Re-educating Western society on the concept of emotional heat

Emotions held within the body are a form of energy that, if stored up over time, begin to generate heat. Multiplied over years of emotional repression, combined with added emotional stresses of life, school, family, friends, bills, jobs etc; the heat within the body begins to build to detrimental levels.

The cumulative heat from unexpressed or unresolved emotions can result in physical, mental and psychological symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, hot flushes, inability to think clearly, inflammation of the gut (IBS), heat and pain (inflammation) in joints and muscles, overall body tension, emotional flares, body itches and more. For many people this heat and the emotional and mental exhaustion that comes with it, begins to affect their daily lives and physical and mental health. So they seek a method to ease the pressure.

Habits such as excessive exercise, cold showers, rubbing or scratching certain areas of the body, for example, the hands, ears, head, thumbs, wrists or forearm areas are in reality effective ways of reducing overall body heat and particularly emotional heat. By helping our clients and those in modern society to understand the reasons and actions behind excessive habits or the practice of ‘self-harming’, society can begin to consider that they are not the random destructive habits they appear to be. We can then help and encourage clients dissolve the stigma of practices labelled as ‘self-harming’ and incorporate safer methods to achieving the same emotional release, such as massage, acupuncture, cupping therapy and gua sha. Further to helping the individual physically, a shift in society wide perspective can help to ease the emotional pressures and guilt on individuals who carry out these practices, help groups and families be freer to seek help and guidance and help guide and encourage individuals to self-treat safely and constructively going forward.