Hi friends,

This week's installment of the How Not to Explode series is all about getting the feeling out of your body.

This theme has been one of the biggest game changers for me. For most of my life, I kept my emotions tucked tightly inside — especially the ones that felt inconvenient. I grew up believing I should be pleasant, composed, non-disruptive. So instead of expressing what I felt, I swallowed it. Anger, betrayal, sadness... they lived inside my muscles as quiet ghosts from the past that stayed long after the memories had faded.

Here's the thing: stress and emotions are biologic cycles. If you don't physically complete the cycle, your body keeps running it in the background.

Research from The Body Keeps the Score shows that unprocessed emotions are stored as implicit memory, meaning your body remembers what your mind no longer does. And the American Psychological Association notes that chronic, unexpressed emotional stress can keep your sympathetic nervous system activated, contributing to inflammation, muscle tension, and long-term health issues.

The bottom line: you have to let your body finish what your mind can't. Getting it out is what tells your system, "I'm safe now."

Here are a few ways to do that:

• Movement helps complete the stress cycle
• Breathwork regulates your autonomic nervous system
• Somatic Practices (like shaking, stomping, dancing) assist in processing emotion
• Crying or yelling releases stored energy
• Journaling transforms implicit emotion into explicit insight
• Yoga unwinds tension stored in the body

Try This: A Simple Emotional Release Ritual

Use whenever you're feeling overwhelmed, shut down, or stuck.

1. Pause and notice your feet connecting with the ground
2. Take 3 slow breaths, exhaling longer than you inhale
3. Shake for 20-30 seconds
4. If it feels right, add sound (like humming, sighing, or even a little yell)
5. Place your hand on your heart and say "My body is allowed to let this go."
6. Afterwards, journal for 2-3 minutes about any shifts you notice

Small resets can create big change.

For years I unconsciously kept emotions trapped in my body, and it wasn't until I began practicing yoga that I realized how much I'd been holding onto. I'd get into certain poses and find myself sobbing. Those moments were the beginning of real relief — proof that the body knows how to heal once you allow it to speak. That experience is one of the reasons why I believe so deeply in these practices, because I've felt their impact first hand.

There's so much powerful research showing that getting emotion out of your body can be deeply healing. If you find yourself in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, pick one practice and try it for just a few minutes. You don't always have to revisit the story — sometimes your body can let go without your mind needing to re-enter it. Thanks for being here.

xo,
Christen

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