What is your body trying to tell you?
Discover your body's story quiz {Scroll down}
⚠️ Content Warning: war.
{This piece includes reflections on recent events involving Iran and Israel. Please take care of your nervous system and feel free to skip the first part of this letter if you're not in a place to read about war-related content.}
This morning, at Manchester airport, getting ready to fly to my best friend’s wedding in Croatia, we woke to more war.
Iran and Israel. A headline so many Iranians have been bracing for. Now, it’s no longer a "what if." It’s here.
In my body, it felt like a long breath hold, the kind you don’t realize you’re holding until it bursts out as a gasp. An exhale, but not a releasing one. An exhale that knows another breath hold is coming… and you don’t know how long this one will last.
After reading the news, I froze. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. My partner reached my younger sibling who is in Iran. In an emergency zone. Unable to leave.
He’s okay. And when I heard his voice, I crumpled. Relief washed through my chest as sobs cracked open what I had been holding.
And I know, as I write this (Friday, June 13th), that’s not the case for many innocent Iranians and Israelis. Not everyone gets to exhale.
Even though I had already scheduled this newsletter before my trip, I couldn’t send it without acknowledging what’s happening in the Middle East.
There’s so much I could say about what's happening. So many layers I’ve lived, breathed, and inherited since I was a little girl. The media tries to reduce it all to sides. But lived experience doesn’t flatten that easily. Not in our nervous systems. Not in our bones.
Lately, I’ve been talking about finding a position of neutrality. Some days, that feels nearly impossible. Today is one of those days.
Today, I feel the punch in my gut. I feel the tightness in my chest. The weight on my shoulders. The way my spine struggles to hold me upright.
So I don’t push. I don’t perform resilience.
I place one hand on my heart, the other on my belly, and let my body feel what it feels.
I sit with the tension in my system.
And I wait for my body to do its thing, whether that’s crying, shaking, trembling, or simply exhaling.
And gently invite myself to find softness in my body, or at least a place that feels neutral. And I allow neutrality to meet the tension and if it's possible, to soften it.
Today, if you are feeling frozen, stressed, or far away from yourself, you are not alone. May this be your reminder: Your body doesn’t need fixing. It needs witnessing and feeling.
And if you need a practice for holding space for yourself today, try this:
Now, let’s return to what I originally planned to share with you today.
Most people think posture is just about how your neck or shoulders look. But the truth is your posture is not just physical. It’s psycho-emotional. It’s somatic.
It’s the imprint of every way you've adapted to survive, connect, and belong.
Ten years ago, I started my career as a personal trainer. I was trained to think in reps, progressive overload, and performance.
But the programs I was taught weren’t enough. I kept attracting clients whose bodies weren’t ready for what I’d been trained to deliver. The foundations were missing and so were the tools to meet them where they were.
I immersed myself in active rehab and different mobility modalities, worked with physios and chiros, but there was always a gap I couldn’t name until I had a car accident.
Dealing with a concussion and persistent neck and back pain was one of the hardest things I’ve ever faced, second only to navigating PCOS and cystic acne. It opened my eyes to how little we truly understand the nervous system and how unprepared most practitioners are to support one that’s overwhelmed, stuck in survival, or unable to regulate.
Movement can be medicine, but only when it’s grounded in a deep understanding of the nervous system. Without that foundation, biomechanics alone won’t heal what your body learned in survival. Your posture is a record of adaptation.
Today, I recorded a Posture Reset Video you can do right at your desk.
No rigid alignment cues. No forcing. It’s a gentle return to what your body considers ease.
And… over the past three months, I’ve been quietly working on something special.
For the longest time, I separated my work into two categories: biomechanics, and what is often called woo woo. But in my world, that means the wisdom of the body, the underworld, and the intergenerational gifts meant to be expressed through us.
But they were never separate.
Early this month, I finally brought them together in a way that finally made sense.
I have revisited every client file, every posture pattern I have witnessed, every intuitive hit that proved true.
I mapped them. Named them. And built something for you:
→ Discover Your Body’s Story: The Posture Archetype Quiz
This isn’t about “labeling” yourself.
It’s about understanding the unique language your body speaks through the way you stand, sit, and move through life.
If you feel called to explore working with me to repattern your body, regulate your nervous system, and restore your power, book an alignment call here: https://calendly.com/hedishah/initial-consultation
👁️ In case you missed it
"I am my breath. I am my life."
Beautiful reflections from the recent posture class → Read
The greatest strategy you may have forgotten
A reminder for you and me → Watch
Your Nervous System Is Your Business Plan
A featured blog for entrepreneurs and creatives → ReadWhat I needed on the journey to finding my voice
My story of owning my voice
→ Read
Thank you for joining me on the path of unconditioning,
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Hedi Shah
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👁️ Bodyworker & Mindfulness Teacher
🌊 Teaching change makers to uncondition their bodies, nervous systems, and voices from systems built to keep them small so they can move, speak, and live with sovereign power.
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