Suppression, Expression and Sublimation

Emotions are one of the most obvious ways we experience energy. What we do with that energy can have a significant effect on us including our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being. As doulas, holistic health practitioners and energy healers emotions are a big part of our work. It's important for us to take care of our energy so we can be the best practitioners for our clients and to also have a good understanding of how to best support our clients when they are dealing with grief, anger, fear, jealousy and other heavy emotions from life's experiences.

Suppression

This is a very common reaction to heavy energy from traumas or other difficult experiences. Suppression may be a conscious choice or an unconscious pattern. When emotions are suppressed, they will often eventually manifest in the body as disease or will be triggered later causing an unhealthy expression of the energy.

People often suppress emotions by denying them, numbing or distracting themselves. Suppression of emotions is a leading cause of alcohol and substance abuse as well as other forms of addiction.

Suppression may be the result of feeling overwhelmed with fear of what will happen if the energy of the emotion is felt, processed and expressed. Suppression may be a learned behaviour that if we feel and express emotions we will be judged, unloveable or disapproved of. Suppression can be a way we protect ourselves from facing realities we don't want to deal with.

Expression

Expressing emotions can be done in healthy or unhealthy ways. Feeling, processing and releasing emotions in healthy ways might include crying, discussing feelings in counselling or with someone who is able to hold space or journalling about feelings. Unhealthy expressing might look like taking your pain out on others or inappropriate outbursts.

Expressing emotions in a healthy way can move the energy and create a shift that leads to healing. Energy moves out of the body. It is common to feel cathartic after healthy expression of emotional energy.

Sublimation

Energy from emotions is transmuted into a new form. Reiki healing can sublimate fear, anger, grief and other heavy emotions into light. People often express feeling lighter after a Reiki session even if they didn't talk about or express their emotion. Kirtan chanting or prayer are other ways to transmute or alchemize heavy emotions. We can also use visualization or guided imagery to change energy from emotions into symbols of healing or light, or see them burning in a fire and being alchemized for example. Emotions can be released this way through art or movement. Whether you are dealing with the energy of emotions alone or with a safe space holder, what is important is that the energy moves through us and is released in a healthy way. It is always beneficial and brings many benefits including spiritual growth and expanded awareness.