Emotions, Health, Stress & the Body: How to Recognize Stress in the Body & What it is Doing

Health and stress; we have become aware that the two seemingly interrelate frequently and it almost feels as if one is not without the other in one form or another.

We hear it from our doctors, "slow down because it is affecting your heart, your kidneys, your eating habits - which affects your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc, etc."

We hear it from other professionals, "if you keep bottling up all this anger, guilt or fear or repressing your emotions, you will cause more stress on your heart, or continue to have headaches or this is why the pain in your joints, back, knees or shoulders cannot be relieved; or even why you continue to self-sabotage your eating and ability to loose or keep weight off since your stuffing food in you to push away emotions to fill a sense of emptiness."

Sometimes it is even the inability to recognize how our own body communicates to us, so we can effectively care for it and realize we haven't even recognized the emotions we have been feeling so we can become healthy in all respects. The body is actually a very intelligent combination of organs that processes to communicate and relay messages to the mind whatever we may need to maintain balance and well-being. Emotions, stress and pain are all directly related.

We do realize this in asking the question, where do I tend to hold tension and stress in my body? Then all of a sudden it just comes to mind, for example, "oh, that's in my shoulders, or my neck or back, etc." that is how the body speaks directly to us, letting us know that something is not right; something is going on that needs to be addressed because it doesn't feel right.

To take this a little further, let's take a look at the emotion of anger. This same concept happens with other emotions, however, with a highly charged emotion, such as anger, it will make the example clearer.

There are probably a hundred trillion cells in the body and every cell has up to one million cell receptor sites, which take in all the nutrients, proteins, vitamins and minerals that are responsible for nourishing each and every cell and keeping everything in balance -in other words, your whole body and being.

Now imagine some circumstance takes place with you or you just were a witness to something. There is this organ called the hypothalamus that releases chemicals called peptides, which are basically amino acids, which we experience as emotions or as a sensation. It's amazing that all emotions are just chemicals combinations in our being.

What happens next is these peptides settle onto the cell receptor sites throughout the body and now the nutrients, vitamins and minerals each cell needs to keep our body healthy, whole and functioning properly, cannot receive this; those necessary nutrients are unable to enter.

So if the chemical/emotion isn't naturally processed out of the receptor cites, then it will remain there and the receptor cite will shrink up and die and the cell divides. Then the body makes more receptor cites for that chemical/emotion and less receptors needed for nutrients, minerals, vitamins, etc necessary to ensure a healthy, functioning body and brain.

Essentially, the cells, thus the body/mind becomes much like a drug addict for that chemical/emotion in place of seeking healthy nutrition, balance and wellness that the cells and body truly need. It will literally create cravings for more of that chemical/emotion to start feeding those created cell receptors for the divided cell receptors verses the healthy cell receptors intended to feed and maintain the nutrients, vitamins and minerals for the well being of the body and mind/brain, etc.

The brain will then, in essence, do anything or create any thought process to ensure thoughts that feed and trigger the release of this chemical/emotion on a regular basis so the cell receptors can get their "fix." (This description is in summary as defined during a class attended during the 2011 Tapping Summit; all rights reserved to share information obtained by attendee's in summary with purchase of program and attendance; content provided by Stacey Vornbrock, M.S., L.P.C., EFT expert; 2011 Tapping Summit program Producer, Jessica Ortner, EFT expert)

Naturally, our result is we end up feeling miserable as we end up feeling the same negative emotion on a regular basis, but our cell receptors are satisfied and even happy!

Now, I am sure with this realization, you would like to know, how can this be changed? Or, is this it, are we stuck with this forever? The answer is, yes, it can be changed. No, you are never stuck forever. Just be willing to change and take the next step; be open.

We have already acknowledged the connection between our emotions and the body. We know the reality that what we feel shows up in the body. So now we can do something about it.

Most of us are familiar with the various forms of complimentary therapies, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, acupressure, Reiki and Qigong, etc. We are also familiar with traditional forms of therapy, such as counseling, psychotherapy, psychology and hypnotherapy. I am sure many have also implemented many of these as well and perhaps had some positive results, but would like to go further or need greater balance and response in our lives.

I would like to share with you a form that would be like psychological acupressure. For those who are familiar with acupuncture or acupressure, you understand the terms when we say working with meridian and/or acupressure points.

While address specific issues, particularly the emotions related first, then moving into the issue it was associated, after rating on a scale of 0-10 how intense that matter feels to you in the moment - you tap on a series of acupressure points on the upper body and face. This process is called EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique. In dealing with highly emotional issues, I recommend being guided by a trained and skilled professional. Dealing with less intense issues, you are able to follow self help guides, which are even provided for free on the internet. The technique is most often referred to as "tapping" as you gently tap on the acupressure points demonstrated in the link provided and follow the basic guide in how to follow a basic program to begin the healing process for yourself. May you continue to realize health and well being in your life and happy "tapping."