Our Emotional Life – A Progressive Perspective
By Kyle Christensen, DC
Several years ago I went through the Emotion Code Seminars
by Dr. Brad Nelson. I began using this treatment technique successfully to help
many of my patients. I remember one day,
working with a patient, it must have been our third or fourth session together,
‘releasing’ multiple trapped or suppressed emotions from her emotionally
traumatic past. I paused and commented,
“This feels like it could go forever”. She said, “I was just thinking the same
thing – does this ever end?”
Conversations with other practitioners seemed to confirm this. I would
ask, “Are there ever times when someone comes to you and you DON’T find trapped
emotions to release?” Their answers were always the same – “NEVER, the trapped
and pent up emotions never cease.”
Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time,
patience or money to see a health care practitioner endlessly. And while I have
assisted many by following the procedures taught in the Emotion Code and the
Body Code, I am not satisfied that it should go on forever.
And so, I began to wrestle with this issue. Like many truths, they do not and cannot
become apparent without time, pondering and prayer. I began asking my patients
(through a simple muscle response test) “How many trapped emotions do you
have?” I found anywhere from dozens to thousands. Understand that most of the
emotions that get stuffed down into the subconscious are stupid things (at
least from the perspective where you may be emotionally today).
Let me give you an example:
You are three years old and you are trying to put your socks on all by
yourself. Try as you may, you don’t have the coordination to put those sock on.
In frustration, you throw the socks down.
As you look up, your older brother calls you a baby. “You can’t even put
your own socks on, you baby.” You start to cry.
“See, I told you, you’re a baby.”
You stifle your tears and stuff the frustration and humiliation down
into your subconscious. And as the title of the Book implies “Feeling buried
alive, never die.” Fast-forward a couple
of years. You are trying to learn to
ride a bike, when you look over and see big brother watching. Sometime inside
tells you, if you fall, you will be called a baby. Rather than get on the bike, you decide you
don’t even want to try. So in this simple
childhood example, we see how a trapped emotion can influence future behavior,
without even consciously realizing it.
The treatment methodology of the Emotion Code is brilliant
in its ability to assist in the release of trapped or suppressed emotion from
the subconscious mind. Understand that when we do not have the support, the
experience, the skills or maturity to adequately deal with an emotional
situation, the subconscious mind, in a mode of survival may stuff the
experiences or emotion into the unconscious or subconscious mind as a
protective measure. In the Emotion Code treatment protocol, emotions are
released, not through a talking-about-it type therapy (which I personally believe
can strengthen and reinforce the neurologic pathways of these repressed
experiences and emotions) but rather the emotional release treatment sends a
signal to the unconscious mind (by stimulating acupuncture meridian points) to
take a look at these experiences/emotions, put them in the proper context and
by doing so release them.
Imagine that in your subconscious mind is a long hallway
with doors on each side. Behind every door is a trapped emotion. The treatment (stimulating certain acupoints
with the intent of releasing trapped emotions) metaphorically opens these
doors. As your spirit or subconscious
looks through an open doorway, it may see that sock incident and the emotions
and influences attached to it. “Humph, I
certainly don’t need to hang on to you any more!”, you say. And poof! That
doorway and its contents vanish. And so
it goes door after door. However, you
may look into some of these subconscious doorways and say in essence “Oh My
Goodness, I am not ready to deal with you, yet.” And Boom that door is
closed. As we eliminate the more trivial
stuff and begin working on the issues of healing (inside and out) you will
garner more strength to eventually eliminate even the toughest and most severe
of emotional traumas.
Releasing trapped emotions can be compared to the repentance
process. If I wanted to straighten out
my moral and spiritual life, I could schedule an appointment with my bishop,
pastor or priest. To make sure I am thorough, I bring all of my journals so we
can go through them page by page. Cause I don’t want to overlook one thing.
“WAIT A MINUTE!!” this dear sweet spiritual leader says. Repentance is not about examining every
excruciating detail, but rather, Repentance
is a Change of Heart. Repentance is not about changing behavior. However, when the heart is changed, behavior
always follows. And so it is with trapped emotions. We do not need to unearth
and over turn each stone of our traumatic past. We must however set in our
heart the desire to transform and become renewed with healing and a changed
perspective on our life. Repeated
regurgitation of emotional events will only serve to reinforce them in the brain
and nervous system just as water repeatedly coursing down the hillside will cut
and erode deeper and more indelible channels or paths. Certainly, past pain must be acknowledged and
may need to be discussed to some extent at some point. But talk-about-it
psychological therapy has been well proven to be largely ineffective.
In my Emotions and Angels manual, I discuss a more in-depth
exercise to heal from past emotional trauma (See “The Examined Life” by Dr.
Christensen). This exercise can guide
you through a process enabling you to change your perspective over past
emotional traumas and by doing so diffuse the pain and release the binds allow
you to truly heal.
