Do you know why we get a lump in our throat when our eyes tear up? Turns out that the science behind it is really interesting. When the body endures an emotional shock, it prepares us to fight or flee. The demand for oxygen spikes in case we literally have to run for our lives and the glottis opens to allow air to move quickly into the lungs. When high emotion overtakes us and we begin to cry, tears trigger our sinuses to produce more mucus. The glottis has to squeeze closed to protect us from aspirating fluids and the lump we feel is the action of moving from wide open to slammed shut. 

This tiny quotidian act of welling up with tears points to a paradox--we tend to bifurcate the physical from the emotional when, in fact, they are inextricably linked. Our limbic system which is the part of our brain responsible for our emotions has direct neuronal connection to our postural musculature in what is now referred to as the Emotional Motor System (EMS). In a very real sense our emotions impact the way our structure bears up under the pressures of survival and procreation. Sometimes the pain we experience in our muscles is actually a re-triggering of pain pathways established in an emotional insult. Our brain is trying to preemptively set up conditions to absorb a massive stressor, which can contribute to pain that seems to come from nowhere. 

A popular muscle to stretch and treat is the psoas which is one of the key muscles supplied by the nucleus retroambiguus of the periaqueductal gray in the EMS. The retroambiguus also supplies the motor neurons of the hamstrings, adductor longus, pelvic floor and axial muscles. How many runs to the chiropractor, osteopath, massage therapist, acupuncturist, PT, or pilates instructor have been based on strains to these tissues? And I am all in! What I am hoping to unravel is the idea that the cause of structural pain is always postural or movement driven. Does our alignment matter? Yes. Does how we move matter? Yes. But I would add that our emotions matter, too. And what's most fascinating to consider is that the retroambiguus also controls the musculature of the pharynx, larynx, soft palate and expiratory muscles to produce vocalization. (For the supercharged among us, rhesus monkeys don't have this connection, so this phenomenon is uniquely human!)

What I find intriguingly poetic is that we can experience musculoskeletal pain because of our emotions, but we can also relieve it because of our VOICE. Sharing our stories, tears, laughter, and song all matters not just to our emotional equilibrium but to our structural health. The precursor to all sound--breathing--is possibly the most significant contribution of the practice of yoga, and we are seeing an important rise in the awareness of breathwork at a time when emotional sustenance is deeply needed. 

I've been obsessed recently with the practice of ujjayi pranayama. It seems to stabilize emotions by placing attention on the the vibration and sensation of breath. The focus on feeling and producing aspirated inhalations and exhalations stimulates a relaxation experience controlled by the same subcortical structures that reduce sympathetic tone to the muscles of survival and procreation. What I observe in practice is that if sensation is emphasized over sound, the two experiences blend together and are highly absorbing. Ujjayi has a personal and private feeling but it can literally happen anywhere. It is homeostatic in nature, inducing a parasympathetic response without disturbing or encouraging sleep. This allows us to work with ujjayi as difficult situations arise to soften our emotional and physical reaction. If you'd like to give this a try, I've made a video. (It's my first so go easy on me.) 

I don't believe that a scientific rationale has to underpin everything that we do, but I find it intriguing to see the growing relationship between the experiential and the empirical.