Happiness, joy, anger, sadness, anxiety, fear, … emotions that we use to respond to events that feel important to us. And for all these emotions we can say that they have a bodily component to be reflected in the body, they affect the texture of the muscles and their tension.
When all the strong emotions become activated there is a strong physiological reaction. The activity of the sympathetic nervous system increases, our heart rate accelerates, our pressure increases, we breathe faster, we are overwhelmed by adrenaline, and our body-muscles are ready for activity (fight, flight). These changes actually allow a person to cope with the situation more successfully. In the past, when people ran away from bears or went into combat due to a dispute, this was all logical and emotions had an evolutionary function that allowed the person to survive. In civilized society this function does more bad than good. For example, when we are angry at our boss, or we are very scared, we have the same bodily reactions as people used to have, but we no longer “relax” the body by fighting or running away, and this certainly does not affect him positively.
In the process of socialization we soon learn of the rules for expressing our emotions. We learn how, when and where it is appropriate to express our feelings, which depends on what culture we grew up in, our gender, etc. That’s why we commonly deny and suppress our emotions. That way the stay ‘’locked’’ inside our body. We unconsciously tense our facial and neck muscles, our chest, shoulders, abdomen and pelvis. The body becomes tense and rigid and the big question is, will we ever relax or will we remain in this tension afterwards. We can also get used to emotions and lose the feeling that the body is still in an emotional pattern, even though it is no longer needed. For example, a girl breaks up with a boy and is therefore sad for a long time. Time heals wounds and the emotion is gone, but the body stays tensed up due to the emotional patter, so the girl still walks with their shoulders lowered and her head bowed. The consequences of unexpressed emotions or being trapped in an emotional pattern, although no longer needed, can range from an over-response of the immune system, accelerated tissue growth, high blood pressure, to chronic fatigue and various pains for which we cannot find the real cause.
And people today don’t even know about any of this. We still haven’t found a connection between becoming ill or injured and feeling a strong emotion ages ago. However, a correlation exists and when we are aware of this, we can also take action.
With the help of AEQ exercises we recognize and feel the tensions in our muscles and we also know how to relax them. Muscles that may have been tense for twenty-four hours a day for years are lengthened and we experience this as a pleasure. Pain and other uncomfortable conditions slowly disappear. Many times, however, emotional cleansing also occurs when performing exercises. We can remember and relive a long-forgotten unpleasant emotion, get to know the emotional pattern we developed based on it and the connection with, for example, and chronic shoulder pain.
Of course, we are alone in this story in terms of responsibility. The task of the AEQ Method® teacher is to transfer knowledge, and it is up to us to perform the exercises regularly, to be sensitive and to move slowly, as consciously as possible, if we are really present in the moment, if we actually get to know the philosophy of this method. Our movement will become light, elegant and efficient again. In the subconscious, we will change the muscle patterns that are harming us. And because the mind trusts the body, which is able to move better and more complexly, we will also trust each other more in life and be capable of more complex challenges.
Jasmina Rome Rodić, Učitelj AEQ metode® 2. stopnje
