Release Emotions Trapped In The Body - Shadow Work Body Scan

Repressed emotion is sometimes stored in the body. If an emotion was too painful to be experienced fully when first encountered, the body has no choice but to bury it. This guided meditation is a deep exploration of the body, and through a unique enquiry, we invite the emotions that have been trapped within to come out of their hiding place as a physical sensation and into the field of consciousness as the raw emotion that they actually are.

This naturally relaxes the body, heals the inner emotional world, and in some cases resolves the mysterious and persistent chronic conditions that have their roots in stored emotional pain.

Transcript

Beginning with a simple recognition that all emotions are healthy and innocent.

There are no wrong emotions.

Many emotions can be uncomfortable,

Unpleasant or painful for us,

But recognize that although ordinarily uncomfortable,

The raw material of the emotion itself is not unhealthy.

No emotion causes harm in itself.

It is the behavior that arises from the emotion that can be destructive.

So forming a gentle agreement with yourself that no behavior is going to be arising from the presence of any emotion today.

No physical behavior and no cognitive behavior also.

No more internal arguments,

Replaying events,

Searching for an origin of the emotion.

Caught up in thoughts of I should have done this,

They shouldn't have done this.

All of this is cognitive behavior that we won't be engaging with for the duration of this meditation.

Instead,

We are opening conscious awareness to become a perfectly allowing space for any and all emotion to arise.

Become the welcoming space of conscious being that says yes to all emotion.

A full total acceptance of the entirety of your inner emotional world.

Even the emotions that are usually intolerable,

Distressing.

Just for this time,

Develop an attitude of total acceptance and witness for yourself that it is possible to simply feel the emotion as it is in its raw,

Pure state.

Understanding that this process necessarily involves facing discomfort.

You might find that certain emotions rise,

That has an emotive reaction in the body.

You might notice the body tensing up,

Tightening up,

Or needing to shake or cry.

And if this happens,

Just allow the body to do what it naturally feels like doing.

A sense of giving the body back to the emotions.

This will help to invite the emotions out of the places they are stuck and trapped in the body.

So first,

Just developing the ability to abide as pure consciousness.

Open your awareness to your inner emotional world.

Beginning with a very simple inquiry of what am I actually feeling right now,

In this moment?

What is the current emotional state?

And see if it's possible to just feel the emotion without adding any narratives or stories,

No mental images,

No concepts or ideas.

Just become the felt experience of emotion.

What is the experience of emotion when it's felt raw,

With nothing added?

No processing or analysis.

Just this present moment with no mind activity.

Just pure emotion.

It is often a surprise to find that what we are actually feeling is slightly different to what we assumed we are feeling.

And just allow yourself to be surprised if this is the case.

It's curious.

This is developing emotional accuracy.

Allow this emotion to become front and centre in your conscious awareness.

Bring your attention to it,

So that it becomes the primary element of your current experience.

Don't let the emotion run in the background.

Become fully aware.

And see if it's possible to fully and completely accept the current emotional state,

Regardless of what it is.

So we're not trying to change it,

Not trying to fix it,

Not trying to push it away or to hold on to it.

It's just an awareness and a total feeling.

Very good.

And deeply realise that you can extend this same allowing,

This same welcoming acceptance to any and all emotions.

Even emotions such as rage,

Resentment,

Hatred,

Guilt,

Regret,

Shame,

Or grief.

All of these emotions in their raw form,

With no narratives added to them,

Are perfectly acceptable.

They are a natural and healthy part of your inner emotional world.

We will not be attempting to extend these emotions to anyone or anything in the external world.

Instead,

We are simply learning to accept and allow,

And therefore integrate,

These emotions,

So that they can take their place in their healthy position in your inner emotional world.

Now we will scan through the entire body to see if we can become aware of any areas in which some old,

Repressed,

Buried,

Or trapped emotion is stuck somewhere in the body.

Often certain emotions are deeply unpleasant or inconvenient when we first encounter them,

And so we learn to hide them in the body somewhere.

It is a primal way of processing emotion,

A sense of burying it until there is a time in which it is safe for it to be released.

This is that time.

