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I accidently triggered a huge emotional detox last weekend.

During a training on lymphatic drainage, we were instructed to gently palpate along my sternum, to help release deep lymphatic fluid.  I started gently massaging on both sides of my sternum, which felt tender, and immediately felt intense emotions well up and tears start to flow.

Almost on cue, the instructor mentioned that “this can be emotional point for people” which felt like the understatement of the century.  In addition to extreme sadness, I felt extreme fatigue, to the point where I could barely keep my eyes open.

I heard the instructor explain that “if your sternum feels painful, tense or swollen it indicates that the central deep lymphatics are congested”, then succumbed to the fatigue and took a quick nap.  Even after waking up, I continued to suffer from almost unbearable sadness and overwhelming fatigue, which the instructor classified as an emotional detox reaction for which he advised rest and hydration.

Intrigued by the intensity of my symptoms, I started to do my own research on emotional detox reactions and use myself as a crash test dummy to trial and error other options for lessening the symptoms of the emotional detox.

 

What is an Emotional Detox?

When you begin to release toxins from your tissues, you may release both physical toxins, like mold, metals and biological waste, along with emotional toxins, including emotions that you may not have been able to process during periods of intense trauma, like anger, fear, grief and sadness.

You may not realize that your emotions produce physical energy and when you release them you may feel physical detoxification symptoms like nausea, fatigue, flu-like symptoms, headache, joint and muscle pain along with emotional symptoms like sadness or anger, in addition to possibly unleashing memories surrounding the original unprocessed trauma.

These stuck emotions are similar to toxins in that they can contribute to stagnation and compromise the function of your cells, tissues and organs.

More specifically, certain organs have a greater affinity for certain emotions.  According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) trapped emotions are most likely to get stuck in and impact the function of specific organs.  For example. anger is believed to correlate with your liver, fear with your kidneys and grief with your lungs.

Your sternum – the thick and flattened bone located in the front wall of your thorax which connects with your clavicle (i.e. collarbone) and the first seven ribs – physically protects your heart and your lungs.  Grief, heartache, angst and frustration are all believed to be stored beneath and around the sternum.

It’s interesting to note that your lymphatic fluid which cleans the body of physical and emotional waste has to flow through the collarbone which connect to your sternum.  All lymph flows through your collarbone and with it emotional toxins.  That means that opening physical space around the sternum by relieving physical congestion may mobilize those stuck emotions allowing your body the space for an emotional detox.

 

Signs You Need an Emotional Detox

Emotional toxins can compromise cellular function presenting as symptoms including:

• Anxiety
• Overwhelm
• Depression
• Irritability
• Overreacting in Anger
• Nausea
• Headaches
• Insomnia or other Sleep Issues
• Fatigue
• Lethargy or low motivation
• Little to no interest in things you used to enjoy.
• Tearing Up or Crying easily
• Feeling spaced out
• Muscle cramps, aches and pains
• Feeling jumpy, restless, fidgety

 

The Role of Fascia in Emotional Detox

After gently massaging my sternum, I immediately felt both incredibly sad and unbearably exhausted.

In trying to understand how the gentle brushing on this point unleashed my emotional detox reaction, I attempted to reverse engineer the domino cascade that I unleashed.  The course focused on how fluid flows from high pressure to low pressure and when you open up space for the hydraulics system of your lymphatic system to flow, you allow fluid and congestion to move and open up more space.  Deep cervical lymph nodes are located behind the sternum.  I suspect the sequence of opening space downstream in the body prior to massaging the sternum allowed space for this deep, long congestion lymphatic fluid to move. The collarbone is a key point in lymphatic drainage.  Lymph fluid from the entire body is filtered by the lymph nodes in the collarbone/sternum area.

When you start detoxify deep lymph and have an emotional reaction, I suspect it is that the fascia is releasing things into the lymph and it’s not just fluids that are moving, but trapped energy as well. And energy is stored in the fascia.

Research supports that emotions and memories are stored in the fascia.  When trauma occurs, whether physical, mental, emotional or a combination of these, people respond with a flight-fight or freeze response.

It is believed that the “freeze response” in fascia is what keeps memories stuck and prevents you from fully moving forward and naturally healing from a traumatic event.

This physical tension in your muscles and connective tissue is a protective layer is known as “armoring”, a form of memory and will not release until you know that you are safe.

