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It is important to know that emotional pain is real. If you experience it, do not ignore it. Doing so can only worsen your experience with it.

 

What is emotional pain?

Emotional pain is pain that isn’t physical in nature. It is uncomfortable and usually the result of trauma or negative experience. Emotional pain can be just as harmful as physical pain. However, unlike physical pain, its causes are more difficult to identify.

Emotional pain can manifest itself in a variety of ways. For some people, emotional pain may present as depression, sadness, or grief. For others, it may show up as anger or anxiety.

It is important to know that emotional pain is real. If you experience it, do not ignore it. Doing so can only worsen your experience with it.

 

How common is emotional pain?

Emotional pain is alarmingly common among people today. If you experience it, you’re not alone. Estimates say about 1 in 10 people suffer from emotional pain daily.

As you know, emotional pain makes your everyday life a challenge. If you’re struggling with your mental health, it can worsen your emotional pain. This makes it difficult to focus on your work. Not only that but catching up on your tasks may seem impossible.

 

How can emotional pain affect you?

Emotional pain tightness in your stomach

Feelings of tightness in your stomach

Emotional pain can affect you in many ways. If you repress emotions of anger, sadness, fear, and pain, you’ll find your life won’t be smooth.

Six other ways emotional pain impacts your life include:

  1. Trouble falling asleep or staying awake.
  2. Lack of concentration or focus.
  3. Changes in appetite — causing either weight gain or weight loss.
  4. Problems with communicating clearly.
  5. Not being able to identify the sensations that arise in your life.
  6. Physical sensations such as a racing heartbeat, sweaty palms, uncontrolled crying, etc.
  7. Feelings of intense tightness in your heart, stomach, or other parts of your body.

 

Why is feeling your emotions great for emotional healing?

There are many reasons why feeling your emotions is great for emotional healing. For one, it allows you to acknowledge any feelings of hurt, anger, or sadness that you may be holding onto. This is often the first step to healing emotionally.

After acknowledging your deeply held feelings of hurt, anger, or sadness, you can begin to understand them. This will help you better understand yourself and your emotional needs. Through this work, you can develop a greater sense of self-awareness and peace. It’s a great way to remember who you truly are.

 

Using meditation for emotional healing.

 

Focused breathing is one of many popular meditative techniques you can use for emotional healing.

 

Meditation is a helpful tool for managing your emotional pain. The practice offers an effective way to retrain your brain. Retraining your brain is how you can heal emotional pain.

A study published in the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal discusses a group of people who practiced meditation for 8 weeks. They had increased connectivity in their brain regions associated with attention and self-regulation. Increased connectivity in this part of your brain improves your ability to cope with difficult situations. It allows you to experience equilibrium in your life.

Focused breathing is one of many popular meditative techniques you can use for emotional healing. It’s best to try out various methods when you’re getting started. It will help identify your meditation strengths and weaknesses, along with which one works best for you.

Now let’s explore six techniques of meditation for healing emotional pain.

 

1. The feeling awareness meditation technique (mindfulness-based)

The feeling awareness technique is based on mindfulness meditation. It requires turning your attention to your emotions and bodily sensations. This approach can be helpful in managing difficult emotions, such as anxiety or anger.

Further, it involves focusing on the present moment and paying attention to the sensations associated with your emotions. This can help you identify and understand the emotions you experience. Additionally, understanding them can lessen the intensity of your emotions for you. Clients love this type of meditation because it is easy to do.

 

2. Guided meditations for dealing with difficult emotions

Audio guided meditation to heal emotional pain

Guided meditation to heal emotional pain.

Guided meditations can be extremely helpful if you are struggling with difficult emotions. The work by gently turning your focus away from the things that agitate you. They help you focus inwards on yourself.

Guided meditations are great because they provide a sense of support. They help you remember and reveal your true strengths. They help you access your inner wisdom for healing. Go ahead and give this top-rated guided meditation for healing your emotional pain, a try.

 

3. Using coloring books for adults as a form of meditation

Coloring books for adults are becoming increasingly popular as a way to relax and de-stress. Coloring books for adults often feature more intricate designs than those for children. Many find repetitive coloring of patterns and shapes valuable for calming their minds.

