Have you ever stood on the beach with the waves crashing, or taken a hike on a snowy day and “felt” the quiet? What is it that you are sensing? You might say the wind or the smell of salt water or you might notice the temperature or the stillness. This is energy. It may come to us in the form of light, sound, pressure, temperature, gravity, or chemical energy detected by smell or taste. There are electric fields and magnetic fields of energy as well. Really there is no need to make it too complicated, all you need to do is get quiet, become present and begin to notice what is going on outside of you. As we take in this external stimulus called sensation, your sense organs engage in a conversion process called transduction. Transduction is the conversion of one form of energy into another. Physical energy is converted into a form of electrical energy that our brains can understand. Like magic we began to make sense of all this stimulation, and if we are conscious enough, we can begin to appreciate the complex world around us. This is called perception.
Try this, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Put your bare feet on the ground and bring your attention to your feet. Just by noticing you will feel your energy grounding. Let’s try something else. Remember that one time when your eyes met someone else’s and you got what my husband calls “eye-lock” and you felt an energetic charge. Maybe it was attraction or repulsion, either way most likely you felt it somewhere in your body. This is energy moving through your body. Energy may be felt as sensations of contraction like a tension headache or expansion like a good belly laugh. Emotion literally means energy in motion. Emotions can be described as having an upward spiraling effect which correlates with expansion and feelings of lightness, peace and happiness, or a downward spiraling effect which correlates with contraction and feelings such as fear, depression or discouragement. The truth is, emotion is neutral. What makes emotions positive or negative has more to do with the programs that we run that energy through. It is our programming that interprets emotional energy and gives it meaning. How you deal with and use your emotional energy is a key factor to your happiness.
Our fast paced lives can create stress, this constant stress can be overwhelming. In order for us to cope with this stress, we disconnect as a way of protection. This disconnection cuts us off from tough emotions and overwhelming sensations, but this results in a buildup of energy that gets suppressed in our bodies. We feel contracted, or restricted in some way. This contraction often times feels like pain or discomfort. If we are disconnected it can be a scary process to reconnect, especially if there is trauma involved. Reconnecting may take us back to the painful experience, causing us to relive it. Learning to move through tough emotions often requires support from others, but only in the way of listening or holding space. No one can process your emotional energy for you, and all to often we project it on others.
One of my Yoga teachers was very effective at teaching me how to recognize emotional energy. At the beginning of each yoga class we would tune in. She would ask how each of us was feeling, then have us describe the sensation in our bodies, without telling a story about it. If I said I was tired for example, because I only got four hours of sleep. She would ask me to focus on the sensation I was feeling, rather than the story behind why I might be tired. I was encouraged to explain how and where I was feeling sensation. I might then say…my eyes are burning; my legs are weak and my head aches. She told all of us in class that the sensations we felt in our bodies were reliable, and that these sensations were the key to transforming our stress and unlocking our limiting patterns. Instead of ignoring our body sensations, we were encouraged to trust them, sit with them and breathe until the energy shifted or was released. We used a technique called diaphragmatic breathing, which she called “Soft Belly.”
The breath is our greatest tool for moving through tough emotions. Allowing yourself to feel while using your breath as a tool, actually moves emotional energy. Being sensitive to your body’s natural rhythm, and not rushing or forcing the healing process is important. This healing does not look like analyzing and talking about how you feel, but rather identifying where the sensation of contraction is felt…being curious about it, then releasing through it. During training at www.gobodhiyoga.com I learned through the regular practice of breathwork and asana/postures, that emotions stored in the tissues of the body can find a release, and the mind, body and spirit can then experience a clearing, resulting in feelings of expansion rather than contraction. In this expanded state you will feel lighter, relieved or more peaceful and present. Over time this can rewire your brain, creating new pathways towards happiness. How you might ask, breathwork and meditation activates a region of the brain known as the insula. This part of the brain is involved in “introception.” Introception means tuning into the sensations you feel in inside as well as your deep feelings. When this part of the brain is activated it grows. That means we have greater potential.
With practice and time, I am learning to ride the waves of emotion more gracefully. It feels good being able to come to a balanced state much more quickly when I’m faced with strong emotion. Having tools to help me has made all the difference in the world. Learning to process emotion real-time if possible, is what I’m striving for. Suppressed emotions seem to get bigger, especially when I have a story around an experience. When I can bring a mindful focus to what my body is telling me, get quiet and listen, I can begin the work of letting go of what no longer serves me. The day to day practice gives me messages that are very difficult to ignore. Journalist Brianna Wiest said, “Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing. It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do…” It doesn’t always look like going to the spa, or on a relaxing vacation although these feel good momentarily. Self-care is facing your deepest, darkest emotions which may not be pretty, processing them using techniques that work, and allowing God’s graced to heal you.
Namaste,
Holly