Releasing the fascia physically can bring up emotions stored in that area from the original trauma.  As the memories and emotions are released, the original source of trauma or corresponding emotion may be retraced as they are released. Supporting the health and flexibility of your fascia helps you release the trauma and intense emotions associate with an emotional detox more easily.

Holding and guarding in fascia in the fascia tissue can delay the release of emotions and prolong the detox reaction.  Fascia plays a key role in how we physically experience stress and heal from traumatic events.  It is not uncommon to clench in response to danger or for the body, and specifically the fascia, to hold onto until feel safe

Fascia can harden and become dehydrated also as a result of emotional trauma and the body’s response to extreme stress. This dehydration, tightening, and hardening decreases the space between the fibers, causing  fibers to shorten, thicken, and constrict, trapping emotional energy.  In addition to physical fascial fibers, the hormones and neuropeptides – which are secreted when the body experiences various emotions – get stuck in the sticky fascial restrictions.

When you release restricted fascia, emotions get a chance to recirculate in the body before they are flushed out.  Supporting the release of these constrictions speeds up the elimination of emotional toxins.

 

Essential oils helped me move through my emotional detox more quickly and easily.  My sadness and fatigue were almost overwhelming and paralyzing.  Within moments of applying the following essential oils I began to feel better:

 

Fascia Release™

Essential oils are a powerful tool to help “unwind” your fascia to move your mind and body out of a “frozen” traumatized state, gently releasing restrictions in such a way that your body does not have to protect itself.  Essential oils can both help to emotionally signal your body that you’re “safe” and physically remove restrictions, rehydrate the fascia, restoring elasticity, and widening the space between the fibers to improve circulation and help blood and oxygen flow smoothly around the body again.

Oils are able to penetrate deeply into your body through your fascia.

Fascia lies just below the skin so topically applying essential oils onto the skin allows for easy and immediate access to the fascia.  The skin is your largest organ and is relatively permeable to fat-soluble substances like essential oils.

Topical supplements play an important role in supporting fascia health and recovery from inflammation. For example, essential oils easily penetrate layers of restricted fascia, creating warmth to break up congestion, increasing circulation, lymphatic drainage and mobilizing adhered tissue.

Essential oils soften the myofascial tissue, allowing the deep and constrained tissue to stretch and move as it is designed to function.

The essential oils in our Fascia Release™ blend are uniquely formulated to simultaneously work on physical and psychological levels, working quickly to break down inflamed, fibrous tissue, removing toxins while unraveling deeply held tensions, constrictions and energetic blockages in your tissues to reduce pain, improve blood and lymphatic circulation and release fear, repressed emotions, and tension held in the body (organs, muscles, tendons, bones and joints) or the mind.

They support the body by creating homeostasis, bringing vitality and energy to the overall system, removing toxins inside and outside the cells, thus bringing the communication network back online. They are also safe and gentle enough to be used with infants, children, elderly patients, and even your pets.

 

Heart™

Similarly, scent has direct access to the emotional center of your brain that controls your hormones and influences your emotions and your mood, known as your limbic system.  On a physical level, only two synapses separate your amygdala from your olfactory nerve.  No other sensory system has this kind of direct and intense contact with the neural substrates of your brain’s emotional control center.  Your other four senses, including sound, sight, taste and touch must travel to other regions of the brain first, before reaching your limbic system.

This makes essential oils an incredibly powerful tool for calming the intensity of the emotions, allowing you to chunk the release so that it feels more manageable.

In this way, essential oils help you control the duration of challenging emotions like anger, fear and sadness – releasing just a small amount of the intensity at a time, much like you would slowly and carefully unscrew the top of a carbonated beverage to gently release excess carbonation and avoid an explosion.

For example, Heart™ balances the heart to enhance compassion and support, integrate and reset all the systems of the body, including supporting feelings of open-heartedness, expansiveness, receptivity while mitigating loneliness, sadness and grief. The heart integrates and balances the physical, emotional, and mental body, providing blood to every cell and every organ.  It also serves as a complex information processing center, influencing brain function, the nervous system, hormonal system and most of the body’s major organs.

