Stress and Physical Tension: How Your Body Responds

Written by the Holistic OM team
In collaboration with Faye Kendall (Cranial Osteopath), Laura Liversage (Clinical Psychologist) and Autumn Ryan (Remedial & Lymphatic Massage Therapist)

Stress often shows up in the body as muscle tension, fatigue or discomfort. Understanding how your body responds to stress can help you recognise patterns and find supportive, integrated care.

Stress is not only something you think or feel.
It is something your body experiences.

Many people first notice stress through physical tension: tight shoulders, jaw clenching, headaches, digestive discomfort, fatigue, or a sense of being held or braced through the body. Even when stress is understood mentally, these physical patterns can remain.

A holistic perspective recognises that stress is both physiological and lived experience. Your body responds in real ways, and it can also be supported in real ways.

How stress shows up in your body

Your nervous system is designed to respond to challenge. When you experience pressure, uncertainty, or demand, your body prepares you to act. Muscles engage, breathing shifts, attention narrows, and energy is directed toward immediate needs.

This response is adaptive and protective.

However, when stress becomes ongoing, subtle muscle activation and nervous system arousal can persist. Over time, this may be experienced as:

• neck and shoulder tension

• jaw clenching or facial tightness

• headaches or migraines

• lower back or hip tightness

• shallow or restricted breathing

• digestive discomfort

• fatigue or heaviness

• generalised body tension without clear injury

These experiences are not purely physical or psychological. They reflect the integrated way your body responds to lived stress.

“We often see people who feel they’re coping mentally, but their shoulders, jaw, or breathing are still holding tension. The body can remain braced even when life has settled.”
— Autumn Ryan Holistic OM practitioner observation

Why tension can persist

Many people notice that physical tension continues even after a stressful period has passed, or despite insight and coping strategies. This is common.

Your nervous system can remain in a state of readiness. Muscles may continue to hold protective patterns. Breathing and posture may adapt around load or strain. These patterns often develop gradually and outside conscious awareness.

From a whole-person perspective, tension is not viewed as dysfunction. It is often your body attempting to stabilise, protect, or manage demand over time.

“Protective muscle patterns can develop gradually. People may not notice them until discomfort or fatigue builds.”
— Faye Kendall Osteopathy perspective

A holistic view of stress and your body

Holistic care considers the interaction between nervous system regulation, physical load, emotional experience, and daily life context.

Within this view:

• physical tension can influence mood and stress tolerance

• stress can influence muscle tone, breathing, and pain sensitivity

• posture and movement patterns can reinforce or ease strain

• emotional load can be held physically

• physical discomfort can increase perceived stress

Supporting stress therefore often includes both body-based and psychological approaches, depending on the individual.Who may benefit

How body-based support may help

Manual and movement-based approaches may assist some people to reduce physical tension and improve comfort.

Depending on the practitioner and approach, care may aim to:

• reduce protective muscle tone

• support ease of movement and posture

• encourage fuller breathing patterns

• improve body awareness

• support nervous system settling

• reduce discomfort

People often describe feeling less braced, more at ease in their body, or more able to recognise and release tension patterns. Individual responses vary, and care is adapted to each person’s presentation and goals.

How psychological support may help

Psychological approaches may support people to understand and respond differently to stress.

This can include:

• recognising stress patterns and triggers

• understanding body–stress connections

• developing regulation and coping strategies

• addressing ongoing life demands

• working with worry or overload cycles

• supporting adjustment during change

For many people, integrating body awareness with psychological understanding can be particularly helpful.

“For many people, understanding their stress patterns and feeling physical ease at the same time can be particularly supportive.”
— Laura Liversage - Psychology perspective

Integrating support

There is no single pathway for addressing stress-related tension. Some people benefit most from physical approaches, others from psychological support, and many from a combination over time.

A holistic framework allows care to be matched to the individual rather than the condition alone.

When to seek support

If stress-related tension or discomfort is ongoing, increasing, or affecting daily life, professional support may be helpful. Assessment can help clarify contributing factors and identify appropriate options.

Supporting your body with stress

Small, consistent supports can make a difference. Many people find benefit in:

• noticing areas of habitual tension

• allowing regular movement or position change

• gentle stretching or mobility

• slower or deeper breathing moments

• rest and recovery time

• supportive manual or psychological care

These approaches are not about fixing the body, but supporting its capacity to settle and adapt.

A whole-person approach at Holistic OM

Holistic OM provides integrated osteopathy, remedial and lymphatic massage, psychology, and birth support care across Ocean Grove, Queenscliff and Geelong. Care considers the relationship between body, nervous system, and lived experience, and is adapted to each person’s needs and life stage.

Holistic OM

Autumn Ryan is a lymphatic-trained remedial massage therapist at Holistic OM in Ocean Grove & Queenscliff, supporting fluid balance, recovery, and gentle therapeutic care.

Laura Liversage is a clinical psychologist at Holistic OM in Ocean Grove, Queenscliff & Geelong, supporting nervous system regulation, emotional wellbeing, and adjustment through life’s challenges and transitions.

Faye Kendall is an osteopath with a focus in cranial osteopathy at Holistic OM in Ocean Grove, Queenscliff & Geelong, supporting nervous system balance, structural ease, and whole-body integration.