A common but often misunderstood or disregarded cause of anxiety and PTSD resolution is how trauma stored within the body. It may sound a bit woo woo so let me get scientific for a moment.  

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You may remember In school, we learned that everything is made of energy at the smallest scales. Atoms are energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only stored or changed. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions are forms of energy. Nowadays, people refer to emotions as "e-motions," which stands for energy in motion. 

 

For many of us as were growing up we were told by society to hold these emotions down as families and teachers couldn't accommodate a child who is crying or screaming and letting these e-motions flow out of them. So as we grow up and experience traumatic events whatever that may be (even small things like being told off) trigger our emotions but unfortunately we were taught not to let these out so we hold this outburst down.  

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Since the energy was not converted out of us through the emotional outburst, the body had to store it. It stayed there and continued to grow as we went through events that stirred our emotions and were also not released.   

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This stored energy that is stuck within our atoms overtime builds up and creates a heaviness within the body, a lethargy, a low mood and is always looking for a way out. Without this knowledge though we unknowingly hold these emotions down because as they come up they feel uncomfortable. These feelings can show up as anxiety, anger, or sadness. They may result in physical reactions like crying, shaking, screaming, weakness, vomiting, sweating, and feeling overheated.  

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Although these processes may be uncomfortable or frightening, they are actually wonderful things and are essential for achieving emotional freedom. Eastern traditions and medicine have long acknowledged this fact. As a result, there are much lower levels of anxiety and depression in those regions of the world.  

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In my own experience at first I was a little skeptical although I trusted my mentor who was guiding me on this journey. I started a meditation practice to explore within myself and uncover the stored energy so I could release it in the hopes of improving my emotional wellbeing. 

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The analogy I was taught was it is like a bomb disposal expert, carefully going over past experiences and looking for landmines to safely explode so the area becomes neutralized, finally accessing that energy that been held down for so long and freeing myself from it's effect. 

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I have to say I was shocked when I found my first landmine. I had a big reaction that lasted for about 5 minutes. I cried, shook, vomited, and collapsed to the floor, where I lay shaking. 

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When it had finished, I stood up and it felt like a weight had been lifted of me, literally! Although it felt scary as it began it was a truly amazing and life changing experience.  

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I felt immediately lighter, calmer and more optimistic, this was the first real subjective experience that occured during my mental health recovery, after this I knew I was on the right path for wellbeing and continued enthusiastically knowing this was the way forward.  

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A good analogy is a bottle of lemonade. When we look at it from the outside of a sealed bottle, everything seems calm. But when we open the top, the energy inside the bottle starts to fizz and release." If we shake it and open it over and over again the lemonade becomes flat as the energy has been released, so when we open the lid the contents stay calm.   

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This is what seems to be happening inside the body, eventually when you experience situations that would have previously triggered you, there is non of this energy left within the body to be released and you naturally stay calm. 

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Of course I can help guide you through the process. Until then, can you see in your own life I hope you can begin to see how important it is to let your emotions flow freely, we are emotional creatures and is natural for us, so let those e-motions flow! 

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