7Qi Essentials: Qi 2 - Emotions
What you really need to know about the workings of your Emotions (Qi-2) and how other Qi affect your emotions.
Topics:
1. What are emotions
- definition and description
- positive and negative emotions
- sexual emotional release
2. Energetic meanings/functions
- Discharge expression, bounding and stress processing
- Stress management explained in more detail
3. Disruption of emotions & blockage
- 'Over' emotionally
- Suppressed emotions and trauma
4. Symbolic meanings/functions emotion Qi
5. Emotion therapy
1. What are emotions?
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Emotions are an energy and stress-relieving function essential for a healthy and happy life. However, in many Western countries dominated by reason and ego, emotions are seen as primitive, as a lack of self-control. E-motion = Energy in motion!
This view of emotions is probably based on an ancient fear of rejection by the group or community. This can occur after showing emotions such as laughing, screaming, crying, bursting out or even uncontrolled body movements or aggression. These norms and values do not recognize the important role of emotions.
Suppressing emotions can have major negative consequences. It can lead to mounting inner stress (disease cause number one) or even trauma.
When stress or “triggering” is too high, connection problems arise between the neocortex (reasoning/thinking) and the limbic brain/reptile brain (emotions/fleeing/attacking/freezing). Emotions are then triggered, without the neocortex alerting, by the limbic brain. So in that sense, emotions are controlled by a more primitive part of your brain. So realize that you or others “under pressure” may react completely differently.
In the Far East, inner calmness is seen as a form of emotion. This is often misinterpreted as a norm that showing emotion is “not done. What is actually meant is that you need the 'energy valve' less if you don't accumulate too much thought-feeling energy. This leads to an inner state of peace and calm.
We all have a genetically innate, and in childhood learned unique 'emotional preference'. Indian Ayurvedic science distinguishes three basic constitutional sources of emotions: Kapa (love, courage, sadness, envy), Pitta (joy, anger, wonder) and Vatha (calmness, tranquility, fear), two of which are usually dominant.
Nutrition also affects the intensity of your emotions. Sugar and alcohol, for example, intensify chemical and kinetic reactions in your body and brain. Certain foods, herbs and medications can actually calm and relax your body and mind. That's why Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, for example, advise, based on your constitution, what foods you should or should not eat.
In this table you see examples of emotions. Which ones do you recognize? The degree to which these emotions stimulate you depends on your inner tensions (accumulated energy)
Positive and 'negative' emotions
Everyone has emotions. They are not good or bad in themselves, just a way your body releases built-up energy.
How strongly you experience emotions depends on your inner tensions and the development of your brain and nervous system. This built-up energy can come from thoughts (Qi-5), beliefs (Qi-3), feelings (Qi-4), inspiration (Qi-6) or inspiration (Qi-7). You can find more on the page on Qi-1: Body H1 physiology.
Emotions and feelings are often mixed up, but they are different. An emotion is a burst of energy, while a feeling is an inner perception. For example, crying is a useful emotion: you release energy and help your system process things. This is different from sadness, which is a deep inner feeling.
Pleasure, joy, confidence and love, as well as movement, are all ways to release energy. Activities such as dancing, making music, laughing, singing, hugging or joyfully swaying are emotion-driven actions that create confidence and release energy. Emotions that stem from love boost your self-confidence and give you a sense of joyful relaxation. They also create substances in your body that promote your health and make you feel good, and stimulate all your Qi.
Negative emotions do not actually exist; emotions are simply expressions of energy. However, they can harbor (subconscious) “negative” feelings/anxieties or beliefs. Emotions help release this negative energy. Fear, frustration, anger or suppressed shame seek an outlet and may express themselves in screaming, trembling, crying, yawning, sighing or even hitting. If this happens too often, it may indicate a learned habit or hereditary predisposition. A person may have the (unconscious) experience that expressing emotions reduces tension or can affect others.
Of course, not “venting” negative emotions on others is essential. By doing so, you cause stress and distress to others. It is your own responsibility to discharge your emotional energy in a responsible manner.
Sexual emotional discharge
Orgasm is also a way in which you discharge Qi, your energy. The vibrations, sounds and fluid secretions discharge built-up tension in your body, which is natural and healthy.
However, too much sexual discharge can be disruptive. Low energy frequency can disrupt other forms of Qi or temporarily cause blockages to higher Qi, such as beliefs, feelings, love, thinking, inspiration and inspiration. This is probably why in spiritual circles sexual abstinence is sometimes recommended and why lust is considered one of the seven sins.
