The body, emotions, and essential oils
Did you know that your body is a mirror of your inner thoughts and beliefs? The cells within our bodies respond to every thought that enters our mind and every word that crosses our lips. Our bodies are constantly communicating back to us, and all too often we only start to listen when the signals are blaring in the form of physical pain, such that we can no longer ignore them.
Where does it all come from? Everything is energy; everything has a vibration. Negative thoughts have low vibrations, and positive thoughts have high vibrations. Low vibrations are welcoming to illness and dis-ease; conversely, high vibrations are conducive to healing, wellness, and ease. Emotions are also energy. While it is normal, expected, and essential to experience the full range of emotions, both the lows and the highs, we must actually allow ourselves to experience, process, and release them so they do not become trapped within us. When we deny ourselves these opportunities, our bodies hold onto the negative energies of the unprocessed emotions, allowing dis-ease to settle in. Even accidents or injuries that seem to have an apparent physical cause may also have an emotional root.
Although everyone’s body and circumstance is unique, specific beliefs or thought patterns tend to correspond to certain parts of the body. For example, a problem with the ears may represent an unwillingness to hear something or anger about something that was heard; the neck, meanwhile, represents flexibility, so a problem with the neck may be rooted in stubbornness or inflexibility. I highly recommend Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, to delve deeper into this topic and learn more about the emotional roots of dis-eases.
What can we do about it? There are many different body work modalities that can help facilitate emotional release. Regular chiropractic care is an important step I take to support both my physical and emotional wellness. As my friend and chiropractor explains, (paraphrasing), unresolved trauma or stress gets built up deep within the nervous system. As the brain and the body reconnect, driving information down, an emotional release can be triggered.
Essential oils are another amazing tool for helping us take an honest look inside of ourselves and to help us prepare for an emotional release. Essential Emotions, a book I highly recommend to anyone exploring essential oils, compares this process to weeding. Some weeds (emotions), especially in hard and rocky soils, can be difficult to remove from the root. Adding some water (essential oil) can assist by loosening the soil to facilitate removal. Adding the water alone is not enough to get rid of the weed; you have to do some (potentially hard) work to get it out, otherwise you’ve just watered the problem. That hard work can take many forms; practices such as body work, meditation, journaling, talk therapy, and energy work are just some modalities that can assist in doing this emotional work. Find something that works for you. The release is essential to create space for positive feelings and beliefs to take a lasting place in our minds and bodies.
You don’t need to wait to use essential oils for emotions that have long been trapped. They can assist us in processing an emotion in the moment, as well. They help us to sit with and process an emotion so that it doesn’t become trapped, and also possibly shift our energy or emotional state to something more positive. As the mother of a three-year-old, I often feel frustrated. Inhaling an oil like Geranium helps me to take a moment to pause and regroup and perhaps see the situation a little differently, with a little more compassion and understanding for my son, and helps me let go of the need to control.
Now what? While there are many tools that can support us in processing and releasing trapped energy and emotions, I believe one of the most important things we can do for our emotional and physical well-being is recognize and honor the emotions as they come, allowing ourselves to feel and process them. We must overcome the societal conditioning that has taught us to ignore or repress our feelings, knowing now that doing so can have significant and lasting consequences. So cry when you feel like crying, hit some pillows when you’re frustrated or angry. See your chiropractor (or other chosen provider) regularly, and add an essential oil or two to your tool kit. I’m here to help.
