02/09/2026
This is the first portion of a post I did a while back. It is essentially my observations in patterns of how and were emotions are held in the body regarding self expression - that is choked off. Let me know if you want the rest of the post- or if you are happy to go to substack to read it. I am just trying to share and expand who sees my work. https://maryannewielinga.substack.com/p/throat?r=3iajr6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
here is the beginning:
If you’re new here and missed the premise of Body Wisdom, I’ve been mapping specific places on the body where emotional patterns or archetypal stories show themselves. Sometimes it’s a transient sensation like itchiness, heaviness, tingling. Sometimes it’s a patch of hair disappearing, or a headache that arrives with a very particular emotional flavour.
I’ve been observing and recording these patterns for almost ten years now. This work is still in its infancy, but the architecture is becoming clearer.
I often picture these points like a string of party lights hung through a tree. Each light is a body point, each with its own story and metaphor. And when several lights glow at once, they form a mythology, a constellation. (See Constellations for more on that.) This post is a little uncomfortable my friends.
Here’s another glimpse behind the curtain.
A few weeks ago, a pattern appeared with such clarity it felt almost staged, as though the oldest material I’ve ever collected had decided to present itself in one cohesive, unmistakable sweep.
A classic case of when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
I was ready. And I saw it.
Gentle parenting is a relatively new phenomenon maybe 30- 50 years old. Before that, many children grew up under the rule of being seen and not heard, or under outright harshness, criticism, or physical punishment.
I see this lineage constantly in clinic. Many of my clients have parents born in the 1930s or 40s, or grandparents born around 1900 to 1910. These generations often carried a worldview where a child’s expression was something to be controlled, corrected, or silenced.
What’s striking is how often the grandchild is the one who presents with the pattern.
Just this week, I saw a 60‑year‑old man and a 30‑year‑old woman ,both carrying the emotional residue of their grandfathers’ aggression. The suppression flowed down the line, landing in the body of someone two generations later.
(If you want to dive deeper into this, Gabor Maté has plenty to say — but that’s a conversation for another day.)
This particular constellation began with a sensation in someone's throat like a compression, almost a choking feeling. It felt as though someone’s fingers were pressing down on the little notch above the breastbone.
This point doesn’t have a formal name, so for now: Notch. (thats the light gray central spot in the below picture)
Notch is a point about criticism, specifically, criticism that comes from outside, then burrows inward and becomes the voice you use on yourself. The internalised chastening. The inherited scolding.
If a child grows up with a parent who shuts her down, yelling over her, drowning out every attempt to speak — she often becomes an adult who watches her own expression closely. Careful. Vigilant. Articulate, but strained.
The body remembers what the room demanded.
Just beneath Notch, on the manubrium, sits Heart 1, the point of self‑love, of accepting oneself as one is. ( I made it pink)
These two points sit side by side like opposing characters in a myth.
If Heart 1 is strong, the internal criticism becomes moderated, softened.
If Heart 1 is weak, Notch becomes louder, the inherited voice of condemnation echoing inside the chest.
On either side of Notch, where the SCM muscles anchor, sit two more points...... https://maryannewielinga.substack.com/p/throat?r=3iajr6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
