Articles / Reflections

When the Body Stops Being an Enemy:

Rethinking the Language of Health

The words we use to speak about our bodies shape how we experience them. In everyday language, illness is often described in terms of war: people talk about battling pain, resisting disease, confronting serious illness, or winning and losing the fight. These expressions may seem natural—or even motivating—but they do more than describe reality. They shape how we perceive our bodies, how we attend to sensations, and how we live our health.

When the Body Begins to Take Distance

Even before warlike metaphors appear, this dynamic can show up in subtle, everyday ways. During a session, an elderly woman once told me, “I would cut off this half of my body,” as she described a long history of pain and difficulties affecting her entire left side. Another person, younger, said simply, “this leg does what it wants.” This kind of language appears frequently in sessions and reveals how easily parts of the body can come to be experienced as distant, problematic, or no longer fully one’s own.

Something subtle yet profound is happening here: a part of the body stops being experienced as me and becomes that. A distance emerges. The bodily experience fragments. There is a “self” observing, and a body—or a part of it—that is perceived as unreliable, foreign, or difficult.

This way of speaking is not merely descriptive; it reflects a relational pattern that gradually takes shape. The body becomes something to control, monitor, or correct. When it does not respond as expected, frustration, distrust, and sometimes even a sense of betrayal can arise—creating the conditions for a more confrontational relationship to develop.

From Distance to Struggle

Once this separation sets in, a mindset of struggle often follows. A body that does not behave as desired can feel like an enemy, prompting attempts to resist or fight. Yet the body does not follow orders or operate in terms of victory or defeat. It unfolds as a living, sensitive, and constantly changing process.

For some, this mindset may temporarily motivate action, but for many, it brings fatigue, tension, and difficulty recognizing personal limits.

From Struggle to Listening: A Fasciatherapeutic Approach

Fasciatherapy, following the Danis Bois method, offers a profound shift: moving from struggle to relationship. The starting point is not the body observed from the outside, but the experience lived by the person. It is not about talking about the body, but speaking from the body.

The body is constantly communicating—it is always guiding us, sending signals, alerting us, and showing us what it needs. When we fail to listen, or misinterpret its messages, the body responds much as we would if no one were paying attention: its signals grow stronger, it may “shout,” become alarmed, or appear lost. A patient and calm attitude of listening transforms this process, allowing the body to clarify its messages and reestablish communication with the self.

In sessions, people are invited to notice subtle sensations and explore what is happening in their bodily experience with attention and curiosity. What once felt like a problem can become a source of guidance and insight. The process does not impose change or pursue predetermined outcomes. Instead, it creates a space where the person can perceive, recognize, and transform their experience, accompanied by a therapist who listens rather than corrects.

Fasciatherapy in Practice

This approach is not merely subjective. Most people experience tangible changes, such as relief from persistent pain, improved mobility, more coherent and stable muscle tone, and a renewed sense of lightness in the body. They often notice increased energy, fluidity in movement, or the ability to integrate difficult or traumatic experiences that had become fixed in the body, among other benefits.

From my clinical experience as a certified Fasciatherapist (Danis Bois method), fasciatherapy helps resolve pains, musculoskeletal conditions, tension, discomfort, and other issues that have not responded to previous approaches. Many people arrive after extensive medical examinations and therapies, still seeking methods that allow the body to reorganize and relieve discomfort. Fasciatherapy can be particularly efficient in this context, as noticeable improvements often emerge within just a few sessions.

Each person progresses at their own pace, discovers new possibilities, and learns to trust their bodily experience. This type of guidance fosters smoother, deeper processes of change, transforming the relationship with the body in lasting ways and opening new paths for addressing longstanding issues, significantly improving quality of life.

Caring for Words, Caring for the Relationship

This is not about censoring language or imposing a new vocabulary. It is about awareness. Words can reinforce separation or create connection. They can fuel struggle or open space for listening.

In a world where many experience tension or distrust in their bodies, promoting a more respectful relationship is an act of care. Change may begin not by doing more, but by listening differently. When the body stops being treated as an enemy, it can once again feel like a personal space: living, sensitive, and inhabitable—a place from which to navigate life.

Even in situations often described in terms of “battles,” such as serious illness, this shift in perspective—from conflict to relationship—can profoundly influence how the body is experienced and supported.

I invite you to experience a fasciatherapy session to promote your body’s health, improve functional movement, and enhance overall physiological well-being.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Monica Espinoza - January 2026