Everything you experience in your life is not only stored and locked into the mind, it is stored and locked into every cell, tissue, blood, plasma, fascia and deeper into the actual muscle belly itself. If something happens to us physically, those memories store right into the body and lock into the muscle memory. Most people are familiar with the term muscle memory but only in the physical sense of the word. If we do an exercise, it is recommended that we lay down at the end of that exercise for a few minutes to allow the practice to be absorbed into the muscles. Another trick to getting into muscle memory is to do a certain movement a specific number of times so that the body can retain how the movement is done. Then at the next practice, your muscles will recall with ease what you learned the last time and pick up right where you left off.
If, however, the experience is something painful or traumatic, it only takes one time for the body to lock in the memory. It will know in any given situation similar to the one that instilled the pain exactly what it needs to do to avoid a repeat. It will immediately activate the fight, flight or freeze response. Everything we experience in life is both stored in the mind and the body. To ignore this knowledge can be costly to the person trying to heal.
If we were to rearrange the process of healing to focus on releasing through the body’s agenda and not just through the mind, we could very well get to the deep levels of pain and release in a shorter time than if we pursued this through cognitive therapies only. The body tells your story and the body does not lie. The body does not have a lot of thought processes to fight against and hide behind. The ego does not reside in the body. The bodies agenda is to maintain balance (homeostasis). By releasing both the mind and the body simultaneously, it can lend itself to some amazing breakthroughs and substantial healing. This can have a profound effect on the way we choose to approach our healing.
It is in my experience that directly working in the belly of the muscles themselves and working with the energy body of a person can release deep held traumas and shames that the body experienced at a very efficient pace. Going even further in my research, I have found that depending on where you carry your pain can offer a great deal of insight into what the emotion is that your body is holding on to. It is my belief, and many others in my field, that various muscle groups tend to store certain emotions in specific areas depending on what emotion it is that the body is holding. There is a pain pattern within the muscles and they correlate directly to the experience and the emotions stored.
For example: Betrayal. When someone betrays us, we feel that we have been stabbed in the back. Physically then, the muscles in the back just behind the heart are where we store that sort of experience. There is a knife in the back, at least that’s what it feels like. We carry pain under our shoulder blades and go looking for relief from a massage therapist, chiropractor, anyone who has experience with helping the body to release. Then they find that only a few days later, the pain has returned and they can’t figure out why it just won’t go away.
The first thing that needs to be addressed is a physical body scan. Are you carrying a heavy bag and not changing arms? Do you have poor posture while doing a repetitive movement that might cause the pain to be in that space? If you can pinpoint something physical and make the changes, that is ideal. More times than not the pain returns quickly because it is something deeper than your purse. It is in my belief that without treating from both sides, the body as well as the mind, you will not experience nearly the level of freedom and bliss that could be available to you.
How does one release these pains and shames? The number one best way to release is to remember them and feel the pain and cry that pain out of your body. Tears are a physical manifestation of pain leaving the body. It’s much like a tube of toothpaste. Once you squeeze the toothpaste from the tube, there is no way to push it back in. The other magic key to crying is to have at the same time a trusted, safe, loving pair of hands on that area that can replenish this newly emptied space with healing, pure energy. It is a team effort. You can do this on your own, but it is so much harder to do and take it all the way through to fully emptying out the stored issues that the tissues have been hanging tight to. A qualified person that helps with emotional release can see or feel whether the deeper pains have left the building or if you’re still holding on to something. They can work with you with hands on and by talking about the situations that arise. Other ways to release the pains while hands are on you are to cough, yell, and even giggle. Being ticklish is a pain response.
You as the recipient is responsible for facing what comes up and being willing to release. The body worker is responsible to help the energy leave, and replace with glorious healing energy that can fill in the space and seal it back up. As a muscle worker and energy worker, I know what it takes to help the body to release and transform. Once given the full opportunity to release and replace, the body will rise to a level of balance and health that is beyond expectations. Each area of the body governs certain emotions and knowing your way through the map can change your life or the life of your clients (if you are a body worker yourself).
In my book, The Body Heals Itself: How Deeper Awareness of Your Muscles and Their Emotional Connection Can Help You Heal, I provide that body map for the readers. We spend each chapter detailing the area of the body and what emotion is likely being stored in that space. I offer at home stretches, meditations, visualizations, essential oils, crystals and more to help you work from the safety of your own home through your emotional body. Ideally, you will feel led to seek out a qualified massage therapist who is also a trained in Reiki, a Healing Touch therapist, or a craniosacral therapist who has completed Somatic Emotional Release Training.
Ideally you will want someone of that nature that can help you unlock the energy side of the body as well as the physical muscle areas that are holding on so tight to things that no longer serve your highest purpose. I believe the body can heal itself; especially when given the tools it needs to create the space within itself for sacred healing. And you deserve to feel whole and healed on a deep spiritual, cellular level.
