Discomfort in my solar plexus
Back in 2016, I became aware of a persistent discomfort in my solar plexus. It was like a heaviness that I can only describe as a dark cloud. During that time, I tried various techniques to dissolve this discomfort. Some of these included imagining a sunflower opening up over the area. Other techniques involved visualisations, like letting love into the area. Sometimes some of these techniques shifted the block, but mostly nothing happened. By and large, the feeling remained.
One day I decided to try a more consistent approach. I decided that I would apply Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or tapping) for fifteen minutes a day. I would apply this tapping technique while focusing on this dark, blocked feeling that I had in my solar plexus. Three days into this practice, something did shift. It felt like something breaking loose, but whatever broke loose also caused me immense stomach discomfort. Think sharp stings that radiate outward. Luckily this sensation only lasted short periods of time, but the intensity was severe. This “breaking loose” feeling happened unexpectedly at random times over the course of a few days. It did not always coincide with the tapping, but luckily it only lasted for a short time. Usually I’d feel fine afterwards, but during the time that I was experiencing these sharp pains, I couldn’t do much else but just wait for it to pass. Once when I was driving, I had to actually pull over.
After a few days of these sudden pain strikes, the heaviness inside my solar plexus was gone. I’d had complete relief from that blocked feeling ever since. But I also noticed something remarkable after that: I noticed that I no longer felt a punch-in-the-gut feeling every time I experienced disappointment. For years before that incident, I’d experience disappointment as an intense blow to the gut, something planting a fist in my stomach energetically speaking.
Discomfort in the heart
The reason I tell this story now is because I’ve found that blocks in my heart chakra were much harder to deal with than the block in my solar plexus. Some of the blocks took much longer to shift and move, and mostly, doing tapping for a few days did not make much of a difference. The biggest shifts usually coincided with body related practices such as yoga or myofascial release. Working on my posture also made me more aware of the heaviness I was carrying around inside. But the hardest aspect of all of this was (and is) the discomfort. The discomfort of having persistent pain and also the discomfort of having it release at times. I’ve found that whenever something “breaks loose” in my heart chakra, it can be exceptionally destabilising. The instability can be either physical (like low-blood pressure, or light-headedness, or lameness radiating to my arms) or psychological (experiencing immense fear or grief). My own theory is that there’s a reason why we sometimes hold on to things.
So, releasing these energetic blocks is a bit of a dilemma. The block might cause moderate discomfort in the present, but as soon as it dissolves it kind of shakes things up, causing extreme discomfort for a while. Relief comes after, but it’s usually delayed. I’m not a doctor or a healer, so I’m not telling anyone what to do, but if I had to write this for a younger version of myself I would say the following: The important thing when dissolving some block in the heart is to have practices in place: Grounding practices are good. Running is helpful. Don’t skip meditation. When fears arise, remember that it’s not real and don’t act on them. Be mindful and gentle and take it slow. Don’t be too eager to get to some place of relief, the release might bring it’s own challenges. Trust the process and don’t stampede into and over things just because you want to get rid of discomforts.
I still experience discomfort in my heart at times but at least it’s less now than it used to be. The discomfort doesn’t drive me towards the fridge or cigarettes any more—at least most of the time. Also there isn’t a lot of information out there about this sort of experience, at least not that I’ve encountered up until now. Some podcasts and interviews that I’ve listened to have touched on this experience, but not very many. I’ve often found myself flying blind while navigating this difficult path.
Final thoughts
I specifically touched on the heart chakra and solar plexus here because that’s where I’d experienced blocks and discomforts the last few years but I know that others that I’ve spoken to experience extreme discomfort in their throat chakra when something triggering comes up. A helpful book concerning the chakra systems is Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith. It’s a long read, but the book summarises healing practices for each chakra. For example, for the throat, journal writing and storytelling. For the heart, breathing practices and inner child work. There’s really a huge amount of information in the book, but I’ve found that the true progress comes when you apply it.
2 thoughts on “Emotional Work: Part VI – My experience with blocks and stuckness in the chakras”