Negative emotions and muscle tension

If you tend to have aches and pains or chronic tension in your muscle tissue that you just can’t seem to resolve, it’s possible you may have trapped emotions that are causing you physical discomfort. This is known as a psychosomatic symptom (interaction of mind and body) in which stress-related emotions or thoughts cause physical ailments.

Many of us carry trapped, unprocessed emotions within several areas of our bodies and we never know it, in fact, we can go years with this blocked energy that our muscles cling to, which can ultimately lead to chronic physical pain.

Emotions emit a vibrational energy field into our bodies – peace, love and joy are among the top vibrational energies whereas grief, apathy and shame are lower on the vibrational scale and spread negative energy in the body.

Research has proven that within the first few seconds of experiencing a negative emotion, people automatically tense the muscles in their jaw and around the eyes and mouth. A negative feeling can instantly causes a loss of 50% of the body’s muscle strength and it also narrows our vision both mentally and physically. It’s no coincidence that when you feel unmotivated you are usually experiencing low vibrational emotions.

Our thoughts have a profound impact on how we feel in our physical body so it’s important to be mindful and take care of negative emotions as they arise.

When we have acute negative feelings, the best way to cope is to “feel it to heal it”: you might cry, vent, or even scream but allowing yourself to express the emotion will help it pass. It will also keep tension out of your muscle tissue. Don’t bottle it up and store it in the body.

If you have chronic negative feelings or repressed emotions that have never been processed, this will require a bit more work as you will have to access your emotional memory and dig up the remains to express them. Trapped emotions need to be expressed; they are looking for a way out of the body: this is where your work comes in to heal those energy fields and allow them to pass through you. You can achieve this through counseling, therapy, meditation, journaling, and even expressing through art.

Using a personal mantra or chant can help with both repressed and acute emotions. Just speaking out loud your intention to “let go” of whatever it is you’re feeling. Say the words, “I choose to let go of this anger” and repeat it until you gain power of your true self in the midst of emotional discomfort. You will help navigate the energy away from you instead of identifying with it and letting it make a home in your physical body, causing muscular discomfort and pain as well as many other health issues.