I love all the somatic phrases we have to describe our well being beyond purely the physical. Here are some other phrases that come to mind: wearing our heart on our sleeve; eyes are the windows to our soul; I know in my gut…
It’s interesting because biomedicine and modern western culture in general doesn’t often ascribe knowing and emotions to different parts of our body.
It’s all in our brain.
In non Western and indigenous cultures, however, knowledge and emotions are associated with different parts of the body, our organs and our tissues. These connections often match the somatic based expressions.
In Traditional East Asian Medicine, the medicine I’m trained in, this is foundational. The Heart is the seat of the emotions and each organ has a specific emotion that it associates with.
It’s not all in your head.
Just as the organs correspond with the emotions, they associate with the seasons and specific body tissues and much, much more.
Can you believe that? This means we have seasons and body tissues that connect to our emotions!
So all of this is to say… Your Bones Do Know!
When I use an expression like “know it in my bones” it’s a reference to my intuition and how deeply I feel compelled to do something or not.
What is the driver of this?
Good old fashioned Fear!
And guess what Fear is associated with? Yep. Bones! And, more broadly, Winter, Water, Kidneys, and even our Will Power.
Bones also know ancestral patterns – our DNA, or as we say in acupuncture realms, our prenatal essence. And they know when we’re aging and overdoing it because our wear and tear shows up in our bones.
It’s not all negative. Knowing in our bones often pushes us to take healthy risks. Knowledge itself and healthy self care habits often help us to overcome the struggles our ancestors had and prevent or address the wear and tear that we often face.
So, you might be wondering , why so much talk about the bones today Laura?
Well, this month in the clinic, we just transitioned out of winter but it’s still freezing out and we literally see a huge uptick in complaints from patients about their bones and joints in particular.
You can bet that we have a plethora of tools (acupuncture, herbal medicine, liniments and more) to support you in boosting your Kidney energy and providing relief from recurrence of these seasonal patterns..
We carry a great liniment at our clinic, Evil Bone Water. It’s used during your Acupuncture treatments for aches, pains, sprains, strains, bruises, and achy joints. It’s absorbed into the skin to help increase blood flow and circulation, reduce inflammation, open the channels, clear heat and remove blood stasis.
Pick some up at your next appointment!
Thank you for indulging me in my geek out session.
We’d love to hear from you and know how you’re doing. Also, please share any more somatic expressions that reference our emotions… I’m all ears! (Did you know that ears are associated with all of this too?!!!).
Laura Goff LAc, MSOM, RYT-200
Acupuncturist | Yoga, Qi Gong and Self Care Teacher
Check out her profile here.