Exploring Emotional Pain In The Body: How Emotions Present Themselves as Physical Ailments

When you experience physical body pain, how often do you pause to acknowledge that your physical ailment could be a manifestation of your emotional pain? Undesired or painful physical symptoms in the body are often linked to the negative thoughts, beliefs, feelings, or attitudes that we hold onto in our minds. And, as the mind and body are so intricately and closely connected, the longer we cling to these negative thoughts, the more it can impair our health.

Your emotions, whether positive or negative, can affect the physical state of your body. At the same time, how you take care of your body impacts your mental state. This complex mind-body connection serves as a reminder that if we want to heal ourselves, we must be willing to look at our entire being. The approach we must take to better our health is a holistic one that recognizes everything occurring within us is integral. So, while understanding and exploring emotional pain through the lens of the physical body isn't the most widely taken approach to overall health and wellness, it is an effective one.

Your optimal health and healing depend upon your ability to recognize the interdependence between your emotions and body to achieve balance. In other words, if one aspect of your health isn't working properly, it affects the others, which can ultimately harm your overall health and wellness.

Can you recall a time where you were feeling stressed out or anxious about something, so your heart started beating quickly, your palms began to sweat, and you got the feeling of having a knot in your stomach? These are just a few manifestations of emotions like anxiety or stress that most of us can relate to, and it's one way of understanding the fascinating linkage between the body and mind.

Constantly feeling anxious or stressed? We've put together a list of our top 25 techniques to reduce anxiety just for you!

Yet, many complex emotions and things occur in our minds constantly, which we do not always readily recognize or understand. It isn't easy to know how to heal ourselves or others if we cannot name the emotion or do not understand the cause. And, even if we are aware of our emotional turmoil or why it is occurring, we are not always the most mindful of pausing, reflecting, and addressing our mental health.

For all these reasons, exploring the body to pinpoint various sensations or areas of pain, tenderness, or discomfort is an incredibly helpful way to identify your emotions. For instance, you can notice and feel back pain more readily than you might recognize the emotional pain connected to it, which could be anything from feeling a lack of emotional or financial support to feeling hopeless or unloved.

It helps if you understand your emotions as energy in motion. Emotional pain can get stuck in the body, and it requires awareness and effort to keep it moving, or else it can contribute to pain, illness, or disease. You may have lingering emotional issues that you have swept under the rug for a long time, and it is important to be aware that this can ultimately lead to chronic pain.

This isn't some unconventional belief based on spirituality or mysticism - it is a real phenomenon. The more you get familiar with certain physical symptoms and their emotional connection, the more quickly you can identify the best first step on your path toward healing.

We have an entire lesson, in our yoga teacher training course where we explore a wide range of symptoms in the body and analyzing their emotional meaning. We’ve got a free preview here just for you.



"Exploring Emotional Pain in the Body with Jolie"

Our goal is not necessarily for you to study or memorize these connections, but more importantly, to use them to understand yourself and your unique needs better. Together we will look at diagrams of both the front and back body that illuminate various areas of the body and show what each one represents emotionally. For example, jaw problems or tension could indicate feelings of anger or resentment, and a rash can mean feeling irritated over delays, signifying an immature way to elicit attention.

We will also go over health conditions and illnesses that do not always show up the same or in a particular area of the body but show up due to a general fear or unhelpful way of being. For instance, numbness might show up in different physical locations but represents withholding love and consideration.

In this free course preview, you will be exploring your body, taking notes on any areas of your body that are tender, sore, or painful. You will be using this body exploration to see if you can learn anything new about yourself and create affirmations surrounding your issues to address and heal.

Want to dive deeper? See the full 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training course outline here and get $500 off if you register before the end of the month! Our goal is for you to finish this course feeling willing and prepared to explore your pain and release and transform through yoga. There are no right or wrong answers here - only exploration.