Just like physical pain, emotional pain resides in the body. There's nowhere else we ever feel it. But most of the time, we feel it for only a few moments before reverting to the same kind of flinch that physical pain evokes. An emotional flinch differs from a physical flinch in one key way, however. It usually lodges somewhere specific — the gut, chest, shoulders, neck, temples — and traps the pain inside. Befriending emotional pain requires that we first access the flinch, which then allows the stuck emotion to release. Such a release though it's often intense, is almost always incredibly freeing.

The Practice:

The next time you feel a constriction in any part of your body and have an inkling that it's emotion-related, gently place your attention at that location. Don't try to change or understand the sensation. Just let it be exactly as it is. Soon this acceptance will allow the constriction to release. Then you'll be face to face with the emotion it temporarily blocked. Keep your attention on this emotion as it wells up and begins to move through you. Is it easier to feel than you imagined? Do you prefer this feeling to remaining shut down?

Raphael Cushnir in How Now