What You Push Down, the Body Pushes Out

“When my anxiety ramps up, so does my eczema,” one client told me.

This mind-body connection is something I see regularly in my work – buried emotions showing up as skin inflammation and flare-ups. Many people who find their way to me have already picked up on the pattern: the more overwhelmed or upset they feel, the more their eczema or psoriasis flares. They want to figure out how to feel better so that, in turn, their physical condition will settle down.

Journalist Jane Brody wrote about this in a New York Times piece on the mind-body connection (gift link):

The stigma that keeps us stuck

The problem is two-fold. First, much of the mainstream medical community still treats the body and mind as separate, often ignoring emotional health unless it’s labeled as a diagnosable disorder. Second, our culture tends to stigmatize any sign of mental or emotional struggle –often equating it with “mental illness,” which discourages openness and self-compassion.

As a result, people are left without language or support for what they’re actually experiencing. The shame around feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or emotionally raw can make it hard to ask for help, let alone explore how those feelings might be affecting the body.

That’s where my work begins. As an emotions therapist, I encourage people to name what they’re feeling without fear of judgment. And once they do, we often begin to see a connection: physical issues like chronic pain, fatigue, or skin conditions tend to mirror the inner landscape – tracking closely with anxiety, shame, grief, and other unruly emotions.

Trauma lives in the body. What happens when we don’t let it move?

Many of us have learned to “stuff” uncomfortable emotions. And in the context of our trauma history, that stuffing may have been the only option we had to stay safe. And now, actually staying present with those emotions – that is being present enough to feel them – can be excruciating.

Still, processing our emotions is better than living with the quiet ongoing torment of those we’ve buried.

While neuroscience is still catching up, there’s growing evidence to support what yogic science has taught for centuries: trauma isn’t just held in the mind, it lives in the nervous system. In fact, research shows that emotional pain lights up the same regions of the brain as physical pain (here’s one study if you’re curious).

So, if we keep pushing our emotions down, where do they go? And what happens to the body when that pain has nowhere to move?

Where East Meets West: Releasing What the Body Holds

This is where modern science and ancient wisdom converge.

Neuroscience may still be mapping the full landscape of trauma, but even in the West, there’s growing agreement: the body holds onto past pain. Some researchers call it “stored trauma,” others refer to “somatic memory” or “body-based dysregulation.” In the East, yogic science has long described it as blocked energy. Different language – same truth.

In both systems, unresolved emotions are understood to create inner congestion, interfering with our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. And both point toward the same solution: turning inward – because it’s only by looking within that we can recognize, process, and ultimately release what’s been stuck.

Many Western trauma therapies are embracing tools that have roots in ancient Eastern practices like breathwork, movement, and meditation, all ways of working with the body to access and release what’s stuck.

In Emotional Liberation, we combine these methods to create space for healing. And as my students and clients begin moving the emotional energy they’ve carried for years – sometimes decades – they often report a surprising shift: their physical symptoms begin to ease too. It’s as if releasing the emotional pressure allows the whole system to recalibrate.

Have you noticed this kind of connection between your emotional state and physical health? I’d love to hear what this brings up for you. Drop down to the comments section and let me know.

With love,
Becca