Exploring the Connection Between Emotional and Physical Pain
What you resist… persists!
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung famously said, “That which you deny within manifests itself as fate.”
When you stuff your pain down and try to avoid the feelings in the world INSIDE you, it becomes your destiny to face them in the world OUTSIDE you. And the longer you try to bury emotional pain, the more likely you are to experience it in the form of physical symptoms. One reflects the other.
Nature reminds us of a principle in healing; “As above, so below.”
If something in your garden is unhealthy and struggling, a lot is going on, and you need to go beneath the surface to discover the cause. The same is true for symptoms you are experiencing on the outside. A lot is going on inside of you.
If you’re experiencing pain in your body that medical treatment hasn’t helped, ask yourself:
What might this physical pain reflect in my inner world?
What am I not willing to see?
Healing happens when we bring things to light.
In our busy, stressed-out world, there are plenty of ways you can avoid feeling pain, like staying busy so that you don’t have time to listen to yourself or the wisdom of your body.
But when you stuff your feelings down, where do you think they go?
Your nervous system records everything you experience, so every memory and emotion you ignore gets stored in your body like an invisible tattoo.
Think of your emotions as energy in motion. Emotions are designed to flow into your awareness and deliver a message about something that needs your attention. When you listen to their message, emotions transform into another form of energy your body can use.
When you can’t process your emotions, your nervous system stores the emotions in your body and freezes them there. You may feel numb to the feelings at the time so that you can cope or manage a stressful situation, but that energy remains frozen inside of you, waiting to be attended to.
It takes energy for your nervous system to keep pain frozen. That means you have less energy to function. And when you feel exhausted, depleted, and overwhelmed, that’s when you become ill.
Shining the light of awareness on how this happens in your body is essential for healing. So is learning how to extend the warmth of compassion and loving-kindness to transform any frozen, stuck, emotional energy stored inside you.
Have you noticed the language you use around your body?
What is your language reflecting?
That’s a lot to swallow.
It’s hard to stomach.
I can’t stand that.
I’m shouldering all the responsibility.
You’re getting on my nerves!
That person is getting under my skin!
I’m backed into a corner.
You deserve to get relief from your symptoms.
In our sessions, I’ll help you:
- Explore and identify the specific emotional issues and memories connected to your physical pain and symptoms, whether you experience headaches, back pain, stomach issues, autoimmune issues, or any ailments that medical professionals advise you are connected to stress.
- Use somatic awareness and Gestalt techniques to discover how and where you store emotional pain in your body. You’ll learn to release it from your body in gentle, safe ways.
- Practice deep breathing, meditation, and visualization techniques to reduce your pain and equip you with resources to comfort and soothe yourself when you’re in pain or stressed.
- Apply IFS (Internal Family Systems) techniques to access the innate healing capability you were born with, and heal long-standing issues that previous therapy hasn’t helped.
Learn more about My Approaches to explore the connection between emotional and physical pain.
If you are experiencing physical pain in your body, let’s explore how it might be reflecting emotional pain buried inside of you.
Don’t put it off any longer. Call me today for your free consultation: (813) 336-2173.