It is now safe for all emotions to be released,

Now that you are an adult with all the resources,

Energy,

Knowledge,

Experience,

And power that you now have,

That you didn't have when you first encountered these emotions.

So now is the safe and appropriate time for emotion to be released from its hiding place in the body.

In order to do this,

We will be asking ourselves an unusual inquiry.

By opening our conscious awareness to the felt experience of bodily sensation,

And asking ourselves if this bodily sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

This might sound odd to begin with,

But notice there is a very intuitive sense here.

It seems to make sense from the position of conscious awareness.

Beginning by simply being aware of bodily sensation as a whole.

Again,

With no analysis,

No mental image,

And even forget about concepts such as biology or physiology.

Instead,

Just go to your experience of the body.

How is the body actually felt?

What is the experience of bodily sensation?

And being aware of the entire body here,

We can begin asking,

If this bodily sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

Allow yourself to be surprised.

Allow yourself to be curious.

Allow yourself to be interested.

This is an opening to intuition,

Insight.

Not a cognitive technique of the mind,

But an opening to true wisdom that is consciousness and the body.

We will scan each area of the body with this gentle,

Loving inquiry.

Pay special attention to any area where you have a chronic sense of tension or tightness.

If you have any chronic pain or conditions that are mysterious and have never had a satisfactory medical explanation,

That particular condition or pain,

We will pay extra attention to.

It is very likely that this condition or pain is a manifestation of a buried,

Repressed emotion.

The key principle here is to feel emotion as emotion.

Not as a bodily sensation,

Not as a symptom,

But to feel emotion as emotion.

This will allow the emotion to come out of bodily sensation and into the field of consciousness to be felt as its true nature,

To be experienced as it actually is.

When emotions are buried,

They have to get your attention somehow.

And so they manifest as tensions,

Aches,

Pains,

Or even conditions.

So as we scan through the body,

If you come into contact with an emotion,

Particularly if it's very painful,

Very surprising,

Very uncomfortable,

This is a good sign.

Upon contact with any emotion,

Immediately welcome,

Love,

And accept.

We say to the emotion,

You can be here.

You are wanted,

You are needed,

You are loved.

You can stay for as long as you wish.

I won't make you go away.

You don't need to hide anymore.

So getting yourself into a comfortable position that feels the most appropriate for you and whatever state the body is currently in,

And ensuring that your conscious awareness is very present,

Very here,

Very now.

And just becoming this totally accepting,

Welcoming space.

Bring your attention to the head.

The inquiry that we will be repeating is,

If this sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

So feeling the sensation of the head,

The top of the skull,

Behind the ears,

Behind the eyes,

Around the temples,

The back of the skull,

The jaw,

The tongue,

The nose.

Just see if there's any tension or tightness in this area.

Just inquire,

If this sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

And if there is an answer that arises,

And you can feel that the sensation is actually an emotion trying to be felt,

Just feel the emotion.

And notice this changes the felt sensation in the body.

And moving down into your neck,

Go to the sensations in the windpipe,

The muscles along the side of the neck,

And the top of the spine.

Feeling the sensations of the entire throat,

Is there any tightness,

Any sensation,

Any condition here that is actually an emotion?

And if it was an emotion,

Which one would it be?

And moving across the top of the shoulders,

Around the collarbones,

The muscles at the base of the neck,

The muscles of the upper back,

Often a lot of tension carried here.

Just inquiring,

Is this tension actually an emotion?

Is something buried here?

Just invite an emotion out of its hiding place.

It is safe to do so.

It is very healthy and beneficial to feel accurately what is actually going on in the inner emotional system.

So the sensations of the base of the neck,

The collarbones,

The top of the shoulders,

Is this an emotion?

And into the shoulder joint now,

Where the arms connect to the shoulder.

Is there anything here?

Anything tight?

Any pain?

Is the area dense and heavy?

If no emotions are coming into the field of conscious awareness,

This is okay.

We can do this scan as many times as we need to.

Often emotion is just reluctant to come out into the light of awareness,

Because it's been buried for so long.

Its habit is to keep itself safe and unseen.

But now we are developing this welcoming,

Loving acceptance.

We can reassure the emotion that the safest place for it to be is actually in the light of awareness.

