In Grip of an Intense Emotion? Attend to your Physical Sensations!

In Grip of an Intense Emotion? Attend to your Physical Sensations!

Your body knows as much, if not more, as does your mind. It communicates with you via physical sensations. You can familiarize yourself with the sensations by practicing Body Scan Meditation from “Meditation for Mindful Writers III” using this link: https://cutt.ly/5jcYgcN

BODY & INTENSE EMOTIONS
When we experience an intense emotion such as anger, jealousy, fear, greed or hatred, the first thing that is energized is the body. Physical sensations are awakened followed by related feelings. But because we are in the grip of the emotion, egoistic thinking takes over. At once, we want to react. Our focus is on how to get back to the person who triggered the emotion. We are not even aware that body is sending signals of the situation.

AWARENESS OF SENSATIONS
Although the body sends us messages through sensations we ignore them. However, this is these are the moments when we have ability to stop the mindless reactions. How do we do that? By bringing our attention to the breath and the body and becoming aware of the sensations. This gentle attitude dissipates the emotion and keeps it from turning into a mindless action.

DISSIPATING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
When we pay attention to body sensations, caused by a strong emotion, they disappear. Awareness and attention are the powers we have to dissipate them and calm down ourselves at critical moments.  

Emotions occupy different parts of our body. Positive emotions such as happiness and joy feel light/uplifting, energetic, tingling, warm, grounded and spacious. And negative emotions such as sadness, anger, hatred feel heavy, sluggish, cold, restricted and unbalanced.

Here is a short list of emotions and some of the physical sensations they give rise to. Familiarize yourself with these and curb them before they turn into negative feelings and reactive thoughts.

Hatred 
Pain in the jaw or head from clenching and grinding your teeth, pounding heartbeat, tense muscles, breath sounding loud in ears (blood pressure rising)

Jealousy 
A burning sensation in the chest or stomach, fast breathing, pain in the jaw from clenching the teeth. 

Anger 
Anger fastens your heart rate, increases body temperature, makes you sweat, breaths turn fast and short, muscles tighten, fists or jaw clench, you feel pressure in the chest.

Grief
Sensations of numbness or fatigue, irregular heartbeats and dizziness, tightness in chest, heavy heart, stomach pain, body chills, low energy level, muscles ache, eyes water, stinging in throat, blurry vision, hunched posture.

Fear 
Limbs shaking, shortness of breath, chest pounding, shaking/trembling, sharpening of focus/vision, faster heart rate, tightening of leg and arm muscles, running/freezing (“fight, flight, or freeze” response)

The next time you feel a strong emotion don’t let it grip you. Witness it in your body. Envelope it. Be in control. Don’t let it control you. Use it as an opportunity to come back to your senses, observe, reflect, learn, and improve. 

When you confront an intense emotion, STOP. Do a quick body scan. Attend to the area where you feel the sensations are most active. Let your attention replace the negative vibes. Let the light of joyous energy uplift you to a level that you feel when you are meditating or journaling or focused on your artwork in progress.