Have you thought about the physical presence of your emotions? It’s an important element of your holistic self that can bring greater depth to your recovery.
I remember the first time it happened to me. The lights were low in the yoga studio and it smelled soft, like pensive rejuvenation. We were a few poses into the relaxing yoga flow when the instructor asked us to bring our right legs forward and fold into pigeon pose.
Ah, yes. Such a good release for those tired hips that need a bit more– wait, why am I crying? I shouldn’t be crying!
They say that hip openers and heart openers in yoga can crack open your emotions. Before that unexpected emotional release, I don’t think I truly knew what that meant. It was surprising and eye-opening in so many ways that I would love to share with you.
Do you feel your feelings?
Letting your body support you in feeling your emotions can be transformative. This concept is nothing new to ancient or modern medicine. Exercise, meditation, and movement are all an important part of the conversation around reclaiming your mental wellbeing.
Take a moment to go inward before you continue forward.
Take a breath – breathe in for four seconds.
Now hold it in your lungs as it moves through your body.
Do you feel the places the air is moving?
Now exhale – let your breath go as you count to four.
Take note of your body.
What do you feel?
The physical zones of our emotional being
Our bodies have an atlas of emotions that guide the way we feel our feelings in a physical sense. When we can map the physical sensations of our emotional landscape, we unlock the key to a more holistic recovery than we could’ve imagined!
Negative emotions
If your day has been particularly long you might feel frustrated, tired, or anxious. Those feelings may center in your head and neck as tension, or drop to your chest so they restrict that breath. For some people, those difficult emotions dwell in the gut, causing upset to the digestive systems and adding more frustration.
Negative emotions function like a protective shell or a heavy weight. They concentrate and collect, heavy and tense in the spaces they congregate in your body. It can disrupt your energetic flow and cause physical pain.
Positive emotions
Maybe you’ve had a great day! Do you feel bubbly and light? Those happy feelings often radiate through the body, extending out into your limbs with a fluidity that your heavier emotions don’t have. Can you feel the soft effervescence of them?
Positive emotions tend to bloom in the body. Much like the sun, your emotions expand around your physical self. They radiate out in the spaces where you move and feel the world around you.
Past emotions are stored in the body too
It’s not just what you’re currently feeling that takes up space. Your trauma, your joy and your in between moments all imprint on your being. Rejecting the feelings that come up for you doesn’t actually stop you from feeling them. You have a whole lifetime of unfelt feelings hiding in your physical self as much as your emotional self.
It’s more like hitting your physiological snooze button, and they just sort of swirl and hibernate in the spaces you harbor them until they come up again. Often those latent releases occur when you least expect them – hello yoga class – or they may occur during things like massage, which can have a similar effect.
How can we use this knowledge to foster holistic healing?
One of the most powerful keys to unlocking your holistic recovery is simply recognizing the complexity of your emotional experiences. They relate so intricately to your physical being that in trying to separate them, we often cut ourselves off from the things that can help us reach our full potential.
You do hold the power in unlocking the healing you’re craving. With or without the support of those who want to see you succeed, there is action you can take right now to move toward a holistically bright future.
Connecting your chakras to emotion
The energy centers that activate from the top of your head to your root are called chakras. Each of the seven chakras offer different opportunities to balance and engage with your recovery.
Healing through movement
You can use yoga, mindful movement, and connection with nature to open the lines of communication between body and mind. We have many programs that will support you in making these connections.
Breathing into your being
The breath is the thread that connects your internal self with the outside world. You can use breathwork and meditation to deepen that work and facilitate healing of the stored energy that’s disrupting your healing today.
If you’re ready to reconnect and empty out those emotional reserves holding back your holistic recovery, we’re here to help however we can. Connect with us today to learn more about our programs by calling (866) 950-0643.
