There are SO MANY articles, blog posts, and even entire books written about releasing emotional baggage, so I understand this may seem like kicking a redundant can, but please bear with me for a moment if you will. This post offers a potentially different perspective on baggage and its impact beyond our own bodies and minds.
Let me start with our basic understanding of energy. Everything is made up of constantly evolving or changing energy. The entire universe (or universes) exists because of this constantly changing state. Consider this excerpt from an article in Scientific American:
“The law of conservation of energy, also known as the first law of thermodynamics, states that the energy of a closed system must remain constant—it can neither increase nor decrease without interference from outside. The universe itself is a closed system, so the total amount of energy in existence has always been the same. The forms that energy takes, however, are constantly changing.”
(you can find the entire article here)
So energy is neither created nor destroyed…it simply changes form.
We humans are made entirely of energy. We are active participants in the larger closed system of universal energy. Yoga states that the human body generates 5 types of prana, ranging from respiratory (inspiration) to kinetic muscle movement, communication/upward movement, digestion (assimilation) and elimination. Emotions are also made entirely of energy. Grief, trauma, and anger can feel exhausting or depleting, while joy, happiness and laughter can feel invigorating. Regenerating and repurposing energy is what we do. We borrow from within the closed system of universal energy when we need a boost, and we release back into that closed system when we’re letting go of what no longer serves.
Holding onto our emotional energy is the equivalent of stealing (steya) from nature. Energy that is meant by design to move through and beyond us is harnessed, stagnated, and blocked from its singular intention of moving back into and through the source. This hoarding of energy has a ripple effect far beyond the personal effect on the physical and mental body. It means energy that belongs back in nature is being hoarded and coveted and not allowed to move freely. It has been imprisoned in our own emotional safehouse.
If we are made entirely of energy, and our emotions are made entirely of energy, then the very purpose of these emotions is to constantly change form. Emotions are meant to evolve. Evolving emotions are meant to move through and eventually beyond the confines of the human psyche and back into nature, where they blend back into that enormous, constantly changing state of being. Grief necessarily changes to healing. Healing releases our pain. Healing is an action that releases itself when it’s job is done. Memories are meant to shift and fade. States of joy and ecstasy pass through us and leave only the memory of sensation.
These changing forms move within the other energies of the closed system (see article above). Energy is neither created nor destroyed; it simply changes form. Holding on to the energy that fuels the things that no longer serve is the equivalent of stealing energy from the closed system. This is a shared system. I draw from and contribute to it. So do you. So does everyone. Are you contributing, or are you stealing?
Please include your thoughts in the comment section. Let’s have the discussion!