We’ve all been there. You get an intense pain or pressure in an area of your body when someone verbally abuses you, or you’ve been hurt by an emotional assault by a family member or boss.
It could also come about from thinking about a past aggression that occurred which can still fester up the same emotional pain and hurt.
These traumas live within you on a cellular level and do not leave until you do work to mitigate the past hurt. Blaming someone else will not suffice.
There is recent research on the biopsychosocial aspects of how our emotional stress causes sensory pain and how necessary it is to recognize it.
How Pain Lives In Your Body
The Pain-body, this term hit mainstream was when Eckhart Tolle appeared on the Oprah show in April, 2014 when introducing his book, The New Earth: Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose.
Tolle explained that “It is an energy field within your body that is formed by negative thoughts and emotions that you are experiencing. The pain-body is part of the Ego and is a very unhappy entity. Pain-body can manifest itself as illness, anger, stress, fear, sadness, etc. Pain-body seeks unhappiness and unpleasant experiences that match its energy field because pain-body feeds on negativity. Its very existence consists of this low vibration, and the pain-body doesn’t want an end to this unhappiness because this would mean an end to the pain-body.”
Why do some people always seem to be angry? Subconsciously, they are seeking relief from that pain that lives within. To release it, it must be activated by finding more negativity to feed on.
Something happened in their life experience that they haven’t come to terms with, and they are stuck in this negative pattern loop.
How To Find The Stored Pain Within Your Body
- Think about a moment when you became very upset emotionally. Maybe a fight with a friend, loved one, or parent.
- Find the space in your body where that sensation lives. You might feel it in your throat, stomach region, heart, or head.
- Once you’ve brought up the sensation, sit with it for a minute.
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Feel It To Heal It
Research shows that fear of an outer stimulus can hinder pain in humans and animals by activating endogenous opioids. Anxiety, however, increases pain. Fear is produced by a present or looming threat and motivates defensive responses such as fight, flight, or freeze.
In contrast, anxiety stems from anticipating a threat and is portrayed by hyper-alertness and defensive responses that are more passive, like thinking about ways to combat it before it happens. Anxiety causes overthinking.
The sensation you feel is your body’s response regardless of whether the threat is real or perceived.
Now, where you feel it in your body is the secret sauce to understanding!
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Evidence Of Your Unconscious Mind
Your body is a map of all of your conscious and unconscious traumas. By taking a moment to find where these traumas live, can tell you exactly what you fear and what you are holding on to.
I will provide a list to look up what this pain may mean to you.
This technique has been used in many metaphysical practices and modernized by Louise Hay, in her book, You Can Heal Your Life.
Louise Hay states that physical symptoms are merely tangible evidence of what is going on in your unconscious mind and how you are feeling deep inside.
Scientists are now able to measure the physiological effects of emotional states.
Example:
- Stomach region: You fear losing your power or someone is taking your power from you.
- Heart region: You feel unloved or can’t receive or give love.
- Throat region: You lose your words, or someone is speaking for you. You also may be reluctant to share your feelings.
- Head region: You feel confused or unable to create rational thought or see things clearly.
Now you try it. Think of where you typically feel your discomfort and find it within this link- the list of emotional and physical causes of illness.
If you’re honest with yourself, you will find a pattern of your illnesses matching up with what you fear.
Once you recognize how fear negatively affects your body, you can now rationally approach your concerns more constructively.
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Putting It Into Practice
The Pain-body is directly related to our fears and the negative parts we hold onto and need to let go.
When someone triggers these sensations in your body, you can now step back and not allow it to take control of your reaction.
Reflect on the root cause of your fears and move in the direction of understanding.
Breathe! Realize this is a part of you that you need to recognize and work on to heal. It’s like being given a key to embracing what you’ve experienced in life and how to let it go so you can live.
*The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and solely as a self-help tool for your own use.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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