A Beginning: Emotion Code Theory and Practice, Part 1

As I settle into my seat and open my heart and mind to find words to describe Emotion Code, I am struck by the nature of words themselves. I see words as potent tools to express an idea, an image, an understanding of a concept. At the same time, I see how words are only tools and can’t fully express the wholeness of the concept one is describing. I notice that words are a signpost, not to be confused with the destination. With this in mind, I offer these words about Emotion Code, hoping this signpost points to the wholeness that is the profound practice of Emotion Code.

To do justice to the complexity and beauty of Emotion Code, this will be the first post in a series about its theory and practice. This will be the birth story, a look at how Emotion Code came to be and how it works. Let's notice our breath, settle into our seats, and begin the tale.

Emotion Code History

The main character in our story is the now-retired Chiropractor, Dr. Bradley Nelson. He describes his path in an interview produced by Anthony Chene. Dr. Nelson tells how being healed from severe illnesses in childhood contributed to his faith in a Higher Power and passion for helping others. He shares how he brought his belief to work, asking this Higher Power for guidance with each person who walked through his doors. He noticed an important pattern behind the wide variety of symptoms and issues people presented. He says, “They all had something in common: their emotional baggage.” About Emotion Code he writes, “I developed [it] in my small holistic clinic in Southern California in the early 1990s. It came together as I worked on patients daily, finding out what worked, discarding what didn't, and learning everything I could about any sort of healing method my colleagues were using, and from ancient texts on healing as well." (Nelson. The Emotion Code. 2019. pg. xvii)

From this receptive and intuitive birthing ground, Dr. Nelson developed Emotion Code; an energy work modality that can be practiced by anyone, anywhere. It is explained in Nelson's book, The Emotion Code, and taught by Discover Healing for personal practice and practitioner certification. Let's take a look now at energy and the theories behind this system.

Emotion Code Theory

I’m going to invite you to check in with your own body’s energy. I trust you will do that if it feels right to you and simply read the exercise if that is a better choice for you.

I invite you to close your eyes for a moment and shift your attention to your hands. What do you feel? Perhaps you would describe the feeling as warmth, a humming sensation, or a gentle vibration? Maybe stillness? Perhaps nothing? What did you notice?

Everyone’s awareness and ability to feel their energy is different, so please accept what you did or didn’t feel as your truth right now. Closing your eyes again, return to feeling your hands, just noticing. When you’re ready, extend your attention beyond your hands to other parts of your body; your arms, your legs, your feet. Now notice your whole body as one unit and witness what you feel. Sit with this until you are ready to keep reading.

Thank you for sharing in that opportunity to experience the energy of your body!

I grew up thinking of my body as physical matter. Emotion Code is based on the understanding that our bodies are also made of energy, which influences the physical, mental, and emotional experience. This human energy field, and how it affects the physical body, has been identified and studied for generations in cultures all over the world. The Chinese mapped meridians, pathways of energy in the body, influencing acupuncture and acupressure. In India, chakras were mapped and have been used for health and healing. Perhaps you’ve come across other examples, too.

The premise of Emotion Code goes on to observe that emotions are also energy, vibrating at unique frequencies. When an interruption occurs while we are processing a particular emotion or feeling it strongly, that emotional energy can get trapped in our energy system. In Emotion Code this is called a Trapped Emotion. Dr. Nelson describes it as a ball of energy. Trapped Emotions can then distort the natural flow of energy in our bodies, like a broken down vehicle can cause a traffic jam on the road. This distortion in the body’s energy may lead to or leave us vulnerable to physical, mental, and emotional struggles.

In the practice of Emotion Code, we clear Trapped Emotions from the energy system to restore the normal flow of traffic. With the body’s energy flowing naturally again, some physical, mental, and emotional struggles we’ve been experiencing may improve or disappear altogether. I like to tell my kids, “the body is a great healer.” When we can remove that which is in its way, the body and the energy that informs it seem to know just what to do. We are a marvel, a mystery, a miracle!

One Client Story

I want to wrap up this post by sharing the experience of a client. She came to our sessions with a history of migraines that had begun in childhood. Her migraines came with an aura that included a gnawing nauseating pain in the left side of her head and neck. She has been able to control the severity and frequency of the migraine pattern with chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage therapies. However, the left-sided deep ache was still always present when she sat quietly and “looked” for it. Sometimes it became acute.

During our sessions, we cleared several Trapped Emotions. She describes the work this way, "Margo was able to help my body release present day and past tensions (including generational trauma) that I have been holding onto since I was a child. This work is exceptional and I am thrilled to include it in my life as a vehicle for reducing stress patterns both past and present, conscious and subconscious.”

And about her symptoms she reports, “I noticed that gnawing sensation in my left head and neck area was completely gone. I am still amazed that when I sit quietly and look for that sensation I can honestly say it continues to be absent.”

Hallelujah!

Flower photos by The Secret Garden at Pexels.com

"...marvel with me as the dynamic energies that stream through your body, mind, and soul exquisitely reveal the genius of nature's 'fashioning hand.' "

~from Donna Eden's Energy Medicine (internal quote from H.D. Thoreau's A Writer's Journal)

_________

Thank you for reading; I’m grateful that you shared some of your time with me today! Part 2 in this blog series will look more closely at Trapped Emotions and bring another client story. Stay tuned!