Storing our Emotions!
“By simply acknowledging emotions, they are expressed.
In being expressed, emotions can be released, even old emotions stored in body memory.
Allowing my emotions to surface into awareness and to be able to name my emotions is the beginning of emotional exploration.”
It may surprise you that emotions are not the sole product of your brain, but are expressed, experienced and stored in your BodyMind, and these emotions can be triggered through body work, meditations, breathing, spiritual practice and many other diverse psychosomatic modalities. Use one you like, or learn something new, as a vehicle to better emotional expressivity and health.
We all have painful memories – failure, disappointments, suffering, loss – hidden away or suppressed- in our BodyMinds, to be retrieved, reformed, and released, or ignored and left to fester, wounds that never heal. What John Upledger called a “somato-emotional cyst”. A primitive body defense response in which the injury, and the emotions therein encoded, are walled off from the rest of the body, and never truly resolve.
It’s amazing to think of our glands, organs, tissues and cells as storage places for emotion and memory, yet this was given explanation through the scientific research of Dr. Candace Pert, a neuropharmacologist who worked at the NIH and Georgetown University Medical Center. Candace famously stated that “Your body is your subconscious mind. Our physical body can be changed by the emotions we experience.”[1] . Dr Pert explains:
“A feeling sparked in our mind-or body-will translate as a peptide being released somewhere. [Organs, tissues, skin, muscle and endocrine glands], they all have peptide receptors on them and can access and store emotional information. This means the emotional memory is stored in many places in the body, not just or even primarily, in the brain. You can access emotional memory anywhere in the peptide/receptor network, in any number of ways. I think unexpressed emotions are literally lodged in the body. The real true emotions that need to be expressed are in the body, trying to move up and be expressed and thereby integrated, made whole, and healed.
Dr. Pert says “Let the emotions bubble up. Let the chips fall where they may…the process of catharsis is not complete without saying things as the first step to experiencing things…To feel and understand means you have worked it all the way through. It has bubbled all the way to the surface. You’re integrating at higher and higher levels in the body, bringing emotions into consciousness. Once integrated, the natural wisdom of the receptors ( a take on Walter Cannon) will release interrupted healing and restorative and regenerative processes can take over.”
“By simply acknowledging emotions, they are expressed. In being expressed, emotions can be released, even old emotions stored in body memory. Allowing my emotions to surface into awareness and to be able to name my emotions is the beginning of emotional exploration. I am moving forward, trying to find my position within the family, within the community, and in life.”
Where do you Store your Emotions?
“By simply acknowledging emotions, they are expressed. In being expressed, emotions can be released, even old emotions stored in body memory. Allowing my emotions to surface into awareness and to be able to name my emotions is the beginning of emotional exploration.”
It may surprise you that emotions are not the sole product of your brain, but are expressed, experienced and stored in your BodyMind, and these emotions can be triggered through body work, meditations, breathing, spiritual practice and many other diverse psychosomatic modalities. Use one you like, or learn something new, as a vehicle to better emotional expressivity and health.
We all have painful memories – failure, disappointments, suffering, loss – hidden away or suppressed- in our BodyMinds, to be retrieved, reformed, and released, or ignored and left to fester, wounds that never heal. What John Upledger called a “somato-emotional cyst”. A primitive body defense response in which the injury, and the emotions therein encoded, are walled off from the rest of the body, and never truly resolve.
It’s amazing to think of our glands, organs, tissues and cells as storage places for emotion and memory, yet this was given explanation through the scientific research of Dr. Candace Pert, a neuropharmacologist who worked at the NIH and Georgetown University Medical Center. Candace famously stated that “Your body is your subconscious mind. Our physical body can be changed by the emotions we experience.”[1] . Dr Pert explains:
“A feeling sparked in our mind-or body-will translate as a peptide being released somewhere. [Organs, tissues, skin, muscle and endocrine glands], they all have peptide receptors on them and can access and store emotional information. This means the emotional memory is stored in many places in the body, not just or even primarily, in the brain. You can access emotional memory anywhere in the peptide/receptor network, in any number of ways. I think unexpressed emotions are literally lodged in the body. The real true emotions that need to be expressed are in the body, trying to move up and be expressed and thereby integrated, made whole, and healed.
