What if the secret to releasing negative energy and old grief was as simple as taking a deep breath and shaking it off? In this episode of Quantum Waves of Wellness, I'll share an unexpected lesson from my dog’s quirky habit—and how it may hold powerful wisdom for navigating emotional overwhelm.
I’m your host, Dr. Paula Apro—Doctor of Natural Medicine, holistic health mentor, and your guide to unlocking the healing power within. This week, we’ll explore the surprising connection between the lungs, grief, and letting go, and how you can start applying this natural technique to your own healing journey.
"Shake it off" is a common expression that we've all heard, especially if we played organized sports. How many times did you hear a coach say, "Come on, just shake it off?" As if flapping your damaged limb around would really just magically erase the pain.
The reason the coaches would say this is because a lot of that pain is really just in our heads. If we could only control our minds into believing that we're fine and the injury is no big deal, that's half the battle. We would indeed be well on our way to running back out onto the court or field.
It's that easy. Just shake it off!
Let's say you're running on the field and twist your ankle. You get that immediate shot of pain through your bones, and you are positive that you will not be able to move another inch. But your teammate encourages you to "walk it off," and lo and behold, you can actually take a few steps. And strangely, the more steps you take, the better you feel.
But let's step off the court and into life for a moment. It's not always easy to just shake off or walk off the pain, especially when we're dealing with non-physical pain. Wouldn't it be nice if we had something similar in place for the emotional upsets?
Or maybe we do . . .
I'm going to share a little lesson and experiment that I'm in the process of. I didn't learn this lesson from my many courses or textbooks. Rather, I learned this lesson from my very wise little dog.
Since the day we adopted him, I've noticed that he is constantly shaking himself, as if to dry himself after a bath. None of my previous dogs had this habit, and I very quickly realized that it had nothing to do with a physical urge, like itchy ears. Instead, my dog shakes whenever he gets nervous or excited, which is usually every few minutes when stimulated by the events of his environment.
Whenever he is home and contentedly lying down, he can go hours with no shaking, but if he is presented with any kind of stimulus at all, for instance: a visitor, an upcoming walk or treat, anybody talking to him, or humans moving about the house . . . he goes into shake mode.
When we go for a walk, many smells along the trail or other hikers will send him into fits of shaking off. Heaven forbid he sees a chipmunk or any other critter. Shake, shake, shake, shake his booty.
It seems I am constantly on him to "STOP SHAKING!" This dog is a quarter of the size of our previous dog and sheds 4x more due to all that shaking. But lately I've started to worry less about all the dog hair flying around my house and take a different look at his habit.
What if he knows that he is experiencing an overwhelming amount of emotional energy? And what if he knows that he needs to shake some of it off? I mean, how brilliant would that actually be?
Unlike all of my previous dogs, this little guy was a stray for over a year. To say he is hyper vigilant about safety is an understatement. He gets way more worked up by things than most dogs, but he also has this amazing ability to settle himself back down instantly.
Now, rather than looking at him with frustration for causing so much mess in the house, I'm looking at him in awe. He just intuitively knows what to do. I've decided to take his lead, and every time he shakes, I purposefully let out a very big exhale, as if I'm also shaking something off or letting something go.
Lord knows that we all carry so much negative energy that is often dragging us down. Why not make an effort to get rid of some of it every few minutes?
Did you know that the two organs that are directly related to "Letting Go" are the Lungs and the Large Intestine? With this in mind, you can almost infer that it's more important for our lungs to exhale rather than inhale. And, did you know that the most prevalent emotion that is stored in our lungs is Grief?
The more grief you've experienced in the past, the more negative emotional energy you have built up in your lungs. What if long, sharp, purposeful exhales were just what you need to help release some of it? What if it were really that easy?
Now I'm not saying that it is, but I just can't shake this overwhelming observation and idea. (Pun intended.) Animals are so incredibly intuitive and seem to know exactly what they need when they need it. I think that taking lessons from nature is the smartest thing we can do.
I might not have made this observation and come to this conclusion if it hadn't been for the fact that most of my own personal bioenergetic scans lately have revealed energy disturbances in my lungs. I haven't been paying too much attention to them, and I have a hard time believing or admitting that I have issues with grief. Consciously, I guess I don't think I do. But, energy never lies!
You know what else doesn't lie? Breathing exercise apparatuses. I bought one after breaking my ribs last year, and got very depressed by the fact that I could not make all three balls rise up the cylinders. I blamed my broken ribs for this reduced lung capacity, but the harsh reality is that my ribs have healed a year ago and I still don't have normal lung capacity.
Not to mention the fact that I also have exercise-induced asthma. How much longer can I go on denying the fact that I have unresolved grief to deal with?
So I'm going to continue my experiment of taking my big exhales every time my dog shakes. And who knows, I may even get crazy and take some additional ones that are not prompted by my dog, just for yucks.
I can't wait to see if there are any improvements in my bioenergetic scans after a month of this experiment. I'm also glad that I'm now seeing what was once an annoying habit of my dog as a marvel of innate wisdom. I just wish I could teach him how to vacuum.
I hope you enjoyed catching this Quantum Wave of Wellness. If you think that you may be carrying some residual grief, maybe it's time for you to take some daily exhales. And don't forget, I can also help you release some of your trapped energetic energies with an Emotion Code session. I'll include a link to this service in the show notes.
Do you have a friend who might enjoy these episodes? If so, please consider sharing this podcast. Thanks for listening, and don't forget... if you can change your energy, you can change your life.
