01. Emotional Expression Self-Reflection

How do you express your emotions? Do you choose to move your emotional energy to serve and support you or do your emotions cause chaos in your life?

Emotional energy can be transformed and alchemized into insight and wisdom through healthy expression that is aligned with your greatest good.There are healthy and unhealthy ways to express emotions and energy that is moving through your body.

If you allow your energy to move through your body, acknowledged, felt and healthily expressed, you can find a sense of flow with your emotions. You learn what they are teaching you and why they are showing up when they do in your life in certain situations or with specific people.

If you block the energy from moving through your body and attach or hold on to your emotions or unhealthily express, the energy gets stuck in your body creating stagnation, congestion, blocks and imbalances within you, on all levels of your being. This can create dis-ease and discomfort in one or many areas of your life.

Reflect for ~5-10 min or more over the next 2-3 days on the healthy vs unhealthy ways you currently deal with the energy and expression of your emotions. *Unless otherwise directed.

You don’t have to do anything or change anything, this practice is focused on bringing your awareness to your emotional expression patterns.
Perform this self-reflection again in about 4 weeks to assess your progress and to gather any new information to continue to support you and your greatest good.
Optionally, use your testing technique to determine your optimal frequency and duration to use this reflection.

Unhealthy emotional expression:

Holding it in
Pretending that it doesn’t exist or isn’t there
- This may include someone who has a “high pain or discomfort tolerance”, never cries or ever really feels their emotions.
Taking it out on others or yourself knowingly or unknowingly
Numbing it with some type of excessive activity, behavior or habit
- Example: Tv, alcohol, drugs, caffeine, being busy, sex, work, cleaning, etc.
- Even “healthy” expressions such as meditation, exercise, reading, etc. can be turned into a numbing technique if used inappropriately.
Somaticize the emotions into a physical ailment like a pain or disease
- Example: Neck or back tension/pain, stomach pain, etc.
- The words you use when talking about things that bring up emotional energy may illuminate where you hold the unprocessed energy in your body. Examples include:
  - “You’re a pain in my neck.”
  - “You make me sick.”
Venting to another without addressing your charged emotions first
- This has potential to feed the issue and projects any charged emotional energy outward onto others.
- Example: If you are angry at someone and then express your anger through complaining to someone else, you project this energy to them and typically the charged energy is transferred into their day which can potentially ripple onto others as well.
- Holding space and witnessing another is different from a venting experience. Conscious intention must be present for healthy expression.
- Instead of venting anger, a healthier way to express it would be to take the time to process the anger on your own followed by sharing and discussing the issue with another from a more neutral and conscious perspective. In this way, you transform the anger into constructive energy instead of continuing to recycle it towards another. You may share and tell your story with animation of how you were feeling, and may even be able to laugh and enjoy sharing with another. This higher perspective is then shared which has a positive conscious rippling effect to others.

Healthy emotional expression:

Verbal expression
- Speak out loud what needs to be expressed (when alone, on a walk, in the shower, in the car, etc.). When venting it’s best to be alone. We recommend you vent at least once alone to get any raw emotional energy out before unhealthily expressing to a friend, parent, co-worker, etc. You can still share your story but in this way you are not keeping the negative energy alive and you can assume a higher conscious perspective.
Humming, toning or making various sounds like moaning and groaning.
Yelling or screaming but be careful with your vocal cords, direct the sounds into a pillow as needed to control the noise level.
Crying, sobbing
Yawning
Kazoo Breathing
Written expression of what you need to release which you may either send or destroy after completing
- Write a poem
- Write in your journal
Physical release through Movement Practices
- Dance, walking, yoga, etc.
Rocking your body
Hitting a pillow or other soft surface
- It is best to use a device to hit instead of your body. This is not an opportunity for self harm.
- Hitting device tools: kids plastic play bat, wooden spoon, other pillow, etc.
Utilizing a guided meditation.
- Emotional Energy Maintenance Meditation
- Processing Emotions Meditation
Alchemize the energy into art:
- Paint, draw, color, etc.
- Dance, make music, sing, play instrument
- Shape and form clay, paper, sand, etc.
- Garden
Fire Clearing Technique
Work with the elements:
- Water Element Meditation
- Fire Element Meditation

Without judgement, how do you healthily or unhealthily process emotions?
- Anger
- Irritation/Frustration
- Disappointment
- Hurt/helpless/Hopeless
- Powerless
- Rejection/Abandonment
- Sadness/Grief/Loss
- Fear/Anxiety/Terror/Lack of Safety
- Shame/Unworthiness
- Indifference/lack of feeling
- Reflect on another emotion or fear
If you use one or more unhealthy avenues to express, reflect and create a potential positive way to choose to express instead. Even if you don’t think it is possible, what healthy ways would you ideally express this energy?
- What is one first action step to take towards the choice of healthy emotional expression?
- By expressing in a healthy way, what power or energy can you reclaim in your life to serve your greatest good and life goals?

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01. Emotional Expression Self-Reflection