Have you ever wondered where the anger you didn’t express goes? Or where the sadness you had to hide goes?
I regularly come across women who feel mentally ‘okay’ but suffer from chronic neck pain, digestive problems, exhaustion, sleep disorders or constant inner restlessness. The truth is: we may be able to suppress our feelings with our minds, but our bodies don’t forget them. On the contrary, it will remind us again and again.
Feelings are energy in motion
The word “emotion” is derived from the Latin “emovere”, to move out. From a biological point of view, an emotion is a complex reaction of our limbic system that flows through our body and, ideally, wants to flow out again.
When we suppress feelings such as sadness, anger or despair, we stop this natural flow. We tense our muscles, breathe shallowly, perhaps even freeze. We often suppress the feeling unconsciously because it feels too overwhelming or “inappropriate”. We often try to appear strong on the outside, even though maintaining this façade costs us an incredible amount of energy. Having to be strong everywhere: For work, the family, the world. An endurance race on the outside in which we lose contact with ourselves.
What happens in the body when we hold back emotions?
Repressed emotions do not simply disappear. They seek another place of expression, often in the tissues, organs or nervous system:
- The lump in the throat: often unspoken truth or suppressed tears.
- Tightness in the chest: fear or sadness that we dare not express.
- Tense shoulders: the burden of having to carry everything alone.
- Hormonal imbalance: Persistent emotional stress signals danger to the body, which quickly throws the sensitive hormone system out of balance.
- Stomach and intestinal complaints: Digestion doesn’t start in the gut, it starts the moment we decide what we take in on a day-to-day basis, not just food, but also news, conversations, social media…
- Pain in the jaw: “Grit your teeth”: This saying is no coincidence.
The somatic path: how to learn to trust your body again
A healthy body awareness does not mean that we always have to be happy, healthy and content. It means that we are safe enough to feel what is there and can remain in trust.
We also feel grounded and supported when we allow emotions such as anger, fear or sadness to flow through us. Every emotion is important. Every emotion is right. The end of judgment is the beginning of your inner healing and the moment when your body is finally allowed to soften again.
From an energetic point of view, emotions are vibrational patterns, a frequency of your life energy that flows through you. If the energy is allowed to flow again, this creates expansiveness: we welcome every emotion – and let it go again in trust.
A little exercise for you: Pause for a moment. Close your eyes. Where in your body do you feel tightness, tension or pressure right now? Place your hands on top of each other on this part of your body. Breathe right into it without wanting to change it. Say to yourself: “I see you. I thank you. We are safe.”
Sometimes simple awareness is the moment when the resistance, the tightness, the pressure gives way and the energy can finally flow again.
How do you feel after this little exercise?
I look forward to your feedback!
All the best,
Yve Nicole
About the author
Ich bin Autorin aus Leidenschaft. Seit einigen Jahren teile ich mein Wissen über mentale Gesundheit, das Nervensystem und ganzheitliche Körperarbeit in meinen Texten. Zwei Bücher habe ich bereits veröffentlicht – weitere sind schon in Arbeit. Alles, worüber ich schreibe, basiert auf fundiertem Fachwissen und praktischer Erfahrung. Seit sechs Jahren begleite ich Frauen auf ihrem Weg zu mehr Körperbewusstsein, Gesundheit und innerer Balance. Als ausgebildete Entspannungspädagogin und zertifizierte Qigong-Lehrerin verbinde ich westliche Methoden wie Übungen aus der Atemtherapie mit fernöstlicher Weisheit der TCM und dem japanischen Heilströmen. Mit meinen Büchern und Impulsen möchte ich dich inspirieren, dir selbst mit mehr Achtsamkeit, Leichtigkeit und Selbstfürsorge zu begegnen.
