Where do emotions get trapped?

Humans have an excellent brain that helps them to imagine and hence plan for future ahead. But qualities similar to these are anticipation, anxiety, expectation and frustration. In all, it is all in our minds. The emotions too. 

When our "logical" brain tells our body not to shake legs or bite nails when nervous, not to cry when betrayed, not to shout when overwhelmed, not to laugh loud when feeling exhilarated, then we are actually wiring our brains to suppress our feelings and natural responses. Sometimes this suppression carries on for long and the hormones related to that particular emotion move in our body without getting consumed appropriately. Over time we lose our natural ability to handle or process the raw emotions. Our stress response system gets disrupted. The stress and unresolved emotions then begin to accumulate in the physical body. The mental fatigue permeates to the physical body. As the nature would have it,, our physical body has certain areas specifically marked for such trappings. 

Due to lack of instruments or tools/methods to measure the amount of trapped emotion, we cannot support this claim with real statistics. Yet there are abundant testimonials that people abruptly cry or shake during meditation sessions or other healing sessions like acupuncture. People heal their conditions like insomnia, infertility, etc just by engaging themselves in release therapies. 

Naturopathy treatments, yoga, breathing techniques, heavily engaging arts, dance, martial arts- all are testified by many people to have reduced their stress. Actually, they have helped them to rebalance their nervous system.

Our nervous system needs natural cycles of activation and relaxation. Over-stimulation through emotion suppression is so similar to stimulation through drugs that if we were able to see it we would never ever suppress ourselves.  

To be able to sleep like a child, you need to feel and express like a child. Let us unlearn to suppress and hide real feelings and e-learn the good ways to express them out.

Hence in order to release the trapped emotions, we should express them. But an associated and much larger problem is that we don't even know which emotions are trapped inside us. Over the years, we forget which situations caused traumatic experience in us. These deeply set behaviours of our psyche prevent our self-healing processes and cause disease in our body.  

Unresolved trauma or chronic suppressing behaviour or long-term stress leads to a condition called sympathetic nervous system. In this condition a person feels constantly anxious, smelling danger at slightest cue, always "on toes". Such person finds it very difficult to relax, alternating between being overwhelmed and exhausted. 

Instead of being on "high alert" entire day and then relying on entertainment like food and screen for relaxation, a person must learn to regulate the nervous system. Else person will accumulate heavy emotional baggage. This is reflected in posture-stooped shoulders 9as if carrying an unbearable burden), frantic legs (not able to take a decision or stand).

Nelson in his book "The Emotion Code" writes - "Each trapped emotion resides in a specific location in the body, vibrating at its own particular frequency". This may cause you to attract more of that emotion, creating a build-up or blockage. Most of the blockages in heart, lungs, intestines, vascular system, reproductive system can be attributed to insecurities and anger. 

Build-ups like pains of muscles and bones, belly fat, hips, are due to suppressed feelings of guilt, shame and loss. 

Then there are unprocessed emotions which a person hasn't acknowledged or chose not to deal with it. They get stored in the subconscious and gets reflected in body postures. 

Emotions do get trapped..but we can remove these inner blockages by learning how to release them.