Show Notes
In a time of increasing political instability, censorship, and erasure of marginalized voices and every other voice who wants to speak up, Ana Mael’s work boldly calls us back to the sacred terrain of the body. This episode is both a blueprint for personal healing and a call to collective resistance. It offers one of the most nuanced, deeply embodied explanations of how trauma is shaped—and healed—at the intersection of politics, physiology, and personal story.
This episode is not just a teaching—it’s a quiet rebellion. A somatic act of saying: I exist. My voice matters. My body remembers.
Censorship and the Trauma of Silencing
"You didn’t want to embarrass your family name or cause a fuss... you were afraid retaliation would be next."
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Modern Relevance: In 2025, as censorship rises globally—whether through political regimes, corporate media, or social algorithms—Ana draws a direct line between silencing the body and silencing in society.
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Pelvic and Jaw Tension as Censorship Symptoms: Holding your tongue to avoid conflict mirrors political self-censorship. This is a nervous system-level suppression of resistance and autonomy.
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Social Implication: Restoring the voice is resistance. Releasing the jaw and pelvis is not just personal healing—it is political defiance against erasure.
Social Justice and Intergenerational Impact
"Our mothers and grandmothers... also knew how to hold their tongues in order to survive."
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Epigenetics: Research shows trauma responses such as suppression, silence, and tension can be passed down epigenetically (Yehuda, 2015). Ana's insight confirms how survival patterns embed themselves across generations.
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Patriarchy and Obedience Culture: This isn’t just about family—it’s about the legacy of colonialism, patriarchy, authoritarianism, and enforced obedience that marginalized communities have had to endure and internalize.
Somatic Trauma Healing Perspective
Key Insight: "The pain in your jaw and grinding of your teeth comes from unexpressed anger... braced, protective anger sits in your jaw for decades."
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Physiological Mirror: The jaw and pelvis are anatomical and energetic mirrors. Somatic therapy identifies them as core holding centers for survival responses—fight, flight, freeze, and especially fawn.
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Stored Survival Anger: Unexpressed anger and held-back speech often signal chronic hypervigilance and dorsal vagal shutdown, where the body dampens movement, voice, sexual vitality, and autonomy.
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Therapeutic Application: Jaw tension, pelvic numbness, and even inability to orgasm are not personal deficiencies—they’re trauma adaptations. Tracking sensation, tone, breath, and awareness in these regions helps bring restoration and regulation.
Physiological Impact of Obedience and Censorship
"When you had to hold your tongue... your pelvis is holding back too."
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Neuroscience Connection: The vagus nerve runs through the throat and into the gut and pelvis. Suppressing voice activates muscle bracing across this pathway, causing symptoms like TMJ, endometriosis, vaginismus, and pelvic floor dysfunction.
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Oxygen and Cell Health: Chronic contraction limits blood and oxygen flow. Ana connects this to cellular degeneration and inflammation, offering a critical lens into how trauma isn’t just psychological—it’s systemic.
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Dissociation from Body: Pelvic disconnection ("no tone," "cold") is a key marker of somatic dissociation—a way the body self-protects when it has never felt safe to speak, move, or resist.
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Meet Your Host: Ana Mael
Ana Mael is a genocide and war survivor, somatic therapist, and founder of the Somatic Trauma Recovery Center. She has dedicated her work to helping survivors reclaim their identity, dignity, and self-trust.
She is the bestselling author of The Trauma We Don’t Talk About—a #1 book in over 10 categories, including Mental Health, Personal Testimonies, and Memoirs.
Ana lives in Toronto, Canada, where she works directly with clients and educates mental health professionals and counsellors on displacement, exile, and war trauma recovery. She leads training programs, provides trauma-informed therapy, and conducts research to bridge the gap between somatic therapy and global crisis trauma care.