Dr. Pert says “Let the emotions bubble up. Let the chips fall where they may…the process of catharsis is not complete without saying things as the first step to experiencing things…To feel and understand means you have worked it all the way through. It has bubbled all the way to the surface. You’re integrating at higher and higher levels in the body, bringing emotions into consciousness. Once integrated, the natural wisdom of the receptors ( a take on Walter Cannon) will release interrupted healing and restorative and regenerative processes can take over.”
“By simply acknowledging emotions, they are expressed. In being expressed, emotions can be released, even old emotions stored in body memory. Allowing my emotions to surface into awareness and to be able to name my emotions is the beginning of emotional exploration. I am moving forward, trying to find my position within the family, within the community, and in life.”
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We store emotional pain in some unlikely spots.
We know that our minds carry our emotional stress, but our bodies do, too. And the physical clues we experience could be telltale signs of emotional memories.
Western-trained doctors and neuroscientists often report that the amygdala or limbic system in the brain stores human emotions and memory. But your body holds onto your past, too. According to the late neuropharmacologist Candace Pert, the “body is your subconscious mind. Our physical body can be changed by the emotions we experience.” Her research reveals the integrated physiology behind emotion-body connection:
“A feeling sparked in our mind-or body-will translate as a peptide being released somewhere. [Organs, tissues, skin, muscle and endocrine glands] all have peptide receptors on them and can access and store emotional information. This means the emotional memory is stored in many places in the body, not just or even primarily, in the brain. You can access emotional memory anywhere in the peptide/receptor network, in any number of ways. I think unexpressed emotions are literally lodged in the body. The real true emotions that need to be expressed are in the body, trying to move up and be expressed and thereby integrated, made whole, and healed.”
Modern scientific research is still trying to figure out the impact of emotions on the body.
The bodily experience of emotion is nearly instantaneous. Research has proven that within the first few seconds of experiencing a negative emotion, people automatically tense the muscles in their jaw and around the eyes and mouth. Neurophysiologists explain that with repeated stress, people over time have shorter and shorter neck and shoulder muscles. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that people with depression had chronically tight brow muscles (corrugator muscles) even when they did not think they were frowning. Multiple studies indicate that an increased mental workload results in increased muscle tension in the cervical and shoulder areas, particularly for people working at computers.
Muscle tension can lead to chronic pain, knots, and spasms. One theory is that muscle tension decreases blood flow, leading to lower oxygen delivery, lactic acid buildup, and the accumulation of toxic metabolites. Shortening of the muscle fibers can also activate pain receptors. Lack of movement can further reduce blood flow and oxygenation.
What can we do to prevent storing negative emotions in our tense muscles? Take a moment to see where you might be storing stress in your body. Every body is unique, and our bodies change day to day. Notice where you hold onto different emotions and kickstart the process of releasing negative emotions with the first step—giving your body attention and awareness.
Here are some common areas of tension:
1. Jaw. Emotions like anger and stress can cause clenching of the jaw and muscles around the mouth.
What to do: Release the jaw by a simple Lion’s breath (or if you’re in an open office, you try yawning or sighing with an open mouth).
2. Brow. Feeling down or worried can cause you to knit your brow, without even realizing it.
What to do: Release your forehead by raising and lowering your eyebrows 2-3 times. Also, inhale deeply while closing and squinting your eyes tightly, and then exhale while you release the tension and open your eyes.
3. Neck. If you are constantly looking down at papers or a computer, your neck may be angled in one position for an extended period of time without any movement, causing lower blood flow to neck muscles. Studies have shown that when mental workload increases, the cervical area feels the effects.
What to do: Bring back blood flow to your neck muscles by rolling your head gently from one side to the other, then changing directions. Avoid holding your neck in one position for long periods of time.
4. Shoulders. The trapezoid muscle of your shoulders holds up your head, which weighs around 10 pounds. If you have a sitting desk or work primarily in front of a computer, you are likely not moving your shoulders regularly, which can create knots and muscle spasms in the trapezoids. Studies show that increased mental workload directly results in physical tension in the arm and shoulders.
What to do: With an inhale, lift your shoulders to your ears. Exhale and draw your shoulders down and back, guiding the shoulder blades towards each other and downwards.
5. Hips. Most people don’t automatically associate hips with emotions. But many yoga teachers describe hips as storing negative emotions—and hip-opening classes can lead to an unexpected release of emotions. While there is little scientific data that can shed light on the relationship between negative emotions and hips, one study has shown an interesting connection between the jaw and the hips. After tension of the temporomandibular joint was released, the range of motion of the hip significantly increased.