I recommend inhaling essential oils and gently releasing intense emotions with your exhale as a powerful strategy to allow you to micro-dose emotional release.   Essential oils and the sense of smell allow you to activate and release intense emotions and sensations over brief durations – providing a small amount of stimulus to engage your body in releasing the pain without flooding and shutting down your system or keeping you stuck in denial.  Just place the bottle under your nose and breathe deeply, fully inhaling the oil for 3 – 7 breaths. It helps you breathe into and work through the emotion.  Try to extend the exhale and really allow yourself to release the painful emotion and any associated pain and intensity.

You can also apply 2-3 drops of Heart™ directly over the heart (left side of chest) to balance the heart and support, integrate and reset all the systems of the body, including mental clarity, physical health and emotional balance. The Heart™ blend also supports feelings of open-heartedness, expansiveness, receptivity while mitigating loneliness, sadness and grief.

During times of intense sadness, use as often as is needed (every 20 -30 minutes).  During times of normal stress, use 2-3 times daily to calm and uplift the heart and the body.

 

Parasympathetic™ 

Your vagus nerve – the bi-directional information highway between brain and body that helps regulate your autonomic nervous system – plays an important role in communicating changes in fascia to your brain.  Stressful, traumatic or life threatening events may shift you into the fight and flight or freeze response.

The sympathetic branch or your nervous system, which is overactive during a fight and flight and freeze response encourages vasoconstriction and diminishes lymphatic flow. Activating your parasympathetic nervous system may encourage more normal pumping action of the muscles and improved fascial sliding motion. This helps the fascia restriction begin to melt, helping to rehydrate tissue so it may become mobile again.

Parasympathetic™ calms the nervous system and you wake up up the connections between fascia and your vagus nerve which helps you be present to the moment. This sense of embodiment and safety can prevent future Freeze Responses.  Apply Parasympathetic™ over the vagus nerve (behind the earlobe on the mastoid bone) to activate the vagus nerve.  This helps  discharge energy and shift out of the freeze state into the healing parasympathetic.

 

Essential oils can help detox your emotions.  As emotions release, you may experience memories, emotions, shaking, sweating.  Try to relax and keep breathing as any uncomfortable emotions are detoxified and eliminated.

 

Featured Oils:

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References:

 

Pain and inflammation can be significantly reduced by supporting lymphatic drainage.

When lymphatic drainage is impaired it can create stagnation that causes painful swelling and inflammation. The lymphatic system serves as your body’s waste disposal system, eliminating bacteria, viruses, metabolic debris and other harmful substances.

If the body can’t rid itself of cellular waste due to stagnation or congestion, the toxins stay in the tissues triggering inflammation and causing pain. Here’s what’s going on: Tissues can become inflamed and painful when circulation slows and inflammation builds. In other words, poor fluid flow or stagnation will present as pain. It’s interesting to note that when you are injured, fluids build up in the damaged area, which is why throbbing and pain occur.

Fluid flow becomes compromised with the occurrence of trauma (physical or emotional). This causes the tissues to contract, twist and compress which obstructs fluid flow. When blood and lymphatics flow freely, the tissue can perform their physiologic functions without impedance.

According to research, your lymphatic vasculature plays a crucial role in regulating the inflammatory response by influencing drainage of cellular fluid and inflammatory mediators.

If the fluid surrounding your cell is toxic, your cells cannot breathe or access healing nutrients and oxygen.

A healthy lymphatic system helps deliver nutrients and oxygen to the tissues and nourishes muscle, joint and other tissue. Lymph vessels have tiny openings that let interstitual fluid and nutrients pass through to surrounding cells and tissues.

Research demonstrates that when you break up lymph congestion, flush excess fluid from within tissues and allow cells to release toxins, “significant improvements were found in lowering pain intensity.”  What’s more, improving lymphatic drainage has been shown to reduce inflammation severity in models of rheumatoid arthritis, skin inflammation, and IBD.

 

Essential oils possess anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antibacterial properties that can help reduce swelling in tissue, enhance blood circulation and stimulate the lymphatic movement, helping to detoxify and decongest lymph, relieving edema and stagnation.

Essential oils help keep plants healthy by moving vital fluids and energy. They transport water from the roots to the leaves and perform similar functions in your body, helping to move energy, flush toxins like viruses and heavy metals, and prevent stagnation.