Sex addiction can arise from repressed tension or trauma, or as a way to discharge stress. It can also serve as a distraction from deeper beliefs or pain. Conversely, a focus on higher Qi (such as thinking, beliefs or spiritual connection) can disrupt sexual energy. Talking about sex is very different from experiencing it. During sex, you often find that talking can interrupt your sexual arousal because it can interfere with the emotional experience.
2. Energetic meanings/functions of your Emotions
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Expression, bounding and stress processing.
Emotions have 3 important roles:
- Emotions can be an important form of expression for you. By showing them, others see what affects you (deeply). In a positive sense or in a negative sense. Sharing (positive) emotions with others creates group spirit and energy exchange.
- Negative emotions indicate your limits (!). They are an indicator that your stress level is too high and that energy wants to leave your system. (If that fails, trauma occurs! See separate heading). This does not mean that you should just start beating around the bush (expression of emotions from the distant past). But showing emotions can be a signal to others that your limit has been reached.
- Emotions provide natural stress regulation for you. A hugely important function for your system. Especially in times when stress is ever increasing (more impulses, speed of life, keeping many balls in the air, information overload via screens, many choices etc.). Stress is currently disease and cause of death #1! Many diseases can be traced to excessive stress. Therefore, emotion expression and not suppressing emotions is important!
Events as such are “neutral. But they can cause stress in our system if there are too many or too long stimuli in front of you or within you.
Stress is inherently good because it can release inner energy for action (flee, attack). But because the chances of you unexpectedly encountering a dangerous tiger that wants to devour you are less likely to be natural “stress moments like you encountered as a ‘hunter-gatherer.’ Emotions are naturally your stress-management mechanism. Screaming, yelling, running, clapping, laughing, crying allows you to connect with your group or escape danger and allows your system to relax.
Stress can be purely physical/kinetic (exertion, running, weight, etc.) but can also be caused by Ego-Qi (beliefs being challenged or standards being exceeded), rising feelings-Qi, (excessive) thinking and brooding.
Stress management explained in more detail
Stress is a natural response of the body and mind to a challenge or change. It is the way your body reacts to a threatening situation, pressure or change that requires an adjustment or response. Stress can be both physical and emotional and is characterized by a series of physical, mental and behavioral responses.
Stress is often seen as something negative, but in small doses it can also motivate and help achieve goals. It is only problematic when it becomes chronic and the body does not have time to recover, which can lead to health problems such as burnout, anxiety, or cardiovascular disease.
Our lifestyles are becoming more intense. More choices, busy schedules, and lots of stimuli from cell phones, climate pressure, and usually frightening world news, plus a high daily workload with child care or scheduled social activities. At the same time, we live in an increasingly standardized world, where adaptation to mind-numbing work structures and idealized material lifestyles is the norm. Many obligations, and little real freedom. This causes enormous pressures that are systematically denied socially, or where shareholder interest manages to defeat humanity. If we look at disease states holistically, stress appears to be the real cause in many cases.
Stress management can include
- 'managing' events: setting boundaries for your own system and for others, giving yourself adequate rest and recovery time (or if that is not possible talking to your manager or looking for other work). Limiting amount of experienced events.
- Limit triggers (no excessive physically 'taxing' action, such as excessive exercise or consuming harmful substances, adjust beliefs (norms/values), alternate thinking and brooding with 'experiential' activities (walking, doing things) or therapy to reduce inner frustrations, fears or trauma as the cause of your trigger.
- Increasing your 'tipping point' allows you to handle more stress. However, there is always an upper limit!
You can train your tipping point (the point at which your limbic brain starts controlling emotions) by improving physical fitness, healthy diet (and less sugars) and sufficient sleep, less screen time, less (judging) and more listening and also by systems therapy: exercises for your autonomic nervous system or emotion-suppressing medication), - Through avoidance (less effort, minimal standards and values or boundaries to follow, little thinking or fretting about things) you can try to keep the stress curve low, but boredom, (social) isolation or little skill development or even bore-out is then lurking. Or a feeling of being “stuck” which as such causes new additional stress anyway.
- 'Manage' yourself by addressing inner frustrations, unprocessed trauma and other challenges. Beneath the surface they cause additional stresses. Seeing through the power of choosing motivation and love driven behaviors instead of falling back on fear driven behaviors.
- By allowing and using emotions in a healthy way. Laughing, bellowing, sometimes getting angry, shouting, singing or e.g. spontaneous dancing is an outlet for your energy. If this does not create any (trace of) victims that can be triggered by your emotions, it is recommended to allow emotions into your life. They are the natural way to discharge your system energetically!
- By compassionate togetherness. We often live in an individualistic society. Often materially richer but emotionally poorer. Many people are living alone, have little time for social relaxing activities and even a lot of loneliness despite a lot of freedom. But man is by nature a group participant. A “tribe member. Where people engage in social activities with mutual respect in groups, emotions are used continuously in subtle ways and tensions are discharged. Laughing together, dancing together, crying together, sharing things in great trust and knowing that you are allowed to show emotions from time to time without really being condemned or even “ostracized.
- This is partly why choosing compassion is so important. Extending a hand to others creates this feeling of “safe together. Being allowed to be human. Sharing feelings and emotions. Releasing energy of all participants including yourselves.
In the attached image you can see various stress-handling forms. Emotions influence the stress curve (down) making overstraining your system less likely to occur.
3. Disruption of your Emotions and blockage
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When the “valve” mechanism of emotions is disrupted, “over”-emotional phenomena can develop: frustrations or obsessive - theatrical behavior, deep fears, and phobias. When emotions are suppressed, blood pressure problems can occur, uncontrolled tissue/cancer growth can occur, neural abnormalities can develop (ANS disruption), immune problems, and even trauma. The result: Qi 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, disturbances: physical problems, unprocessed or unreleased mind (thinking and beliefs)/feelings energies, inspiration blockages and inspiration blockage.
Over' emotional
Because of genetic predisposition, your attachment pattern and later experiences, your nervous system and brain may be more sensitive to stress, which affects your emotion triggering and intensity. So some people are more likely to be emotional or more intensely emotional than others.
It can sometimes come across as 'intense' if someone does not control emotions. We all know someone with “a short fuse” or someone who immediately sheds tears at an emotional event or movie scene. We are not calling here for always showing your emotions uncontrollably, but for consciously using moments when you can!
Expressing emotions frequently or uncontrollably creates internal and external challenges:
- Inner frustrations can arise through a double vicious circle: you yourself get further upset by uncontrolled expression of your energy: Qi-3/Qi-5/Qi-3 effect (why am I crying now, why did I speak disrespectfully with raised voice, that's not ok, I feel fear, shame, self-blame etc.) and because of your fear your body can get back into or into more intense emotion.
- Others may also react to your emotions in a similar way, triggering your system again.
Being obsessive is not the same as being emotional. Obsessive behavior is the repeated performance of actions or persistence of thoughts that are difficult to control and often stem from fear or the need for control. Being obsessively emotional is an uncontrollable (often vicious) cycle of successive emotion.
Theatrical behavior is exaggerated, dramatic behavior in which a person displays emotions or reactions in a conspicuous and often unnatural way to attract attention or impress others. Thus, being theatrically emotional has a Q-3 trigger: the belief that you can influence or manipulate others with emotions.
Emotions are an important outlet and always recommended. But not at the expense of others.
Suppressed emotions and trauma
If someone says they are always happy and never angry or sad, be alert. Although some people are naturally more positive and others are more prone to gloom, it is perfectly human to experience negative emotions from time to time. Even the most optimistic people feel sadness or frustration from time to time. Sometimes they choose to get rid of these feelings in healthy ways, such as exercising or being creative. But sometimes there is more to it: they may suppress negative feelings because they fear rejection or don't feel good enough. They may have learned that emotions used to be punished by their parents or environment.
Suppressing emotions can lead to trauma. This energy, which you have not been able to release, lingers in your body. That's why bodywork, such as massage or somatic therapy, combined with conversations, can help release trauma. Sometimes this even happens unexpectedly: you are lying relaxed on the massage table and suddenly you feel tears welling up, without knowing exactly why.
Trauma can express itself in many ways. Sometimes you have sudden emotional outbursts without understanding where they come from. Or maybe you feel nothing at all, as if your emotions have flattened out. Trauma comes in many degrees, from mild to severe, as in PTSD.
During extreme events, it may feel safer to put emotions away. Consider an accident, prolonged stress, aggression in your environment, abuse or war situations. Showing emotions can then feel like a risk, causing energy to accumulate. Your body stores that energy, for example, in your fascia-the connective tissue between your muscles, skin and organs.
Emotions are often a response to your brain's “fight, flight or freeze” mechanism. They are a natural part of how our bodies work, a way to release tension and energy. But when you suppress emotions, it can have major consequences for your well-being.
