Emotional storage
Yesterday I had a bad stomach day. A really bad one and then it ended with a throbbing headache. All this came out of nowhere and I have yet to figure out why. After trying out all the remedies I could to alleviate the stomach cramps, I finally got on YouTube and searched yoga for stomach pain. Of course there were so many videos readily available and so I proceeded to try out one and spent the next fifteen minutes twisting and turning, deeply breathing in and out all while focusing on my gut. There is no doubt that at the end of it all I felt amazing and for a long while afterwards I actually felt as if all that redirection of blood flow towards my gut actually helped my body. I won’t lie and say that yoga was my cure all. The stomach and gut needed more outside assistance to help normalize things. However, taking concentrated time out for my body did make a lot of sense.
The next morning I wake up to some more proof that AI is on call 24/7 and my news feed on Instagram is filled with yoga videos. One of them caught my eye. Not because the poses made sense or I could do them but because of the reasons for focusing on those parts of the body. When we think of exercise our focus is generally on improving our physical health which in turn will enable us to lead a better life. When we think of emotional health we think of the brain and improving brain and mental health. While it’s true that a lot of what we feel emotionally is manifested by the mind/brain, this particular video was explaining how our organs store our emotions. It’s not all stored in the head.
The obvious one which most everyone would easily guess is the heart. Yup our emotions are definitely stored in our heart and when the heart is emotionally challenged, its performance is affected. The heart contains neurons and neurotransmitters that connect it to the brain therefore however the heart processes and stores emotional experiences, it transmits signals to the brain accordingly. Likewise other organs store emotions therefore affecting the performance of those organs as well.
Did you know that we have a second brain known as the gut? The gut contains the enteric nervous system which is connected to the central nervous system and plays a key role in regulating emotions. Whenever we have any kind of imbalance in our gut bacteria it affects our mood and well-being. Ask me. Yesterday was my foul mood day and my well-being was definitely off!
The liver, it is believed and supported by traditional Chinese medicine, stores the emotions of anger and resentment. So it is said that any unresolved anger related emotions directly impacts how our liver functions. Modern day psychology also supports this theory by linking various liver disorders to repressed emotions.
Now come the lungs. The lungs are central to yoga. All that deep breathing allows you to connect and release so much negative energy from the body. Once again traditional Chinese medicine says the lungs store grief and sadness. Remember the last time you couldn’t stop crying or you were having an anxiety attack? When you don’t know how to stop you feel the urge to take deep breaths hoping that deep breath will stop the sobs. Breathing does that. It slows down the pace. It centers you. It releases the negative energy and therefore sends the right signals to the brain which then in turn calms you down and makes you feel better.
Our body often speaks to us and whether we choose to listen to it or not is entirely up to us. We have always assumed our emotions are stored in our minds but it helps to understand that that’s not the only place they are stored. Acknowledging and addressing how and where we store our emotions will not only help us understand ourselves better but will help us feel a whole lot better. Feeling pain and feeling miserable is a sign of what needs to be addressed. So the next time you are having a bad day, try looking inward and you might be able to help solve your problems yourself.