How to Release Stored Emotions in Your Body Using These Yoga Poses

Your issues are in your tissues.

Have you ever heard this phrase before?

Emotions can be a funny thing. Sometimes they occur in a conscious response to an event or conversation, while other times they seem to be triggered by something unknown. 

Emotions are a mixture of your biological responses and your thoughts and feelings. And in our Western culture, it’s commonplace to try to ignore or avoid your emotions altogether. It’s become normal to believe that emotions are useless, senseless, and irrational. But there’s a delicate balance between allowing your emotions to completely take over your daily life and shoving them under the rug completely. 

Both can be detrimental.

The sweet spot is in acknowledging emotions exist – and always will – they serve a purpose, and it’s okay to allow yourself to feel them as well as let them go.

Sounds super simple, right? 

Not exactly, or else we’d all have no problem and end of discussion. 

So how does that process work, exactly?

Where are Emotions Stored in the Body?

Before we explore how emotions can be released in the body, let’s first dive into where in the body emotions are commonly stored… and why.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there are five specific organs that correlate with five main emotions… and those emotions are stored within those organs. Let’s look at those five main emotions and then explore how yoga can help release those emotions within those organs.

Your Joyful Heart

Your heart’s job is to pump blood throughout the body. It is associated with love and joy – as well as heartache. In TCM, if there is an imbalance in the heart, this can be expressed through agitation and restlessness, lack of enthusiasm, depression, and insomnia. 

Your Sad and Grieving Lungs

Your lungs are responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body and removing carbon dioxide. In TCM, the lungs are connected to grief, sadness, and detachment. If there is an imbalance within the lungs you may experience shortness of breath or shallow breathing, sweating, fatigue, frequent colds and flu, allergies, and dry skin. 

Your Angry Liver

Your liver helps you digest and process nutrients. In TCM, the liver is connected to anger, resentment, frustration, irritability, and bitterness. An imbalance within the liver means it is expressed as menstrual pains, headaches, irritability, dizziness, and eye conditions. 

Your Worrisome Spleen

Your spleen is a vital player in your body’s immune system and acts as a blood filtration system. In TCM, an imbalance in the spleen looks like dwelling or rumination, excessive worry, poor digestion, weakened muscles, easy bruising, and bleeding disorders.

Your Fearful Kidneys

The final organ within TCM are the kidneys. The kidneys are responsible for removing waste and excess fluids from the body. In TCM, the kidneys relate to fear and can present through the symptoms of fear, anxiety, insecurities, night sweats, lower back pain, hearing loss, and hair loss. 

How to Release Emotions Using These Yoga Poses

As you read through the five organs and five associated emotions, could you identify one or more where you know you’re probably holding onto stored emotions? Were you able to identify why those emotions are stored in your body?

Humans are emotional creatures, so it’s more likely that most of us – if not all of us – have one or more emotions stored within us. Rather than feel self-critical or defeated by this, remember this is part of our human experience – and there’s a way to heal.

If you’ve practiced yoga enough, you can probably think of a number of different yoga asanas (poses) to begin releasing stored emotions in each of the organs listed above. Try some of these yoga asanas to help begin releasing them. 

… And let us know if you found any particularly helpful!

Opening Your Heart

Heart-opening poses, and/or backbends are a great place to start when you’re looking to release stored emotions within the heart. You may notice your chest or shoulders are particularly tense so for some poses you may need to warm up your body first – sun salutations and warm-up poses are fantastic ways to warm up. 

Pose: Cobra

Alignment: Lay on your stomach. Place your hands under your shoulders and lift your chest through your hands. With each exhale try to arch your back a little further and open your chest a little more. Breathe into the heart-center.

Pose: Camel

Alignment: Start on your knees with knees high distance apart. Tuck your toes. Inhale, lift your arms overhead. As you exhale, either 1.) bring your hands your your lower back and arch back, 2.) bring one hand down to your heel behind you and leave the other arm reaching for the sky, or 3.) bring both hands down to both heels, arching your back, lifting your chest to the sky. 