When you suppress strong emotions, your brain becomes unbalanced. The areas responsible for your emotions-the limbic brain and reptilian brain-are then on edge, while the connection to your neocortex (which helps you think logically) is weakened. As a result, you may feel overwhelmed and sometimes have trouble remembering unpleasant experiences. You may even feel disconnected from your body, or instead experience unexplained emotions or physical sensations. In such cases, it is important to seek help from a (trauma) therapist.
When you can't express your emotions, your body stores them. The energy you can't release gets stuck in your system, and the connection between what you've been through and how you feel about it gets blocked. That's why it's so important that you feel safe during trauma treatment and trust that you can discharge. Just talking is often not enough.
With trauma, your body and mind need to be reconnected. Thinking and feeling, beliefs and emotions, everything is intertwined. Body work, reconnecting with your environment, movement and giving space to emotions are essential. This can be supplemented with conversations and processing subconscious memories, for example through EMDR or hypnotherapy.
Attachment patterns
Insecure attachment from your childhood is a form of trauma. As a child, you did not feel safe enough to show emotions towards your unsafe (angry, sad, absent or unreliable) parents. Subconsciously you decided to adjust your behavior accordingly.
You do this either by “pleasing” or by hiding/pulling away. Both cause suppression of real emotions! This may have even influenced the formation of your autonomic nervous system (ventral vagal disturbances). A disability that makes you more vulnerable to new traumatic experiences and further trauma buildup later in life. (Over)sensitivity creates a system that is less resilient or a huge performance drive just to be “enough”!
The bucket that overflows
We suppress emotions even in less extreme situations. Tension or pressure during your upbringing at work or in your relationship can also lead to emotion outbursts or even trauma.
If we allow (or suppress) too little emotion and don't move, touch, or discharge in other ways the energy accumulates in your system. A small “trigger” can then cause the bucket to overflow. Your block breaks and suddenly from your intense emotions, or your body stores emotions and real trauma occurs.
3. Symbolic meanings/functions of your emotions
What are symbolic meanings of your emotion?
Why would you want to know symbolic meanings? Your subconscious mind often works with images and symbols. A kind of summary of a combination of things, feelings you had with them, or ideas and beliefs you have with them. Once this comes to the surface or appears in your consciousness (e.g. during therapy sessions) it can help to clear up confusion, create clarity or bring desires or fears into focus. Or to bring concrete life goals into focus.
I list some commonly used symbolic meanings of Qi2-Emotion:
Aggression and loss of control
An obvious symbolic meaning is aggression and loss of control. Because emotional people are often not open to reason in their emotion, they often seem unmanageable to others. Expressing emotion can therefore be seen symbolically as an expression of aggression or loss of control.
Passion
Although passion is a form of desire to manifest inspiration (Q-6), passion can also appear intense or release emotions and be confused with emotional behavior.
Surrender
Because of the uncontrollability or sometimes unpredictability of emotions, an association may be that it is something you or others must surrender to.
Surviving/transforming.
Emotions can create tremendous space in your system. Accumulated energy leaves your system and instead creates space for thinking, breaking through blockages and frustrations, and healing from illness or pain. Your subconscious mind may therefore make associations with survival or transformation during your lifetime.
Sexual drive, lust or sexual blocks
An obvious symbolic meaning is sexual activity (or rather blockages). Your Chakra 2 / Qi 2 is linked to your reproductive system and menstrual cycle. Because orgasmic activity requires and causes loss of control and surrender or this energy is actually suppressed, the association is often seen.
Other
All symbols are personal associations with meaning. So you absolutely can have different or more connected to emotional states.
5. Emotion therapy
Emotion-focused therapy, working on your body
Perhaps you 'feel uncomfortable in your skin', or even sick and are suffering from emotion blocks or just excessive emotional behavior. You may also suspect 'trauma' based on what you have read . Or on the contrary, you would like to grow old healthy as long as possible. A body is something of many 'balances' (which can be disturbed). Therefore, it is important to take good care/maintain your body and take complaints or illness seriously and in the latter case, consciously work on healing.
The essence of 7Qi is that all 7Qi interact! So by working on your body itself but also on your other 6Qi. e.g. through inspiration (creative therapy) or cognitive therapy or through body-mind therapy, movement, touch or massage with simultaneous emotional release (crying, shouting etc.) you can promote physical recovery.
When ill, always contact your doctor and/or licensed therapist!) and possibly choose additional action/therapy yourself.
