Armoring - How Trauma Gets Embodied as Tension, Chronic Pain, Jumpiness or Emotional Walls

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When we understand how trauma shows up in the body, armoring is an important aspect. It includes muscle tension, chronic pain, and constant hypervigilance. Learn the skills to regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership FREE Grounding Skills course: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-stress-and-ptsd Resolving Armor with Gabriel Posner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1P82CQ0gxI&list=TLPQMDUwNTIwMjXkG4fwe3LOQA&index=3 McConkie Embodiment Meditation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTgPsB2ukjc Armoring is the physical and emotional tension developed by trauma survivors as a protective mechanism. Drawing on insights from somatic therapist Wilhelm Reich and figures like ultra-athlete David Goggins and author Pete Walker, the video explains how chronic hypervigilance can lead to persistent tension, chronic pain, and emotional walls. It's a common problem for people with PTSD, CPTSD, and childhood trauma. Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell Learn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com Support my mission on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/therapyinanutshell Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapyinanutshell.com Check out my favorite self-help books: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/best-self-help-books Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction. And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of the Therapy in a Nutshell podcast. I'm Emma McAdam and I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist.
0:07.0	And this podcast is all about taking the life-changing, but usually kind of complicated topics of therapy and boiling them down into simple, easy-to-understand concepts that you can use in your daily life.
0:18.8	If you find today's episode as helpful to you,
0:20.9	please pass it on to someone else who could benefit from it as well. Each podcast
0:24.5	episode comes from a corresponding video you can find on the Therapy in a Nutshell YouTube
0:28.7	channel. Also, these podcasts are educational and don't replace the advice or
0:32.7	direction you may be receiving from a therapist or other health professionals. Now
0:36.6	please enjoy the episode.
0:39.4	David Goggins was horrifically abused as a child by his father. He later became a
0:44.2	Navy SEAL and an ultra athlete who could run hundreds of miles through the desert, do push-ups
0:49.9	or pull-ups for hours, and he's been a role model for millions on overcoming your mental
0:55.8	limits and accomplishing more than you could ever imagine. But he had a problem. Well, I mean a couple
1:01.6	of them, but one that he mentioned in his book was immense body tension. David Gagin said his
1:06.8	body was extremely tight and locked up, especially his soas, hips, hamstrings, and lower back,
1:12.6	which caused chronic pain, reduced mobility, and caused a bunch of injuries.
1:16.6	He said his body was like cement because years of running and weightlifting and pushing through pain without recovery
1:22.6	had built up so much tension that he was breaking down physically.
1:26.6	About six years ago, I got the point where I couldn't get out bed.
1:30.0	The docs couldn't figure anything out, nothing out with me.
1:33.9	And I had this huge lump on the back of my head from my spine being compressed.
1:38.0	I had these huge lumps on my hip flexion muscles, you know, a so-as area.
1:42.5	And it's the only muscle that attaches your lower body to your upper body. Okay. And I just slowly started stretching out. I said I'm going to probably die. The doc's going to figure it out. I was slowly dying. It was literally collapsing. Like there was no blood flow to organs of my body from all the stress in my entire life. Gaggans believed that if he didn't address this,
	...

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