10 Ways To Release Emotions Trapped In Your Body 

Are you interested in how to release emotions trapped in your body?

Emotions can be wonderful. When they collect in your body and become trapped, it’s hard to know how to express yourself and set them free.

Setting your trapped emotions free is a huge relief. Being able to express yourself leaves you feeling more satisfied and less frustrated.

You can also feel more confident in communicating with others. These are some of the top ways to accomplish that.

1. Let it flow through writing

Many people cannot express themselves as well through speaking as they do by writing. You don’t have to have the mad writing skills of Maya Angelou or William Shakespeare.

Writing often helps us discover things we’re thinking that we didn’t even know we were thinking.

If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself some questions.

For example, you can ask yourself if you’re in pain. If so, where do you feel pain? You can ask yourself what’s frustrating you.

Just ask questions, and it’ll flow from there.

2. Let them out through movement

Movement is a great way to express your emotions. For many centuries, people have used dancing as a way to express emotions.

You don’t have to dance though. You can join a gym, go for a walk, jog, swim or do what you want.

If your emotions lean more toward rage and anger, you can get a punching bag. Or you can just move your fists through the air. Go wild, but just don’t break any bones or laws.

3. Use breathing to release emotions

Consider breathing as a way to draw in healing and expel your emotions.

If you’re experiencing emotional pain somewhere, you can breathe in to try to visualize yourself channeling the air to the place where the pain is. When you exhale, imagine the pain leaving.

Imagine your anxiety or negative emotions leaving when you exhale.

Some people study chakras and energy channels to help them with this exercise. If you want to invest the time, you may enjoy it.

4. Sing at the top of your lungs

If you like to sing, this is a fun way to release emotions. You can sing in the shower, out in the middle of an open field or in a forest.

You can sing about what you’re feeling or sing your favorite song. Some people like to make up funny lyrics about things that they’re feeling or that are going on in life.

There aren’t any rules. Just have fun with it and do what you think will help.

5. Find a new hobby

Is there something you always dreamed of doing? If so, now’s the time.

Sometimes, the things we long to do are exactly the things we need to do to let out our emotions. Maybe you want to learn the art of carving.

Did you always wish you were a better speaker? Check your local group meeting listings to see if you can join Toastmasters.

Maybe you want to start doing yoga. Join a class and have fun.

Perhaps you and your partner both want a way to improve communication of emotions. There are plenty of exciting activities, like couples’ cooking classes, that you can find.

It’s totally ok to have multiple hobbies too. Try all the things!

6. Have a good old-fashioned cry

If your emotions are positive or negative, crying is a good way to release them. When you feel frustrated, crying can help.

When you have sad emotions after a breakup or some other sad event, crying can help. Crying helps your body relieve itself of toxins and stress hormones.

In many cases, crying can be great when you’re really happy too. Maybe you just got a dream job or had some other unbelievable thing happen.

You feel so happy or grateful you can’t even express every emotion. A good cry can help you feel even better!

7. Practice self-awareness or mindfulness

Being self-aware can help you learn how to identify emotions that you may feel but may not be able to put into words. This is true whether we’re talking about verbal or written expression.

Think about your emotions. Start with general stuff.

Are they positive or negative? Are they painful? Are they infuriating?

As our parents always told us when we were kids – use your words. Think of words that relate to what you’re feeling.

Once you learn to recognize emotions, you’ll know what you’re feeling and can describe it better.

When your emotions are negative and you’re practicing mindfulness, be sure to be kind to yourself. Offer yourself some reassurance and compassion.

We’re all our worst critics sometimes, and we can make our own emotions worse by not being compassionate to ourselves when we need it most.

8. Start a journal

Don’t just start a journal to write in when you feel like it. Set specific times in the journal, and be mindful to write in it at those times.

In doing this, you’re “checking in” with yourself. If you’re going through a lot of things and feel a lot of confusing emotions, this is especially important.

For example, you may be feeling ok in the afternoon when you’re at work. When you return home to an empty house or a less-than-pleasant spouse, maybe your feelings start behaving like a rollercoaster.

Whenever you’re going through an emotional time, it’s important for these check-ins to make sure your emotions get out and don’t bottle up. When negative emotions bottle up, they can lead to anger and all other kinds of problems that you definitely don’t want.

9. Let go of all the negativity

We all harbor some negative emotions from time to time. If it becomes problematic, make a conscious effort to let go of it all.

No matter what it is or who it’s directed at, it’s only going to be toxic for you. Whether it’s a one-time offense by someone else or a coworker who tries to ruffle your feathers daily, force yourself to let it go.

As you also practice mindfulness and identify your own emotions, you can learn to identify toxic feelings toward others. Judgment, jealousy, anger and so many others can cause you endless stress.

10. Build a positive focus

In addition to practicing all the previous steps, be sure to incorporate this one. You’ll be able to focus more on your positive emotions when you do this.

It helps make it easier to let go of and identify negative emotions. Why? Because when your focus is positive, those negative emotions start to feel like intruders.

You can nip them in the bud before they fester into something that steals your sunshine. No person or thing should ever steal your happiness. You deserve to be happy.

When you do identify the positive emotions, think about what causes them. It may be people, events, things you do for yourself or anything else.

Be sure to keep those things or people in your life. If you happen to find a hobby or two that also help, that’s great. Keep doing them, and discover more if you want.

When you treat yourself well and surround yourself with people who do the same, your emotional health will be much better.