It is going too far to discuss all forms of maintenance/therapy here. I list a few so that you may get (additional) ideas:
Maintenance
Concentrated and focused activities to recharge and discharge. E.g. sports, yoga asana/mantra, breath work, creative therapy (paint, music, dance), massage, sound healing, tantric workshops, laughter therapy, confidence building activities.
Healthy diet or ayurvedic/tuned diet.
Limit or eliminate processed foods, alcohol, soda, sweet drinks, sugars/sugary snacks).
Supplements (preferably on therapist's prescription): e.g., in winter: vitamin D/zinc and/or multivitamins.
Detox and fasting (e.g. intermittent fasting / 3-day abstinence [consult your doctor!] / other detox programs
Drink plenty of water!
Sufficient sleep! (8h) and
Minimize or eliminate smoking or narcotic/addictive substances
Reduce (work) stress! (stress is disease cause number 1 !)
Say goodbye to toxic relationships
Build in me-time: being (able to be) alone and seeking relaxation (reading, walking, being in flow with a hobby)
Reduce screen time! (phone/binge-watching/hanging in front of your television)
Relaxation with friends or meaningful activities (volunteering): compassionate-togetherness
Massage
Meditation (silence, guided or with sound: singing bowls, chakra frequencies or bin-aural beats)
Yoga and mantra/singing
Sports (not obsessive!)
Journaling/diary keeping
Therapy
General:
General practitioner / medication consultation
Medical specialist / hospital consultation
Psychotherapy
Complementary holistic
Body/mind therapy
Heart coherence exercises
Life-coaching
Guided Yoga / Retreat
Breath work / therapy
Shamanic consultation
Gemstone / essential oil treatment
(Ectatic) dancing
Reiki treatment
Sound therapy
Theta healing
Specific emotion therapy
EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy).
A therapeutic approach that focuses on improving the emotional connection between partners through jointly identifying, exploring and restructuring underlying emotions and interaction patterns in their relationship. Specifically, it teaches how, before judging, to see underlying feelings and emotions first. (For example, “I see you are crying, would you tell me why? Or 'when you ..... then I notice that I block and become quiet, or just start crying or expressing anger'.
EMDR
A form of therapy that uses eye movements or left/right alternating beeps in your ears to process traumatic memories and reduce their emotional charge. Sometimes your brain is put into an alternating beta (conscious) and alpha (subconscious/associative) state during treatment.
Specialist trauma therapy
A form of therapy in which safety, body work (activities), cognitive therapy and awareness of connection between existing feelings, emotions and thoughts and beliefs (surface or otherwise) are inventoried, explored and processed in relation to each other. Highly recommended is the book “Trauma Traces” by Bessel van der Kolk in which development of this therapy is clearly discussed.
Bodywork/body-mind therapy
Precisely the combination of body work (breathing techniques, sound, touch, movement) and mental techniques (thoughts and beliefs) in conjunction with feelings and emotions are applied here.
Trauma massage
Massage has been used in Asia for many centuries as a relaxing and regular activity. Because blocked emotions can accumulate in your body (fascia!), massage can release this energy. A trauma massage combines short talks/questions, Betha/Alpha state ranges for associative release with focused massage on parts of your body.
Melukat
A very specific application that can be traced back to ancient tantric/vedic practices is a 'Melukat' that a priest or balian/shaman may perform in Bali (possibly also applied in forms in other areas/countries). Here a meditation with mantras or even laughter therapy is combined with an overpouring of cold (blessed/inspired) water, with simultaneous recitation of inspirational spells by the priest/balian, while the person undergoing it teeters over his or her emotions.
Kinetic emotion therapy
Sometimes we felt powerless in life. Maybe even during the first months of our lives (when we were cognitively undeveloped). Such early childhood experiences can cause disturbances in your emotions. Movement and vocal release is combined to release emotions. E.g. shaking your long muscles while shouting “I'm not stuck, I'm not stuck” or hitting a pillow with a stick while freely shouting inner frustrations. A purely physical/cognitive release and hopefully reprogramming.
A specific form is yoga-somatic-trauma-release: a combination of certain yoga poses with consciously vibrating muscle activity involving the release of energy and stress through voice or emotions (crying, bellowing), coupled with associative thoughts.
Feeding your demons (Tsultrim Allione).
A Tibetan meditation and visualization technique developed by Lama Tsultrim Allione. It is based on an ancient Tibetan Buddhist practice called Chöd, in which you do not fight your inner demons, but feed and transform them. In the context of this technique, “demons” are understood as inner obstacles, fears, addictions or negative emotions. Instead of suppressing these demons, you seek to understand and alleviate them.
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