Have you tried dancing around wildly while smiling and loudly laughing maniacally for at least 30 seconds? If it feels awkward that means you were resisting high energy emotional expression and probably needed it. I do over-the-top exercises like that from time to time just to get myself unstifled or else I find it a little difficult to be expressive after meditating because I'm just so calm that I don't feel like speaking. I think what happens is that if you meditate regularly you can get addicted to being calm and that can lead to suppressing emotions.
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Originally Posted by AdoptedOne  For example If I feel anxiety I will feel the nervous energy in my body or embarrasement yet there are still no thoughts in my mind.[/url] |
I was sitting there in Toastmasters waiting for my turn to speak off the top of my head. I'm new and still get nervous doing extemporaneous public speaking. I was just feeling the nervous sensations in my body and wondering why I felt nervous since I wasn't really thinking.
I thought my mind was blank, but actually what preceded me feeling that way was a lot of thoughts and beliefs. Basically I noticed that I have a fear of humiliation and a desire for others to accept me. Even though I'm not thinking thoughts right at the moment I'm feeling nervous, I was thinking thoughts leading up to that, and my perception of the moment is based on those thoughts and beliefs. Those thoughts reinforce an anxiety causing perception which my body reacts to. So you might examine if you were thinking thoughts prior to that moment you felt anxious, or if you have a belief about something that your body is reacting to based on memory. Either will elicit emotional responses from the body.