So is there anything going on deep in the shoulder?

And down the arms and the elbows?

The forearms and wrists?

The hands and fingers?

Just feel these sensations and be open,

Intuitive and insightful.

What is actually here now?

Now opening awareness to their chest.

There is a space within the ribcage where the heart is and the lungs are.

Just be very open to this area.

Breathe in to it.

What is the sensation here?

Between the ribs?

The solar plexus?

Is there any restriction or tightness in your breathing?

Or any conditions that have come to settle here?

If these sensations were an emotion,

Which emotion would they be?

And once that emotion is felt,

Even if it's uncomfortable,

Even if it's painful,

Just feel it as an emotion and notice how the felt sensation of the body changes.

Now gently down into the stomach,

The belly.

This area is often the place where a lot of emotion can store,

Can speak as blockages or leakage.

It's a very soft area of the body.

Just be very open.

Are you holding this area tight?

What are the sensations in the belly,

Around all of these organs,

The stomach,

The kidneys,

The liver?

Just feeling that area.

Is there anything stored here?

And if this sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

How curious,

How surprising.

And this is wonderful to discover through this intuitive insight that things are slightly different from the way we have been perceiving them.

Just continually encourage and invite emotion out.

It may take some time.

Emotions themselves can be a little hesitant,

Frightened.

So just be a beautifully loving,

Welcome space.

And if an emotion starts to rise up,

Remove any tendency towards avoiding or resisting the emotion.

Just say yes to it immediately.

Even if it is rage,

Grief,

Sorrow,

Fear,

Shame,

Guilt,

Regret,

Envy.

We're not going to be telling anyone else what's here.

This is a very personal journey just for you.

Opening now to the sensations in your lower back,

The area where the spine meets the hips.

This is often a very tight,

Clogged up area.

Just be aware of that space.

Perhaps there is a denseness or a tightness that you're so accustomed to,

You're so used to,

That it's fallen fully unconscious.

But now try to open that area up in your conscious awareness.

Allow yourself to feel this space.

And if this tightness,

This tension was an emotion,

Which would it be?

Release.

Let go.

Let it out.

It is curious to find there are sometimes happy emotions buried here.

Something from childhood that we'd long forgotten.

Hope,

Wonder,

Joy.

And sometimes these are buried underneath a kind of grief or sorrow.

Just explore this area.

It will be different for everyone.

Just be open to the lower back.

Is it possible to open and release the spine a little?

And actually moving up the spine now.

Vertebrae by vertebrae.

Pure,

Open awareness without any analysis or judgment.

It's just an inquiry.

Are there any emotions here?

Is there anything that would like to be seen?

And just bring that pure,

Loving light up the spine.

All the way up to the base of the skull.

And just keep allowing those warm rays of consciousness to continually flood up the spine.

And be very open to whatever emotion wishes to be felt now.

And if an emotion does rise,

Don't do anything to it.

Don't try to store it to analyze later.

Just feel it as it is now.

And this is the healing.

All is well.

Now moving down into the hips.

A very tricky area where there is often a lot of old patterns of energy stored.

Just feel around the hip bones,

The pelvis,

All these muscles and reproductive organs.

Just see if there is any old residue of energy stored here tight.

And truly open,

Open your awareness.

Recognize the pure innocence of this area.

Consciousness itself has never been touched,

Has never gone anywhere,

Has never done anything.

So just be very open to this entire region and see which emotions are here.

This may be surprising,

Very uncomfortable,

Very painful.

We must remain courageous in truly knowing ourselves here.

All emotion is innocent.

What are the patterns of energy that have been running for so long here?

Going to the joints,

At the top of the thighs,

Where the bones of the leg connect with the bones in the hips.

Is there anything stored in this joint?

And if this sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

And bring a little extra attention to the genital region.

Often something we try to just skip past or brush past.

But this is such an important area when it comes to our inner emotional safety.

Often our sense of worth.

There are many issues to do with our self-confidence that are stored in this area.

And just recognize this now.

What is being stored here that we ordinarily look straight past and allow it to be just the emotion that it is?

No analysis,

No history,

No mental image,

No judgment.