Essential oils can help open drainage channels like those in your lymphatic and circulatory systems to improve the flow of energy and toxins through the blood, into the detoxification organs, and then out of the body.  By stimulating the lymphatic system, stagnancy is relieved; lymph is moved and pain is reduced.

Essential oils are known to have diuretic properties, which can further assist the body in ridding itself of lymphatic waste via the urinary tract.  Oils are also known for moving stuck energy as well as supporting lymphatic drainage and immunity.

Science magazine reported that certain types of anesthetics, or substances that reduce sensitivity to pain, dramatically increase the space between your cells so fluid can flow more easily to help wash the brain. Many essential oils have been found to have anesthetic properties, which helps explain their value in brain detoxification.

 

Lymphatic drainage can be enhanced with the application of stimulatory essential oils that can be topically applied to congested lymph nodes in any area of the body or over the lymphatic organs.

Lymph™  is formulated to keep lymph flowing to move toxins out of the body with a proprietary blend  of the following organic and/or wild crafted  essential oils:

 

Palmarosa 

as a cooling, anti-inflammatory nature. It is a gentle stimulant and mild muscular tonic to the endocrine system and can be used to encourage lymphatic drainage, help stimulate sluggish digestion, normalize the thyroid, relax tight muscles, reduce or prevent liver toxicity and warm the body.

Research on the “Investigation of the dermal sensitization potential of various essential oils in the local lymph node assay” evaluated the dermal sensitization potential of palmarosa and other essential oils on lymph nodes.  A 2020 study found palmarosa’s antimicrobial and antioxidant properties may be due, in part, to the rich source of geraniol monoterpene in the palmarosa essential oil.  This high geraniol content allows your skin to retain more moisture in the tissues and maintains the moisture balance throughout the body, which is supportive for the lymphatic system. Geraniol stimulates cell memory and thus improves your cells ability to recover – it can even be used to help repair damaged DNA cells which encourages faster cell growth.

Palmarosa  has been found to help stimulate cellular regeneration, re-establish the physiological balance of the skin, treat intestinal disorders (including bacteria, viral and yeast infections).  Palmarosa helps calm excessive emotions. It also helps treat many anxiety disorders as well as nervous exhaustion, stress related conditions, morning fatigue, and basic irritability.

 

Spearmint 

Spearmint is a minty herb contains a large number of antioxidant compounds – including rosmarinic acid, flavones and flavanones like limonene and menthol – and other beneficial plant compounds that may help calm the stomach, reduce swelling and balance hormone levels.

Spearmint is known to be refreshing to muscular, nervous, and glandular systems. It helps stimulate your blood circulation. One of the active components of spearmint is carvone. Research shows that carvone has an antispasmodic effect in the intestines.

Spearmint is high in rosmarinic acid, as a natural analgesic which may help reduce pain severity. Research supports the use of spearmint essential oil as a pain killer, which reduced stiffness and physical disability

Spearmint is used for digestive disorders including gas, indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, upper gastrointestinal tract spasms, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), bile duct and gallbladder swelling (inflammation), and gallstones.

 

Vitex Berry 

Vitex Berry helps  reduce inflammation, swelling and edema and improve lymphatic function. It similarly helps regulate the liver and intestines to function properly. It is known to possess diuretic properties, which helps you rid your body of excess water or fluid making it helpful for lymph drainage.

Vitex Berry is known to relax nerves, soothes muscle spasms, and relieve pain and  edema.  Vitex Berry is believed to regulate female hormones by working directly on the pituitary gland and helps lower serum estrogen and increase progesterone levels. This oil has traditionally been used when treating female hormonal problems. It helps regulate menstrual bleeding, and helps relieve cramps and PMS depression. It also helps relieve breast pain and swelling.

 

Ylang Ylang 

Ylang Ylang is known to calm the mind and soothe the nervous system. It has strong antidepressant properties and it helps to bring the emotions into proper balance. It helps relieve mental fatigue, anxiety, and tension headaches and help balance the equilibrium and function of the heart and lungs, slowing down fast breathing and heart palpitations.

To enhance lymphatic flow and drainage, liberally apply 2 to 3 drops of Lymph™ over the lymphatic organs and key lymph nodes located under the arms, and around inguinal ligament (bikini line area—think where your leg creases when you lift it) to ensure optimal drainage and health.

 

Featured Oil:

Ready to get started? Click the links below to order today:

 

References: