When an emotion goes unexpressed or unrecognized, the body does not digest or recycle it, it stores it. Emotions always find a way of expressing themselves. It means that the energy of our emotions is always trying to be heard and expressed in some way, like anything buried alive might. If we do not recognize them for what they are and find healthy ways to express them, they will find a way to express themselves anyway - in sickness or disease, turbulent life situations, or an eventual mental or emotional breakdown.
Unexpressed emotions can also express themselves in excess weight. One place in particular where emotional energy can accumulate as fat is at the base of the neck on the back. It projects as a lump in that area for this is the home of the "Gatekeeper ". The gatekeeper decides which emotions may pass into the brain and therefore conscious cognition and which ones are forbidden. People have a tendency to gloss over, repress or deny uncomfortable emotions, usually by “being nice” about it or by "spiritualizing” the situation. Some people skip anger and go right to forgiveness, they skip jealousy and go right to feeling happy for people, they push aside frustration and smile.
If we are willing to feel our emotions, we need to know how to handle them, but there is little guidance how to handle them. Emotions are like waves - they rise up, peak and then fall away if we allow them to. However, there are many ways to arrest the movement of the wave, smoke a cigarette, eat a chocolate bar, pour a drink, have sex, go shopping, take a pill, point a finger at someone else, mindlessly veg out in front of the TV.
We have all been conditioned by our families - not to feel or express feelings. "Big boys don't cry " "Nice girls don't get angry " Tracks that get laid down early in life become the grooves we can get stuck in for the rest of our lives. It requires patience and tenacity to dig up burdock root, to uproot a very fixed, self -limiting belief.
An eye doctor uses to assess our vision, which has many different lenses, the doctor flips the lenses around, asking you which one makes you see better. Fixed, limiting beliefs are like lenses that distort our perception of reality. Generally, we perceive what fits in with our beliefs about what is possible. We can not simply flush or eliminate feelings from our bodies without first listening to what they are trying to tell us. Around 85 % of all diseases are caused by stress. Which means that 85% of diseases are caused by unexpressed and unacknowledged emotions. A doctor or a hospital never ask about life situations. We are examined, tested, poked and prodded as if we are machines, separate from our emotional body.
Sound Balancing is a helpful and useful practice. In sound balancing the client doesn't even need to be aware of what is going on emotionally, because the pattern of resistance that shows up with the tuning forks illustrates it beautifully. If we can learn to master, really feeling our emotions, acknowledging them, allowing them to guide us to make the course correction that is indicated for smooth sailing, we will be able to travel through life with much greater ease, the wind at our backs and our balanced prow cutting easily through whatever waters we are navigating at the time.