So how does it work? Coloring encourages your brain to focus on creativity. You pay more attention to coloring when the patterns are more complicated. This helps make you worry less.

As you sit to do this, a wave of calmness washes over you. Your feelings of discomfort go away. You’ll feel accomplished, which can decrease negative thinking and emotional patterns over time.

 

4. Practicing mindfulness meditation to process painful emotions

 

Don’t feel guilty for feeling a particular way.

 

Practicing mindfulness is helpful for processing painful emotions. This requires you to pay attention to your thoughts in a non-judgmental way. It doesn’t prevent negative thoughts. It doesn’t require you to deny them, either.

Mindfulness practices help learn the issues that underlie your emotional pain. From there, you learn to respond to negative emotions effectively.

Below are six tips on how to easily practice mindfulness meditation.

  1. Pause next time you feel emotionally ill, or not worthy.
  2. Sit loosely in a seat and breathe gently.
  3. Notice your thoughts. Let them pass without any judgment.
  4. Reflect on what caused them.

Remember, being emotionally distraught is fine. It’s the first step to healing emotional pain. Don’t feel guilty for feeling a particular way.

 

5. Awareness of breath and body/body scanning meditation

 

Your body is an amazing healing tool if you give it the space to heal.

 

You spend so much time with your thoughts that you forget about your body. In my book, Who and Why You Are: All you need to remember, I share how sad I felt when I first meditated. I was sad because I neglected my body, even though it was always with me.

Your body is an amazing healing tool if you give it the space to heal. If you don’t know how to do this, read on.

To give your body space to heal,

  1. Sit still and focus on your breath.
  2. Notice the feeling of air moving in and out of your lungs.
  3. Pay attention to the rise and fall of your stomach as you breathe.
  4. See if you can find a place in your body where you feel the breath most strongly.
  5. Imagine air moving through the places where you feel the air is stuck.

Another way to give your body space to heal is to do a body scan. Starting at your feet, slowly move your attention up through your legs, torso, arms, and head. Notice any areas of tension or pain. See if you can relax the areas as you continue scanning upward. Breathing into the areas is a great way to relax them.

Both awareness of breath and body scanning meditation practices can benefit your spiritual journey, too.

 

6. Keep a meditation journal for emotional healing

By witnessing certain traumatic sights, sounds, or smells, you can experience emotional pain. These events often arise from your subconscious. This is where you store old memories of your experiences.

Accessing your subconscious when this happens is hard. You might not know the true source of the pain if you feel too many emotions at once. To deal with this, journal your experiences often.

Journaling can help you spot patterns in your thoughts and emotions. Journaling prompts can also help you discover your true self. For example, knowing which experiences cause you emotional pain often.

 

Other ways to heal your emotional pain

Dance freely to heal emotional pain

Dance freely to heal emotional pain.

Besides meditation, talking to a therapist or counselor can help you heal your emotional pains. This is a great option if you are unable to meditate by yourself. Keep in mind that meditation techniques aren’t a replacement for therapy. Going to a therapist or a counselor isn’t a prerequisite for meditation, either. Both have many benefits.

You may also express your feelings in a creative way. I recommend writing down your feelings. Using a journal app will help you track how your feelings change over time.

Expressing yourself through art is also great. Dancing freely in an open space often makes me feel stronger, mentally. So I recommend this, too.

To release your pain, you’ve got to test many options to know which will work for you.

 

Recap: Using meditation to heal emotional pain

Emotional pain is more common these days, affecting about 1 in 10 people. Many people, like you, are exploring meditation to heal their emotions. Besides, studies support emotional healing for those who maintain a regular meditation practice.

Besides meditation, some people might find yoga offers relief. Others might find journaling helps them deal with recurring past emotional pains.

To heal and experience personal growth from emotional pain, it’s important that you are consistent. Experiment with different meditation options to find the one that works for you. You’ll easily connect with and balance yourself. It’s a great way to experience wholeness and happiness in your life.

 

Need help healing your emotions with meditation?
Schedule your 1:1 coaching session with me today!

 

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