Many of us have made the determination in our hearts that ‘I
will not hold a grudge’. Yes, I know that I may get offended, but I will NOT
hang on to that offense allowing it to fester and take hold. In each of our
lives, there are those who perhaps deserve to have a grudge held against them.
Their actions may have been so deliberate, offensive or evil that there is no
way around the hurt and the harm that was inflicted. However, if we don’t
decide to consciously take action to let it go, it can only fester and harm us
further and deeper. A well-known saying
from Alcoholics Anonymous is to “Let Go and Let God”. This is what we must do.
The Emotional Releasing techniques can help us to do just that.
In Chinese Medicine, there are three classifications of
healing in health care (as taught by Shen Nong Ben Cao) They are referred to Lower
Class, Middle Class and Upper Class.
Lower Class works
on an illness or crisis level. Modern Medicine
operates at this level. The use of
drugs, surgery and physical therapy. Even chiropractic, acupuncture and even
nutritional therapies can operate on this lower level when purposed to simply
relieve pain or fix an acute problem.
The Middle Class
operates from a preventative and nature cure perspective. Working to heal,
promote and restore health with natural means and healthy lifestyle
practices.
The Upper Class operates
from a spiritual perspective and “governs
the nourishment of our Destiny as it corresponds to heaven … if one wishes to
prolong years of life without aging”. Or in other words, life is purpose
driven in harmony with directive given from spiritual sources. Healing is often
spontaneous and miraculous accompanied with spiritual growth and experiences.
Decisions are pursued because we feel guided or prompted by unseen spiritual
sources.
In our Emotional World there are three levels, degree or
classes in which we experience life. These
can also be categorized using the terminology of Telestial, Terrestrial and Celestial. The lowest is the realm of negative emotions
that are typified as the trapped negative emotions. Fear, Anger, Guilt, Grief,
Sadness, Depression, Frustration, etc.
The next or middle class would be the positive emotions such
as happy, nice, good, etc.
And finally, the highest class (where we should be striving)
are the virtues. Charity, Kindness, Patience, Humility, Diligence, Temperance,
Fidelity, Honesty, Wisdom, etc.
So how does this work and relate to our emotional
healing. Let’s take an example of
someone was ‘mean’ to you. Or for that matter you have become ‘mean’ – perhaps
in the form of being selfish or self-serving.
This of course is an emotion of the lower class and does not bring
happiness. If you were to elevate
yourself to the next level, the emotion would be ‘nice’. Which is definitely an improvement. However,
often the positive emotions of this level can be used as forms of manipulation.
“He was very ‘nice’ to me (when he wanted something).” In the highest level,
the emotion is ‘kindness’. When I say “you are the kindest person I know”, that
means your behavior is an extension of who you have become. Your kind acts are not a tool of manipulation
to get something that you want, but it is how you interpret and interact with
life and others.
So, finally, here’s my point with all of this. If we are to heal our emotional lives (which
ties directly in with our spiritual and physical lives), there must be a
transformation of sorts into the emotional realm of the virtues. I do not believe you can be healthy or happy
when you are stuck in the telestial level or lower class of negative trapped
emotions where our subconscious is running the software of pride, envy, anger,
laziness or entitlement, lust, greed or gluttony (ever wanting more). Unless
you can transcend to higher realms of emotional integrity, I am afraid you will
be stuck replaying a variety of negative emotions for perhaps a lifetime.
The truth as taught by Jesus the Messiah was that we must be
‘born again’, experience a mighty change or made into ‘new creatures’. We must
put off the lower vibrational behaviors replacing them ultimately with
virtue. When I function at a level of
the virtues (for me, it is often brief and fleeting), my perspective of past
hurts transcends to one of peace, understanding and gratitude, even when
dealing with base and negative things or people. I have been able to see how
pain, unfairness and injustice has shaped, softened and elevated my soul. And it
is through suffering (when I have turned to God), I have become a better and
less self-absorbed person.
I know for many of you this is “Hard Doctrine” and may not
make rational sense. There is so much
more to explain and discuss as we ruminate over why emotional suffering is
necessary for our ultimate good.
However, it has become my understanding that the end objective of our pain is that we reach toward the heavenly
attributes of the virtues. It is only then that suffering can be
transformed to meaningfulness and the healing balm of divine perspective can
turn even the deepest of raw wounds and festering scars into peace. Speaking just for myself, this is hard. Very
hard. Trying to become someone more than my weaknesses and natural inclinations
to work and concerted effort. But perhaps, the subjugation and rising above my
basest impulses and desires, which come so naturally to most of us, is to
become who I truly am and to whom God intends me to become – ‘a new creature in
Christ’. This I know, happiness and healing is most optimally achieved through
transcendence and transformation, not in commiserating with other wounded souls
in pity parties and trauma dramas.
May God bless us all as we strive for healing, understanding
and peace on this spiritual-emotional journey we call life. I challenge you to begin your earnest study
and practice of the Godly Virtues. Identify someone who has virtuous attribute
you would like to emulate and get to work.
Blessings,
Dr. Kyle Christensen
June 12, 2015
