The following is excerpted from the course Tools for the Times
Release Trapped Emotions…Move It
By design, emotion enters from the cosmos as energy into the back side of the Sacral Chakra where it flows as needed. Depending on the circumstance and the reaction, the energy births into the appropriate emotion. Again, by design, it would flow, be felt, have its life, be expressed, then dissipate out. And we would remain in a state of balance, merely responding to the moment with the emotion that is called for.
For a variety of reasons, the emotion becomes blocked at the release stage, or even before. Familial patterns and injunctions, community biases, social guidelines, cultural mores, leave us holding on to more emotional energy than we are equipped to handle. By the magnificence of the design, the unexpressed emotional energy is held, particularly in the thematic chakra zones, until it can be released, by choice, or force. But the holding tanks are limited. Any energy held there begins to slow down in vibration and move toward becoming more physical. This process occurs to attract attention to the conscious self to choose to clear and release. Unfortunately, we are programmed to ignore. And if we do feel something, we are also directed to medicate, not meditate.
So, here we are with these reservoirs of the unexpressed, impacting our moments of living, waiting to be cleared. What to do? Well, for starters, move…move your body. The energy is in the cells and tissues and responds well to the movement. So, stretch, especially in improvisational multi muscle stretch that seem to come from nowhere. The wisdom of the body is profound and, when listened to and trusted, can be all that is needed to stay clear.
Move…dance, stomp, run, jump, slink, slither, crawl, bounce, roll, shake, oscillate, pound, skip, jump rope, exercise, use the chi machine, use isometrics, practice yoga, become athletic, hike…you get the picture. Staying still stores more.
What follows are some suggestions for each emotion on how to let the energy move:
Joy
Don’t worry, be happy; laugh; do things you love doing; celebrate; get outside
Sadness
Cry; cry; cry; allow yourself to feel by focusing on the areas of sensation and giving permission for the energy to move; acknowledge the loss and the source of the sadness, set up a gestalt activity where you dialogue with the loss, get speaking to activate the movement through the stuckness; comfort your inner child, remind yourself that you are there for you, always and in all ways; and, did I mention, cry?
Fear
Own the fear, explore its parameters to get familiar with the facts of the fear…fear fades when facts are faced, when the curtain is pulled back to reveal the illusory nature of what has imprisoned us; shake and make sounds, you know the sounds of fear, make them and let them move until complete; notice the sensations in the body and dialogue with them, invite them to tell you what they have to say; use the circle/connected breath to support the movement of the fear energy; move…dance out the fear;
Anger
Get physical; throw rocks, use a bataka or whiffle bat, exercise, stomp; throw a tantrum just like you did as a child; yell , make deep guttural sounds and move; become a monster with sound and movement; kick and scream; do an anger dance; when anger is moving it’s all physical. You will know when the energy has dissipated.
Grief
Feel it; trust your inner guidance and listen to its suggestions and do them; cry; own your feelings; practice self care and comfort; cry; acknowledge the loss; have dialogue with the loss; take walks; take baths with bubbles, aromatherapy, and candles; be gentle and loving to yourself; reach out to others and talk about your feelings, the loss, the missing, the emptiness; get an pet to have companionship with and express outward care; make sure you are hydrated and eat nutritiously.
Emotions are moving energy. You must allow the energy to move. Once you have done this, then you can engage in more pointed and mental exercises to further clear any emotional debris. One I have used with great success is to make lists for fear, anger, sadness, and grief showing all the people, events, and situations that I have ever had in each. Yes, it is time consuming. Yes, it can be exhaustive. Yes, it is worth it. Take the fear list, for example, and for each entry, take some time to focus upon it, see what comes up, pay attention to feeling and sensations in the body, then allow yourself to say what you want to say. Express the unexpressed. When you are complete, say thank you, and cut the cord to it with a slice of the hand and a “Suh htep nah!” You are taking your conscious time when you are not emotional and clearing the energetic memory. There is not much more to be done with this because we live in a time when awareness creates change…simply bringing your attention to the person or event with the intention of releasing activates the release of the energy.
Another generic release for emotional residue is to find a station on the radio that plays music that you listened to when you were growing up. Music carries a particular frequency that when engaged, can take us back to the experiences of when the song was relevant in your life. For each song that comes on, put yourself back there and invite what is ready to reveal itself. Give thanks for the information and release and go to the next song. Do this for up to an hour. I have used it on long trips with XM/Sirius radio set to the 50’s and 60’s radio. For two hours I was transported back to places that I had forgotten. I let the emotion of that wash through me. What a drive!
One more time…emotion is about movement. Awareness to symptoms, permission to move, support of movement, allowance of release, and the filling in of the vacated space with higher frequency intention or color is a proven model for maintaining emotional literacy.
