once. That you’ll breathe and wake up the next day, free from whatever’s been holding you back. Your body responds to care, patience, and small shifts repeated over time. All you have to do is create enough space for something new to take root. And that’s how real change happens.