Catalepsy

There are moments in which the body refuses. Not out of weakness — out of overload. The muscles stiffen, the limbs become rigid, the will sends commands that no longer arrive. Catalepsy is freezing in the middle of life. You are there — and at the same time you are not. The body pauses, as if someone has pressed the pause button.

Medically, catalepsy is a neurological phenomenon: a temporary rigidity of the musculature in which the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed. It occurs in various conditions — in epilepsy, in schizophrenia, in catatonic states. But the question BodySignal asks goes deeper: what is happening in your inner experience that your body decides to stop moving?

Catalepsy is not a defect, but an emergency protocol. A system that shuts down because continuing to move no longer seems like an option.