08/31/2026
Sometimes the body tells a story before we're ready to talk about it.
I had a client come in recently for her regular massage. She’s been seeing me every couple of weeks for quite some time, so I know her body pretty well.
As I was working along her back, I noticed a small area near her kidney region that felt different—almost like a little bump.
She said, “Ooh… that kind of hurts. What is that?”
We laughed about it, and I asked a few questions. Had she done anything differently? How had her water intake been?
Everything seemed normal.
So I asked her one more question from an emotional perspective.
In the emotional work I do, the kidney area can sometimes be associated with fear or a feeling of lack of support. Because this was on the left side, I asked if there was a woman in her life she might be worried about or feel responsible for supporting.
She immediately shut it down.
“Nope. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
And we moved on.
Later that day, she called me.
She was crying.
“How did you know?”
I had no idea what she meant.
She told me that just before coming in, she had received a phone call from a friend who was struggling with alcoholism and had reached out to her for help.
She hadn’t had time to process the conversation. She hadn’t talked to anyone about it.
She had simply received the phone call… and then came straight to my table.
A week later, after she had talked through the situation, processed her emotions, and figured out how she could support her friend while also caring for herself, she noticed that the area on her back was no longer there.
I found the whole experience fascinating.
It’s one of the reasons I love looking at the whole person.
Sometimes our bodies give us clues.
Sometimes we're carrying things emotionally that we haven't even had the chance to put into words.
And sometimes, simply becoming curious and asking, “What might my body be trying to tell me?” can open the door to a much deeper conversation.
Have you ever had a moment where your body seemed to be telling you something before your mind had caught up?