Nervous System Reset Day 4

Feel

Hello and welcome to day 4 of our 7 day Nervous System Reset program. The intention of today’s class is to FEEL. Feel your emotions.

As we discovered on day 3 of our journey, our internal dialogue impacts how we feel physically and emotionally. Thoughts and words affect our physical wellness. Consider how your physical body responds to the following thought: “I’m a failure.” It is very likely that your physical body will enter a state of tension. You may experience a great deal of tension in your abdomen, upper back, shoulders and neck. This may then trigger a tension headache or aches and pains in your body. Now consider how the thought, “I’m a failure,” impacts your emotional health. What emotions come up? Maybe shame, worry, disappointment, sadness, embarrassment, and so on. Emotions also influence physical and mental wellness. And our physical, mental and emotional well-being influences the breath. Put simply, each aspect of our being influences the other.

Humans are emotional beings. We are designed to feel a wide array of emotions. Certain emotions may flow with ease, while others feel a little more sticky or trapped in the body. There are instances where we suppress or push down the expression of certain emotions. For example, when a colleague of yours gets the promotion that you’ve been longing for. What do you do in this situation? In the moment, you may congratulate them and do your very best to put a smile on your face. Deep down, you may want to curl up in a fetal position and cry. Since you’re at work, you decide to push the hurt down. Later on when you’re home, you continue to push your feelings down as you need to make dinner and do the dishes. You turn on the TV before bed as a way to wind down. But, what happened to the sadness that you experienced earlier on in the day? Did it just disappear? Are you over it? When we don’t give ourselves the space, permission and time to express and process our emotions, they become repressed. When emotional suppression becomes a habit or a coping strategy, the physical body will feel it. The physical body can express its emotional pain and discomfort as muscular tension, headaches, chronic pain, insomnia, etc.

So friends, I invite you to feel. Allow yourself to feel whatever emotion is coming to the surface. Observe where you feel that emotion in your body (e.g. feet, legs, abdomen, low back, shoulders, head, etc.). Be as specific as possible. What sensations do you feel in your body (e.g. tingly, itchy, warm, uneasy, cool, nauseous, aches, pain, pleasure, etc.)? If you can, label the emotion. It’s okay if you’re unsure. Today’s practice will give you the opportunity to explore tools and strategies that can help you release trapped emotions from your body so that way you walk off your mat feeling lighter.