Just what is.

Let everything be as it already is.

And moving now into the thigh muscles.

See if you can relax this area.

Notice if you have been holding the legs quite tightly throughout this meditation.

Just release that.

Unbind.

Are there any emotions stored in the thigh muscles?

And what about the tension in the hamstrings,

The muscles at the back of the leg?

If this tension and tightness or dullness,

Stiffness was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

Allow yourself to be surprised.

And going into the knees now.

This whole space,

This area,

This capsule behind the kneecap.

Is there anything residing there?

What is the physical bodily sensation?

And if that sensation was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

Allow yourself to feel.

And down through the calf muscles and the shin bone at the front.

Is there agitation,

Restlessness there?

What is the bodily sensation in this area?

And what is the emotional charge?

If this sensation was an emotion,

Which one would it be?

And down into the ankles.

Open awareness to that whole space and include the feet,

Especially the skin at the bottom of the feet.

We often overlook this,

But notice how sensitive this area really is.

Is there any sensation in the fascia here?

And recognize sometimes the emotions stored can actually be positive in their feeling.

There might be some excitement or energetic charge,

Hope,

Joy,

Freedom.

Or there can be old pains,

Aches that are stored.

Just open your awareness.

Be welcoming,

Be loving.

All emotion is healthy,

Innocent.

Just let it be felt,

Have its time in conscious awareness.

Along the top of the foot and into the toes.

Until we find the point where there is no bodily sensation at all.

And just allow yourself to rest there for a while.

Very good.

Now open your awareness to include the entire body.

No more dividing anything up.

Placing any areas into a category.

Instead,

Just simply feel the entire unified whole of the body.

A single experience.

Just recognize the beauty of the fact that you have been feeling this bodily sensation your entire life.

Since the very first day that you became consciously aware of this body.

And it has been with you through so much.

Every single experience you've ever had,

The body has been present.

So it stands to reason that it has brought with it and accumulated some old energetic patterns.

Be grateful to the body for this.

There is a sense of saying thank you to the body for doing everything that it's needed to do to keep you safe.

We protect our emotional selves as much as we protect our physical selves.

And so if the body has stored emotion in certain areas,

It did so to keep you safe.

There may have been times it was not safe to express certain emotions.

And a young body and mind doesn't know what to do with those emotions then.

So there is a deep safety mechanism of burying emotion.

Now it's simply time to release that emergency response.

Now that you have the time,

Space,

Conscious awareness to truly feel this emotion once again.

Ensure that your conscious awareness is relentlessly welcoming.

Radically and totally accepting.

Develop the attitude that there is not a single emotion that you are going to resist or avoid from now on.

Upon recognizing the presence of a certain emotion rising,

Go towards it,

Not away from it.

Realize it's good to feel this emotion and feel it fully and totally.

This will wake your system back up,

Opening your awareness,

Allowing experience to be intense and vivid,

Powerful,

Sharp,

Bright.

Simply say yes to all experience.

Love all experience.

And with that space of conscious awareness,

Simply feel the entirety of the body right now.

And say if this body was an emotion,

Which emotion would it be?

There are no wrong feelings.

There are no harmful or dangerous emotions.

Behavior can be destructive,

But emotions cannot.

Become so comfortable with the raw material of emotion that they are no longer a threat.

And once this is recognized and realized,

Any and all emotion will come out of its hiding place to be felt,

To be seen,

To be known by consciousness.

And these old aches,

Pains,

Tensions and conditions will clear up on their own.

This will only work if you remain very welcoming,

Very loving.

The moment we're trying to get away from an emotion through distraction,

Aversion,

Repression,

It will have no choice but to go back to its hiding place,

And we cannot allow that anymore.

The safest place for an emotion to be is firmly within your conscious awareness.

In a moment we will be leaving the formal aspect of this meditation.

You may wish to remain in this meditative contemplative state,

Or it may be time to begin moving and joining back in with usual activities.

Either way,

Thank you so much for doing this meditation with me today.

Take care,

Be well,

And stay present.

Reviews

Hi Corin,

Could you please explain what you mean by saying: “feel your emotion as an emotion not as a bodily sensation”?