As a psychotherapist, I often see clients who feel grief, anger, sadness and anxiety in the gut or stomach. For us to heal, these emotions need to be felt slowly with mindful awareness so that they can move through us and pass.
Grief can be stored in various parts of the body, such as the heart, lungs, throat, and stomach. People may also experience physical sensations like heaviness in the chest or tightness in the throat when experiencing grief.
The enteric nervous system — an out-branching of the central nervous system — serves the GI tract, making a direct connection between our brain and gastrointestinal system. That connection can cause normal physiologic processes to be interpreted as painful under stressful or anxiety-provoking situations.
Hidden or unexpressed feelings become frozen into the structure of your body. That means a lot of negative emotions become stored along your spine and in the backs of your legs. Most of your powerful emotions such as anger and fear are stored in your back.
For some people, the tremors are big movements in the muscles. For others, they are tiny contractions that feel like electrical frequencies moving through the body. TRE® is not painful—in fact, most people enjoy the sensations.
According to D'Avella, “The gut is the hub for creativity, sexuality, and emotions. Gut issues can be linked to sexual trauma, being creatively blocked, unresolved relationships, and unprocessed emotions.” My gut told me that at least some of this pain had to do with the sexual trauma in my past.
The large intestine is associated with the emotions of sadness and grief, it can help build immunity as it works as a paired channel to the lung meridian and has a big effect on the flow of Qi and blood in the body.
For some people, lovesickness goes beyond butterflies: It may also induce physical effects, such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, stomach pain, loss of sleep, and depression, all which may persist and prevent you from functioning normally.
Anger is the emotion of the liver and the gallbladder, organs associated with the wood element. Emotions like rage, fury or aggravation can indicate that this energy is in excess, and when we experience these emotions consistently, our liver can get damaged. At this point, headaches or dizziness can be common.
Aside from affecting your mood, thought processes, sleep schedule and digestive system, depression also impacts one of your most vital organs – your heart. When a person is depressed, stress hormones surge through the body, causing the heart rate to quicken and blood vessels to tighten.
Exercise helps your nervous system restore balance by burning off adrenaline and releasing endorphins through movement. Endorphins help combat situational depression that may develop as a result of the traumatic event.
Unfortunately, our emotions can sometimes bottle up and create a barrier that can prevent us from thinking creatively and moving towards our goals. This is known as emotional blockage, a condition that can benefit greatly from relationship intimacy coaching exercises and other forms of psychological help.
The stomach is one of the most common places people hold stress.
Anger with the liver. Fear with the kidney. Joy with the heart. Sadness and grief with the lung.
The most common areas we tend to hold stress are in the neck, shoulders, hips, hands and feet. Planning one of your stretch sessions around these areas can help calm your mind and calm your body.
Neck Tension = Fear and Repressed Self-Expression
Neck muscle tension is also related to trust issues.
This can happen anywhere in the body, and for trauma survivors, it is most commonly held in the core of the body, the stomach, abdomen, and low back, as well as the upper torso, chest, shoulders, and spine. Gastrointestinal (GI) issues. It is common for trauma survivors to experience GI issues.
Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better.
Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Most responses are normal in that they affect most survivors and are socially acceptable, psychologically effective, and self-limited.