Deep Emotions and the Gut
There is a rising collective awareness of how our emotions can get stored in the body. This has led to a sizable increase in various in somatic healing techniques available, from EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to breath work classes. While many forms of somatic healing have been around for thousands of years, the rise in chronic health and digestive issues indicates an even greater need for refocus on our energetic bodies.
Anxiety has a very strong association with digestive dysfunction, but often the root emotions are much deeper in nature. For example, our duodenum (which connects directly from the stomach) sits just below the angle of ribcage. This is the location for that “pit of the stomach” feeling that someone may experience with shock. The duodenum often carries recent grief in its various forms.
The pancreas sits even deeper to the duodenum, and will also carry grief. This form of grief is often much older, and often more repressed.
Nearby is the spleen, which is a personal favorite of mine for treatment. The spleen is associated with shame and guilt, two incredibly deep seated emotions that many people co-exist with throughout their entire lives without proper acknowledgment.
Many of us can identify with the weight that these emotions hold. And often drawing awareness to these emotions is only the beginning of being able to move them through the body. These delicate tissues are not meant to function under such weight, and many curious forms of digestive disruption can arise from the blocks created by these emotions.
In my time exploring these layers of the body, I have learned many patterns amongst my various patients. The liver plays a major role in the expression of these deep emotions. In the same way the liver is responsible for filtering and processing all the toxins from our blood, it also has a major hand in filtering and processing emotions (see previous liver post). But it’s only a step in the pathway of deep emotional expression. As emotion comes up out of the spleen, pancreas, and duodenum, it moves into the liver for processing. If the liver is not already overburdened, it can move these emotions through with ease.
The next stage is the diaphragm, which is a voluntarily controlled muscle that enables us to breath. It is incredibly common for me to find that tightness in this muscle prevents emotions from surfacing. This also corresponds to the third chakra, known for willpower, independence, and sense of control.
If an emotion is able to make it past the diaphragm, it then moves into the lung to be exhaled out of the body. Individuals with lung issues, inflammation from a recent viral infection, or history of asthma can have difficulty expressing emotions. This often feels like an emotion is bubbling up but is somehow still trapped in the body.
Hands-on visceral mobilization techniques can be incredibly powerful in supporting the physical body to release these types of energetic and emotional blocks, however I’ve found that the additional support of energy healing can be incredibly transformative. Not only are your physical tissues being encouraged to release through the use of manual therapy, they are also being supported in recovering their innate vibration and frequency for optimal function through energetic work.
We have to keep in mind that many digestive symptoms onset slowly, and correspond to an accumulation of factors. Emotional blocks can make tissues more vulnerable to outside invaders or inflammation from toxic exposure, but in no way does this mean that you are to blame for your health. We all come into this world with challenges, some can even be ancestral. But part of deep healing means we must address the emotional implications, which can often be a barrier to full recovery.
