Walls of protection

Our defense and resistance strategies arose within us, as automatic responses designed to protect us from painful and distressing feelings experienced early in our life. The first line of defense we had against such distress was to tense and contract our body, especially the muscles and internal organs. Later when we developed cognitive abilities, our defense system became more and more sophisticated, but the tendency to tense and contract remained.

Protection is then the basic motivation for putting up inner defenses. When we perceive a real threat or danger or even an imagined one, we tense ourselves for self-protection, making our body posture stiff, tight, and constricted.

By defending ourselves against these threats, we sense that we are no longer so vulnerable or sensitive to hurt or pain, fear, or anxiety. Yet this also reduces the connection to our joy, love, happiness, pleasure, and aliveness. These defensive reactions become over time a Wall of Protection within and around ourselves.