When I feel anxiety consuming me. When I feel anger. When I feel sad. I have created the habit of doing something with my body that clears the emotions so I can feel normal again.

At first, I never actually sat and felt the emotions. I distracted myself, tried focusing on what I was grateful for (which I am a huge fan of but sometimes, you feel bad and you just can’t will yourself to feel better.)

Bad emotions are coming up because they are releasing, when you don’t allow them to release, they stick around, often getting more intense.  What you resist, persists. When I am willing to feel the emotion, really feel it, it seems to move through me and out.

Emotions are E-nergy in M-otion- meaning they need to be moved THROUGH the body. Without moving negative emotions, they physically get stuck in the body, causing symptoms you may not associate with what you are struggling with.

More on other blocked emotions releasing here.

So now when I am feeling an intense bad emotion I will:

• Stop. Take deep breaths
• Label exactly what I am feeling and where. I really feel it and breathe into it.
• I usually do this emotional release technique.
• I will use my body in a way: dance, jump, run, shake, power pose

Emotional Stress Release

The emotional stress release is a fantastic exercise that you can use anytime you are feeling:

• sad
• anxious
• mad
• stressed
• unmotivated
• depressed

This exercise allows you to release the emotion from your body, increase blood flow to your brain, calm your nervous and limbic system, and activate the parasympathetic system (healing).

Also check out how prayer changes your brain and the work of dr. Caroline Leaf

How to

This takes 3 minutes:

1. take 3 deep breathes and label the emotion you are feeling.
2. Place one hand on your forehead and one hand where you are feeling the emotion (chest, gut, etc)
3. For 1 minute, close your eyes while holding those two places and really think about how you are feeling and why while doing small squats.
4. For the second minute: take your left hand and put your left thumb on your right earlobe and your left pointer behind your right ear. Then the same to the left ear with your right hand. Close your eye and do small squats again. This time, inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up and think or say the word RELEASE. Do this for 1 minute.
5. For the last minute, keep holding that pose with your arms crossed holding your ears. Inhale on the way down, and exhale on the way up while thinking or saying a positive affirmation. I am strong, I am beautiful, I am successful, I am okay, I am guided, I am healthy, etc. . .

Give it a try!