Honoring the Contraction

Why softening into tension is the beginning of real transformation

There’s a moment in Pavini Moray’s How to Hold Power that stopped me in my tracks.

In Chapter 3, they describe how our bodies hold contractions—tightness, tension, those moments when our muscles seize and signal something. They also explain how, in somatics, healing begins not by forcing the contraction to stop but by honoring it, letting it have space, showing it kindness, and listening to what it wants to say.

That struck something deep.

Because I’ve been noticing this same pattern in brands.
In founders.
In the businesses we’re building.

The contraction is not the problem.
The contraction is the portal.

We might have a general understanding of contractions in our bodies, like a clenched jaw or a tight shoulder, but many of the signals are happening in smaller muscles we’ve learned to ignore, hiding in the places we don’t tap into often enough to even notice. Often, it’s only through practicing embodiment that we’re able to hear them.

Similarly, when something tightens visibly in our business, like a repeated pattern, a stuckness, or a plateau, our instinct is to fix, push, or pivot—to do. This gets so much harder when the contractions are happening in the shadow areas!

So what if, like the body, your brand is asking you to pause?
What if the contraction is just as intelligent?
What if the stuck place is actually the start of transformation?

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Brands have nervous systems, too

I’ve come to believe that every business has its own nervous system.

Just like the human body, your brand responds to input, stress, emotion, clarity, and care. It pulses with your energy. It contracts and expands. And when things feel misaligned, your brand will start to show symptoms such as confusion in messaging, disconnection from your audience, creative burnout, or a feeling that something’s just “off.”

This is the heart of my Brand Somatics practice.

In the same way traditional somatics helps us tune into our bodies for information, Brand Somatics invites you to tune into your brand as a living, breathing extension of your nervous system. It asks:

What does my brand feel like right now?
Where is it holding tension?
Where is it trying to speak, but hasn’t been given language yet?

In somatic practice, one of the most transformative steps is not just noticing the contraction but naming it—out loud, with kindness and curiosity. This simple act of naming shifts our relationship with the pain, acknowledging it rather than resisting it.

In a brand context, this means recognizing the areas where things feel tight, stagnant, or repetitive and being willing to say, “Something here feels off.” Instead of pushing through, we pause, name the tension, and let it have a voice. So often, that tightness points to the medicine itself, a signal that something needs our attention before we move forward.

This is why thinking somatically about our businesses is vital. It removes the fear we’ve been trained to associate with contraction and pain and instead replaces it with curiosity and gratitude. The pain isn’t the problem—it’s the signal. It’s the invitation to slow down and listen.

For example, imagine a brand that's consistently struggling with inconsistent messaging. Instead of immediately launching a new campaign to “fix” it, what if we first named the contraction?

We might say, “We keep repeating the same message in different ways, but it never quite lands.” Naming it out loud allows us to pause and acknowledge that something deeper might be at play, perhaps a lack of internal clarity or a misalignment between values and voice.

When we bring awareness and language to that tension, we create space to understand it rather than just react to it. And that’s when real transformation becomes possible.

So, instead of jumping straight into a rebrand or a new strategy, we slow down and listen. We honor the contraction. We explore the shadow areas. We feel into the patterns that are playing out—energetically, creatively, operationally—and allow space for truth to surface.

When you can regulate your inner system, your business begins to respond. The brand becomes clear. The work feels easier. The energy expands.

This work isn’t just about design or marketing. It’s about the relationships between your vision, your voice, your body, and your business.

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Feeling the contraction? Let’s listen together.

If something in your brand feels tight, that might be your nervous system speaking.

You don’t have to decode it alone.

Here are a few ways we can begin to unpack it together:

1:1 Coaching — Sometimes, the contraction lives in you, the founder. Through somatic coaching and strategic reflection, we’ll explore what’s underneath the resistance so you can move forward with clarity and calm.
→ Explore Founder Coaching

Brand Health Assessment — This is where we pull out the stethoscope and listen to your brand, your team, your customers, and your market. A strategic and energetic audit to help you name what’s working, what’s misaligned, and what’s asking for transformation.
→ Book a Brand Health Assessment

Free Clarity Session — Feeling unsure where to begin? Book a free 30-minute Clarity Session to explore what’s ready to shift and leave with a renewed sense of direction.
→ Book a Free Clarity Session

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