How to Release Trapped Emotions in Your Body

At Aligned One Wellness, we pride ourselves in being a space where you can connect with your body, mind, and spirit. Being a body-focused healing studio, we tune into the intelligence of the human body and how it dances with emotions to create physical responses  in your body that can be trapped or disconnected. It is important to be intuitive and educated about your body’s natural responses and healing processes, and releasing trapped emotions in the body is an important first step to full alignment and wellness.

As we start to see science catching up with traditional eastern practices such as yoga, meditation, and breathwork, more people are realizing the intrinsic connection between our body and our mind. For years, non-westernized cultures have spoken about the body’s intelligence as part of daily practice. Each body contains ancient wisdom that has been passed down for millions of years — in North America, we call them different names like gut instinct or collective consciousness. These are just a few of the examples that everyone can recognize, all alluding to a feeling within your body that is attached to your current emotions; whether its an upset stomach before a test, butterflies when you’re falling in love, or a tight chest when you’re feeling anger, your body is communicating its intelligent interactions with your mind, and therefore, it’s ability to have more power than you think.

These emotions, as powerful as they are, can trigger stress responses in your body that can have long term effects. Knowing how to release these trapped emotions can allow your mind to follow suit, leading to less overall stress and anxiety in every area of life. In the same way that your body responds to your mind’s movements and motions, your mind will respond to your body if you focus your energy on releasing those trapped emotions. Things like muscle tension, stress chemicals, hormone imbalances, heightened anxiety, or general unease and discomfort are all signs that your body is holding onto emotions that need to be released. We as humans can often get caught in the hustle and bustle of life and forget that it is our body, mind, and spirit moving us through this beautiful world in the first place, and if we let it fall and crumble, everything else will too. Emotions can be trapped within you for many reasons, oftentimes unprocessed and unnoticed until its negative effects are life-altering, but there’s plentiful ways to release your trapped emotions in healthy, manageable ways.

Here are a few of my tried-and-true ways to release trapped emotions in the body:

1 | Breathwork

Half of the joy of breathwork is the moment of peace you get to yourself when you do it. Focusing on nothing else around you, no work or school or stress, is an easy way to make sure that your body is feeling relaxed and relieved of these intense emotions. Breathwork is the practice of consciously controlled deep breathing, often used to improve mental, physical, and spiritual health, and is a big part of the education and work we do here at Aligned One Wellness. It is a practice that I have known and loved for many years, and it has allowed for my body to have the ability to slow down, recharge, and take control of the emotions that used to often consume me. 

2 | Trauma Release Exercises

When your body is holding tension related to trauma, its sensitive intuition will host trapped emotions in the places where your body is most affected by traumatic instances. The study and practice of trauma release exercises is new, and can be overwhelming to someone who may not understand the root of their traumas or trapped emotions. Trauma release exercises are a series of specialized movements intended to target the areas of your body that are hosting your physical trauma response, and this movement helps retrain your body to trust and heal in those spaces. These exercises can target deep rooted muscular tension, and like most exercises, can also help your nervous system restore balance by burning off adrenaline and releasing endorphins.

3 | Living a Slower and more Intentional Lifestyle

I recently wrote a blog detailing my favourite 5 tips to lead a slower and more intentional lifestyle, and it’s got all of the little details for how and why it can be impactful to your physical, mental, and spiritual health. Learning to live a slower and more intentional lifestyle will help put a pause on the stressors and emotions that cause these negative impacts on your body. As you learn and practice slower living, your body becomes calmer alongside your mind, and your ability to mitigate emotions getting trapped in your body becomes stronger. Living a slower and more intentional lifestyle is one of the best preventative measures that I know for trapped emotions, as it proactively puts your body and mind into a space that doesn’t allow intense emotions to overwhelm you in the first place.

4 | Creative Self Expression

Art is an under-appreciated form of healing. Creativity is a driving reason behind why I write these blogs, why I became an entrepreneur, and why I appreciate the little things in this world. It is a subtle way to release emotions that can have huge impacts on your ability to manage stress and tension. There are a million ways to express yourself creatively; journaling, painting, dancing, making music, building something, crafting… the list goes on. Whatever you choose, the intention behind spending time focused on one creative outlet with no expectations of the outcome can do wonders for the soul.

Understanding what trapped emotions are, how they occur, and why you’re feeling them needs to be the first step in your journey to releasing it all. Introspection can be tough, I know because I’ve been there. Continuing your healing with our support, you can utilize our Registered Massage Therapy services as one of the many physical ways to release your trapped emotions. It is my intention as a business owner, friend, and coach to make sure that those who read these articles, support Aligned One Wellness, and are searching for a better balance in life can find what they need here.  Follow us on instagram @alignedonewellness and never hesitate to reach out with questions, but most importantly - put your healing first, and the rest will follow.