The Gist – “Is That Bulls*it: Does The Body Keep the Score – in Your Hips”

Date: March 19, 2026
Host: Mike Pesca
Guest: Sadie Dingfelder
Theme: Debunking the popular notion that trauma is physically stored in the hips—or anywhere outside the brain—through a skeptical, science-informed discussion.

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Mike Pesca welcomes science writer Sadie Dingfelder for an “Is That Bullshit?” segment. The topic: Does the body “keep the score” of trauma—and more specifically, does it reside in your hips as yoga lore and wellness culture increasingly claim? The conversation dissects the scientific basis (or lack thereof) for this widespread belief, traces its origins to Bessel van der Kolk’s influential work, and separates wishful mysticism from evidence-based neurology.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of “The Body Keeps the Score”

[11:00]

• The phrase and concept come from Bessel van der Kolk’s 2014 book, which proposes that trauma is not just psychological but also physiological.
• Van der Kolk’s book has dominated bestseller lists and popular thinking about trauma ever since.
• He broadened trauma's definition from single, acute events (classic PTSD) to encompass repeated or developmental trauma.
  • Sadie Dingfelder: “He made trauma much broader and introduced this idea of... instead of it being a discrete experience... it also happened as a result of repeated events, like a child abuse kind of situation.” [12:05]
• Van der Kolk tried to contribute a new diagnosis, "developmental trauma disorder," to the DSM, paralleling "complex PTSD," which remains controversial and is not officially recognized.

2. How Trauma in the Body Became “Hip”

[13:54]

• Pesca recalls “ubiquitous” yoga class anecdotes claiming trauma is stored in the hips, especially the psoas muscle.
• The belief: deep stretches can release stored emotional pain, sparking tears or strong feelings.
  • Sadie Dingfelder: “And so as people believe that if you're stretching and all of a sudden you feel a welling up of emotion, it's because you actually had some sort of trauma memory captured in your hip muscles.” [13:54]
• Pesca jokes about “Hips Don’t Lie” being medical fact, attributed to “Dr. Shakira.” [14:44]

3. Exploring the (Lack of) Scientific Basis

[16:01]

• Those seeking scientific legitimacy often cite “cellular memory” research.
• Sadie discusses her correspondence with Nikolay Kukushkin, an actual cell memory researcher.
  • “The generic definition of memory is... a lasting change... that affects what you can do later. So if you're a muscle cell... you might produce some extra mitochondria.” [16:11]
• But muscle memory is not the same as episodic, autobiographical memory. Muscle cells can only change in limited, mechanical ways, unlike neurons which have vastly greater capacity for storing experience (“a speaker with three knobs” vs “a mixing board”).
  • “The brain is so expensive, it just sucks so much energy... if other parts of your body could do memory, then evolution would have outsourced it.” [17:52]

4. Why the Hips? Why Not Anywhere?

• The idea of the hips as a trauma repository is culturally persistent, especially in circles that embrace energy work, Reiki, or crystals, but lacks evidence.
  • “It's been floating around in the culture for so long among ... people who believe in things like Reiki and crystals.” [17:37]
• There is no known “hip-specific” receptor or mechanism for storing traumatic memory in muscles or joints.

5. How Does Trauma Actually Manifest?

• The brain—especially the hippocampus—is where trauma-related memories are stored. Intense physical sensations can trigger flashbacks, but it’s the brain making the association, not the hip muscle holding the memory.
  • “So if you have a sensation and it... your hip reports to your brain, I'm having a really intense sensation, that can cause your hippocampus to trigger... sensations... distributed across your whole brain and sort of make you relive that experience.” [21:09]
• Classic PTSD flashbacks are brain-based, not body-based.
  • Sadie Dingfelder: “All of that information is stored in your brain. If you cut off your head, you do not have any problems with... your body has no score to keep. Basically, like, your brain keeps the score. Your body is the scoreboard at best.” [22:21]

6. Myths & Cultural Drift

• The concept of “repressed and fully recovered memory” is increasingly accepted, though it doesn't fit established memory science.
  • “Something like 92% of people today believe in that you can have a repressed and recovered, fully recovered memory. And that's up from like 80%, like 10 years ago and 70% 20 years ago.” [24:28]
• Yoga’s American posture-focused form dates only to the 1920s, debunking claims of ancient tradition for these myths.
  • Sadie Dingfelder: “What we call yoga, like a series of postures, is only... dates back to, like around the 1920s and it was invented by an Indian immigrant and some Hollywood people.” [26:15]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Van der Kolk’s Impact:
  “He made trauma much broader... introduced this idea... instead of it being a discrete experience, like with classic PTSD, it also happened as a result of repeated events.” – Sadie Dingfelder [12:05]

• On Yoga and Hip Trauma:
  “She believed... that if you're stretching and all of a sudden you feel a welling up of emotion, it's because you actually had some sort of trauma memory captured in your hip muscles.” – Sadie Dingfelder [13:54]

  “Is this where the other, I think equally scientifically, valid idea of ‘hips don’t lie’ came from?” – Mike Pesca [14:44]

• On Memory Storage Reality:
  “The brain is so expensive, it just sucks so much energy... if other parts of your body could do memory, then evolution would have outsourced it. So there’s something special about neurons...” – Sadie Dingfelder [17:52]

• Debunking the Myth:
  “If you cut off your head, you do not have any problems with... your body has no score to keep. Basically, like, your brain keeps the score. Your body is the scoreboard at best.” – Sadie Dingfelder [22:21]

• Final Verdict:
  “It is definitely bullshit. Your brain keeps the score. Your body can be a scoreboard.” – Sadie Dingfelder [26:57]

Section Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------------|-------------| | Dynamic pricing/market intro | 00:48–09:43 | | "Is That Bullshit?" Segment Start | 09:56 | | Van der Kolk & Body Keeps the Score Origins | 11:00–13:24 | | Yoga Class Anecdotes & Hip Myth | 13:24–16:01 | | Cellular & Muscle Memory Explained | 16:01–19:32 | | How Trauma Actually Surfaces (Brain’s Role) | 19:32–22:42 | | The Hips, Chronic Trauma, & Memory Myths | 22:42–25:14 | | Yoga’s Modern Origins | 26:12–26:39 | | Bullshit Verdict and Wrap-Up | 26:57–27:29 |

Conclusion

Main Verdict:
The claim that “the body keeps the score”—physically storing trauma, especially in the hips—is not supported by scientific evidence. The brain encodes, recalls, and triggers trauma-based responses; the body may manifest physiological consequences of stress and trauma, but it doesn’t “store” specific emotional memories outside the brain. Popular beliefs in hip-stored trauma, toxins being squeezed from the spine, or yoga as ancient science are an amalgam of misunderstood science, cultural myth, and modern wellness marketing.

Sadie Dingfelder’s Unambiguous Verdict:

“It is definitely bullshit. Your brain keeps the score. Your body can be a scoreboard.” [26:57]

Listen-worthy for:

• Anyone curious about trauma science, debunking wellness woo, memory, and the intersection of culture and pseudo-science.
• Fans of witty, skeptical, and clear science communication.

For further reading: “Do I Know You? A Face Blind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination” by Sadie Dingfelder.