The Body Knows - Episode - Eight - The Mask & The Freeze

The Body Knows - Episode - Eight - The Mask & The Freeze ❄️

What happens when the body decides silence is safer than speech?

In this episode of The Body Knows, we explore dissociation, shutdown, and masking as survival strategies. When faced with overwhelming authority, abuse, or threat, the nervous system doesn’t always fight or flee; sometimes it freezes.

You’ll discover:

🔹 How the freeze response protects us when fight or flight feels impossible.

🔹 Why children often go silent under shouting adults and how this shapes lifelong patterns.

🔹 The cost of masking: safety in the moment, but erosion of authenticity over time.

🔹 The neuroscience of dissociation, vagal shutdown, and selective mutism.

🔹 Personal reflections on living through freeze states and the pain of being unable to speak.

🔹 Embodied practices to recognise freeze in yourself and others, and gentle ways to thaw.

🎙️ The Body Knows reveals what words often hide: the nervous system’s wisdom, its protections, and its price.

#TheBodyKnows #TraumaHealing #FreezeResponse #Dissociation #Masking #NervousSystem #PolyvagalTheory #CPTSD #TraumaRecovery #Podcast