The Way of Meditation Blog
Bringing Ancient Wisdom Into The Modern World
Meditation Helps to Overcome a Broken Heart
Oska Phoenix • Apr 07, 2020
At some point in our lives most of us will experience a broken heart, either through a relationship ending or the loss of a loved one, we will feel the turbulence of unsettled emotions within our bodies.
In this article we will explore how meditation can be a great bio-hack to counteract the negative effects of heart break and flush out unsettled energy caused by from the loss of a relationship.
It is important to note that the body is not biased on the external circumstances that cause the body stress, whether it’s a relationship or a loss of a loved one, it all comes under the umbrella of stressful feelings for the body.
Heartbreak can cause a large amount of stress, especially if you truly loved someone. This stress can affect how we feel emotionally and physically, and may take weeks, months or even years to recover from.
What Happens Inside The Body When We Feel Heartache?
When we invest our time and energy into someone, we form a relationship. In romantic relationships there is a certain level of chemistry in the body that allows us to feel love and pleasure. The body becomes addicted to the chemical cocktail of hormones that are released through our relationship from interacting and being intimate with our partners.
#Something to think about
When we “miss” our partner, it could well be the anticipation of a chemical reaction in the body we are “missing”.
When we break up from the relationship, our bodies go through a massive withdrawal process as the primary “stimulus” being your partner is not around anymore to trigger a chemical reaction that gives the body feelings of joy, happiness, euphoria, etc. In addition, our thoughts about losing the “feeling of love”, can trigger even more stressful emotions in the body.
The mind naturally anticipates worst case scenarios creating fear and anxiety in the body. The mind tells the body a narrative based on the “loss” of the relationship, which usually is one that is fear based, creating unsettled feelings in the body.
Studies show that your brain registers the emotional pain of heartbreak in the same way as physical pain, which is why you might feel like your heartbreak is causing actual physical hurt. The language we use to describe heartbreak – “I feel like my heart’s been ripped out”, “it was gut wrenching”, “like a slap in the face” – all hint at the way we associate physical pain with emotional pain.
There is even a medical term called broken heart syndrome that may be misdiagnosed as a heart attack because the symptoms and test results are similar. In fact, tests show dramatic changes in rhythm and blood substances that are typical of a heart attack. But unlike a heart attack, there’s no evidence of blocked heart arteries in broken heart syndrome.
In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions. Researchers are just starting to learn the causes, and how to diagnose and treat it.
#Interesting point
The chemical reactions caused by being in love are like drugs and we can easily become addicted to them.
#Scientific breakdown:
Dopamine and oxytocin in particular are hormones which make us feel good and want to repeat that behaviour and are released at elevated levels when we’re in love.
Soon as heartbreak happens, as mentioned these “feel good” hormone levels drop and are replaced with stress hormones such as “cortisol” creating feelings formed from fear - the fear of being alone is common factor on why we feel so much anxiety.
Meditation is Medication
Sitting still and being aware of your thoughts and feelings, without identifying with them allows the body to naturally heal and flush out unsettled energy.
How?
When the mind constantly pays attention to stressful feelings caused by heartache, scattered energy is generated in the body and then channelled to the brain to keep neural networks firing and wiring that are associated with the pain and suffering (heartache).
The more we identify with feelings associated with heartache, the more conditioned we become to such a biochemistry leading to the body craving more heartache, quiet simply put, the cells of the body become addicted to this level of chemistry.
Through meditation, we learn to sit still and not identify with such emotional states, therefore there is no more energy going toward emotional pain causing stress. Rather we become open, allowing the “river” of feelings to flow through the body, like currents of energy.
“Where your attention goes, energy flows”
Your attention charges up emotional states in the body, enriching connections in the brain that are associated with such states. This creates a viscous cycle of thinking and feeling, resulting in an unsettled state of being. The more you repeat this state the more you become conditioned to feel this way.
You have to break the cycle.
Meditation Works
Meditation is a serious bio-hack as it allows you to press the “stop” button! Putting the break on this neural feedback loop. By interrupting the feedback loop, the connection is weakened.
Sit still….feel….and breathe….without attaching your attention to thoughts or feelings.
This opens up your awareness, allowing the body to flush out the unwanted energy. There is no more fuel to feed the negative thoughts and emotions therefore you can break the negative cycle of heartache.
Practice this bio-hack to accelerate your comeback! Instead of unconsciously practicing “suffering” or “heartache”.
Through practicing mindfulness and meditation you can become conscious of where your attention goes, don't waste time feeding emotional states in the body that do not serve your highest potential.
Once you’ve successfully healed your emotional and physical addiction to the person you’ve broken up with, your mind and heart become clear again so you can focus on things that bring you joy and happiness.
SIT STILL, FEEL, and BREATHE …
To go deeper and understand and practice these methods of recovery check out my FREE three-part online course on how to break free from past relationships, reclaiming your power back.
Written By Oska Phoenix
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