Humans are strange: we don't like to feel our feelings. When we have a difficult emotion, like anger, irritation, grief, anxiety, embarrassment or guilt, we wish it would go away. We resist the feeling and push it away. We "stuff it," literally, into our emotional bodies and our cells. This is not healthy.

Emotional well-being is about how energy is being handled by the physical body. An emotion is an energetic reaction to a thought – a reflection of your mind in your body. E-motion is energy in motion. When we suppress or repress our feelings, we constrict our breath. We stop our flow of energy and create toxic emotional buildup. If we express our emotions inappropriately (usually with a story of blame or shame) we pollute our environment, both inside and out.

We have another choice: we can simply feel our feelings.

First, stop and ask: "How am I breathing?" (If you are breathing at all!) Then close your eyes, take a deep breath and relax your exhale. Continue to breathe gently and deeply. Then bring your awareness easily to your body. Your attention will naturally be drawn to some sensation in your body. You won't have to try to find it.

What do you notice? Does it feel open/closed, tight/free, hard/soft, hot/cold, empty/full, dark/light, sharp/dull, or stuck/flowing? What else? These are your feelings. Feel them.

Keep your attention on these feelings in your body. And breathe. This will get you out of your head and take your mind off of your story. The breath will move your life force and release the blocked energy. Soon the sensation will change. It may shift to another place in the body or even intensify. Eventually the feelings will subside and resolve, flowing through you "like water off a duck."

To create emotional health we must be willing to feel our feelings fully, in the moment. So, the next time you are gripped by an emotion, drop your story and dive into your feelings. Celebrate and remember the feeling is the healing.

Robert Winn conducts Transformation Breath Workshops. For information on Robert's workshops and private sessions, call 772-492-1674 or email [email protected].