attacking the muscular armor

"If chronic spasms of the musculature are responsible for "holding back" emotional expression, an obvious therapeutic technique would seem to be to press on the tensed muscles hard enough to force them to "let go." Reich found that if he pressed hard enough on the tensed muscles with his fingertips, his patients would react with anger or anxiety — sometimes quite violently — and in many cases the muscles did indeed seem to relax. More importantly, according to Reich, in many instances the patient being worked on would re-experience emotions from other, earlier epochs in his/her life. Reich took this as a sign that the emotions themselves were held in the tensed musculature." 

-- PSYCHIATRIC ORGONE THERAPY: A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of Wilhelm Reich

Freud's early work strongly suggested emotions and sexuality were expressions of a tangible energetic "something", but it was Reich who provided the clearest evidence that the Freudian libido was a real energy, discharged during emotional expression and sexual orgasm. Parental or social punishments against the youthful expression of emotion, or of sexual love, led to internalized repression -- but this was accomplished only by literally tightening one's muscles, binding the energy down within the body and creating a powerful conflict of internal bioenergetic tension. If repression became chronic, the consequent chronic internal tension formed a neuro-muscular armoring (much like the metal armor of a Medieval knight) by which the individual protectively walled themself off from an outer world of painful experiences. Reich developed therapeutic methods to help people give up their emotional armor; but he also approached the problem from the social and political side of things, working to pass laws against child abuse, to give women equal rights and pay, and to make divorce and contraceptives more freely available.