Releasing Sadness and Grief

Many heart-opening poses can also help to release emotions stored in the lungs – and vice versa. So, using the above poses can also work on the lungs – like a 2-for-1 bonus! But just to add more tools to your toolbox, here are some additional poses to work on the lungs.

Pose: Fish

Alignment: Start on your back. Place both hands under your hips, framing your tailbone. Lay your legs out flat and together, and point your toes. As you inhale, use your elbows to lift your back and head off the mat. Exhale, and place the crown of your head back down to the mat while leaving your back off the mat and arched. Breathe deeply into your throat, chest, and lungs. 

Pose: Bridge and/or Wheel

Alignment: Begin on your back. Plant your feet onto the mat, hip distance apart, and bring your heels close to your hips. Palms are planted alongside you. As you inhale, lift your hips to the sky. This is bridge pose. To take it a step further, come back down to your back, plant your palms above your shoulders so your fingertips point toward your shoulders, inhale and lift all the way up into wheel – a full backbend.

Calming Your Liver

Yoga asanas to detox your liver will look a lot like twisting in the torso. If you’ve ever been to a yoga class and were instructed into a supine twist, there’s probably a good chance the words, ‘cleansing’ or ‘detoxing’ were used. So you can use these poses offered, and just keep in mind that most spinal twisting poses will aid your liver. 

Pose: Supine twist

Alignment: Begin laying flat on your back. Inhale, bring your knees into your chest. As you exhale, twist your spine and bring your knees down to the right, resting them on the floor, bolster, or block. Turn your head toward your left shoulder and keep your shoulders pressing into the mat. Take as many full breaths as you need and switch to the other side and repeat whenever you’re ready.

Pose: Locust

Alignment: This pose is not a twist but still works on the liver. Start laying flat on your stomach. Place your palms down alongside you. As you inhale, tighten your core, back, and glutes as you lift your chest, arms, and legs off the mat. Holding here while also making sure to breathe (it can be easy to hold your breath in this pose). After a few breaths, release and repeat a few more times. 

Strengthening Your Spleen

Your spleen is all about your immunity. So many of the spleen-cleansing poses will draw attention to your lower abdomen.

Pose: Garland or Squat

Alignment: You can begin by standing or from downward-facing dog. Place your feet halfway up your mat with your toes pointing off the mat. Allow your hips to sink down toward the mat and into squat position. Once you have your balance, bring your hands to your heart in a prayer position, press your elbows into your inner thighs, and lift your chest. Hold for a few breaths.

Pose: Frog

Alignment: Begin in a wide-legged forward fold. As you inhale, lift your chest. As you exhale, walk your hands out in front of you. As you do, bring your knees down to the mat with your feet pointing in opposite directions – one toward the top of your mat, one toward the back, with your chest folding forward over the long edge of your mat. Keep your knees in line with your ankles and hips in line with your knees. With each exhale, you can lower your chest down to the floor, or you can leave your chest lifted, palms planted. 

Soothing for Your Kidneys

If kidneys are related to fear, soothing poses that ask you to hinge forward at the hips like the ones below will aid the kidneys.

Pose: Child’s

Alignment: Begin on your knees, on your mat. Bring your toes together, open your knees as wide as feels comfortable, and sink your hips toward your heels. Fold your chest forward onto the mat – resting your forehead on the mat. You can leave your hands resting alongside you or reach them forward toward the top of your mat. You can also choose to keep your knees closed with your chest resting on your thighs if that feels more comfortable. Breathe deeply and hold here.

Pose: Seated Forward Fold

Alignment: Begin seated on your mat with your legs stretched out in front of you and point your toes to the sky. Inhale, lift your arms overhead. Exhale, fold forward at the hips. You can round your back or keep your spine straight as you fold forward. With each exhale try to lower your chest a little further. 

Yoga and Movement Heal the Mind, Body, and Soul

There is no one-size-fits-all in healing. Just like countless things can trigger emotions within the body, countless things can also trigger healing within the body. While these poses are just a few ways to aid the release and cleansing of organs within your body, many yoga poses and many forms of movement can offer the same. It’s important to listen to your unique body and what feels soothing along your healing journey.