http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-emotions-behind-specific-body-aches.html
The Emotions Behind Specific Body Aches
While most bodywork experts agree that tension and pain in the body are largely caused by how we move (or don’t move enough) throughout the day, a growing number of practitioners cite emotional stress as another factor. Deb Shapiro, author of Your Body Speaks Your Mind (Sounds True, May 2006), says that understanding how parts of the body connect to certain emotions can help us get in touch with neglected areas of our subconscious.
“And the great thing about that is tapping into the root of the problem on an emotional level can heal chronic pain,” she says.
Here’s what your tension spots could be trying to tell you.
Neck
The neck is a two-way communicator: You take in life-sustaining food, water, and air through the neck, and at the same time, emotions, feelings, and thoughts are expressed outwardly through your voice. Stiffness here can indicate resistance, usually to other ways of thinking.
Shoulders
This is where you carry the weight of your responsibilities, whether it’s work, family, or mortgage payments. Creative energy flows from here, moving into your arms and hands, where it emerges in what you do in the world. Tense shoulders can also indicate resistance, perhaps to the responsibilities you feel you must maintain, or pressure that’s put on you to perform.
Upper back
This area, the reverse side from the heart, is where you can store repressed anger, resentment, guilt, or shame.
Mid back
Your core allows you to bend and move, representing your ability to be psychologically and emotionally flexible. Stiffness in the mid back can reflect an inner stiffness, holding on to a fear, or inability to go with the flow.
Low back
This part of the body supports your weight from above, and it’s related to your notions of survival, security, and self-support. If you’re feeling insecure—or as though you’re unable to meet other people’s expectations—that pressure can manifest in the low back.
Butt
Although seemingly soft, the glutes are often the most tense and clenched muscles in the body. This area has to do with elimination and release, so control and power issues are often held here.
Hamstrings
These muscles are connected to the knees—which we use to bow down to a higher being—and so tight hamstrings can often mean that a deeper level of surrender is needed. The thighs and hamstrings also hold on to past conflicts, such as traumatic childhood memories, anger, or resentment. This area is also closely associated with sexuality and intimacy.
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13 comments
add your comment »Makes perfect sense!
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why is this inappropriate?
Frank, perhaps you could give some of these things a try before you are so critical and dismiss them as superstition. After all, all superstitions and legends have a basis somewhere in fact. What are you afraid of?
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Hey. Frank Shen, you're just as brainwashed as you think anybody else is, only yours is in a different direction. Don't you know that 'haveing a job' is very different than doing something to make some money.And the more people do for themselves, the less they need 'jobs', which means they don't need you giving them one.Which means people like you can't exploit them and if people can further their own healing useing these methods you call 'dung', then the whole medical, pharmacutical industry starts to shimmer like a vision dissapearing from lack of attention to it.
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
If we look at our health wholistically, that is, the whole self, physically and emotionally, one thing certainly does effect another. Even though in many areas I consider myself to be a healthy skeptic, I also know that stress, anxiety and worries can severely and adversely effect our health.
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Since this is on the border of health and spirituality, faith comes into play. You believe it or you don't; you're open to it or you're not. And even if you do believe it, you can't always logically prove it, nor do you need to. Spirituality and science are different ways of knowing; each has its place and neither is greater.
What's being talked about is similar to Hawaiian body mapping. In that system of thought, the left represents the female and the right, the male. Tension in the neck represents needless limitations we place on ourselves. Problems around our shoulder blades often reflect issues with a parent (mother or father, depending on which side). Different parts of the limbs represent different stages of the lifespan; hands and feet are the embryo, the wrists and ankles are birth, the knees and elbows are the transition to adulthood, and so on. The glutes represent our ancestors.
I'd be skeptical of this myself if I didn't have so much anecdotal evidence, but when I practice bodywork I find these things to be true quite often. A man with huge knots around his left shoulder blade talks about having been abused by his mother...a woman with a neck so tight it barely moves starts talking about a relationship that's failing but that she's afraid to bring to a close...mind you, I barely speak during sessions; they just start putting it out there, so this is not something I'm creating or prompting! I don't understand how it works, but it often seems to.
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why is this inappropriate?
"Now the facts come out daily, we are the most stressed out nation in the world. We die from more stress related illnesses than any other country. We take less vacations, we work twice as many hours, we suffer more heart attacks, strokes, sleep less, eat more, are more obese, have more mental illness, and probably on the average take more pills than any other people. What happened to just "living"? Our choices ultimately effect our health."
......We take less vacations?? Ridiculous. Pam Rhia S. you are living in one of the most luxurious and comfortable countries in the world. It's just that people in America are too self-centered to notice their blessings, and I'm included in that category too.
I suppose you'd rather live in a less stressful place where people don't work as much eh? How about the some country where people have trouble finding jobs at all?
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why is this inappropriate?
This all sounds like a load of superstitious dung. And what's with all the other comments? You guys sound brainwashed man. "Yes. Oh yes, this article is sooo true"
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why is this inappropriate?
Yes i have found louise hay very helpful with affirmations for healing.......nd deepak chopra..
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
Yes, Stress can do lot's of damage to you over time. The best thing you can do for yourself is to life a stressful life, as much as you can.
send green star
why is this inappropriate?
All of the above comments are very true and my 2 cents worth, as a 25 year yoga practitioner is, if you haven't, try a yoga class. There are plenty available in all areas-does wonders for body, mind, spirit. Plenty of healers, massage therapists and all sorts of body work people available but yoga ultimately leads the student to take care of themselves and learn about their own bodies and souls sans an intermediate person. Give it a try-I fell in love with my first class all those years ago and have been practicing ever since.
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why is this inappropriate?
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