The body holds the score
‘’The body remembers, the bones remember, the joints remember, even the little finger remembers. Memory is lodged in pictures and feelings in the cells themselves. Like a sponge filled with water, anywhere the flesh is pressed, wrung, even touched lightly, a memory may flow out in a stream.”- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The body remembers everything..
‘’When two ducks get into a fight, it never lasts long – they soon separate and fly off in opposite directions. Each duck then flap its wings vigorously several times. This releases the surplus energy that built up in him during the fight. After they flap their wings, they fly on peacefully as if nothing had ever happened’’- Ekhart Tolle
This is an example of what happens to animals when their sympathetic nervous system is activated:
1. Stressful situation
2. Sympathetic nervous system activated
3. Cortisol (stress hormone) released
4. Fight mode kicks in
5. Excess cortisol released via movement
However, for us humans, blessed with a mind, after a stressful situation we may have the primal urge to run, scream or shake, but our ego starts to get chatty, it may say thinks like:
‘’No, this is a bad time, I can’t start screaming in front of these people, they’ll think I’m weird’’
So humans aren’t very good at ‘shaking things off’
We push our emotions down into the body where they can become lodged.
In practises such as yin yoga, we start to gently pull on the tissue which is why we may feel a lot of emotions rising to the surface especially in deep hip openers such as kapotasana (pidgeon pose).
Paired with a supportive and well-held space this can be the start of a very cathartic journey.
As Bessel Van Der Kolk says ‘’If you are not aware of what your body needs, you can’t take care of it’’
I believe that if these emotions are rising to the surface it is your soul’s way of letting you know you’re now strong enough to deal with them.
*Disclaimer: I whole heartedly support working with a qualified professional if you are experiencing large emotions and stored trauma. As always please take what serves you, and leave behind what doesn’t.