How Deep Stretching Promotes Emotional Release

Developing a yoga practice isn’t just about hopping onto one of the best exercise mats every Sunday. It’s about the kind of deep stretching that you need to engage in regularly if you want to be a healthy, injury-free strength athlete. If you’re the type that avoids stretching because it can feel oddly emotional, that might be all the more reason to unroll your mat and get to work.

There is a powerful emotional and mental component to stepping onto the lifting platform and putting in a max effort. All things being equal, whether you succeed or fail at putting up your best numbers depends heavily on your mental and emotional state. Strength athletes often welcome that emotional turmoil, seeking the calm in the center of setting up for a big lift — but we also tend to run from the emotions released by deep stretching. Read on as we unpack some of the emotional components of stretching and share some stretches to release trauma.

Medical disclaimer: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. It’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor before beginning a new fitness, nutritional, and/or supplement routine. Individual needs for vitamins and minerals will vary. 

How Do Trapped Emotions Affect the Body

Emotions are often thought about as something involving your mind, and that’s true — but research (and experience!) shows that we really feel emotions across our bodies, too. (1) Our bodies store traumatic experiences, and several studies suggest that past experiences can be called to mind with specific movements and bodily sensations. (2)(3)(4)

On the flip side, it’s been shown that emotions can also impact how smoothly you’re able to move around. (5) So while clinicians typically recommend movement as a parallel approach to trauma healing — alongside rather than instead of clinically-recommended therapy or medication — it’s well-established that your body is a very active participant in your experience of emotions. (2)(3)(4)

Identifying Trapped Emotions

If you’re hoping to identify trapped emotions, we recommend not doing so on your own. “Perhaps the most reliable, safe way to identify suppressed emotions is finding a therapist who is competent in navigating and affirming experiences like yours,” says BarBend editorial member Alex Polish, a certified personal trainer. “For some people, that might include finding a therapist who’s skilled and competent at working with people with particular cultural or racial experiences; LGBTQIA+-affirming therapists; and/or therapists who specialize in PTSD, anxiety, eating disorders, or whatever else you might have experienced or be experiencing.”

Listen to your body to figure out what you might want to start exploring with a therapist or psychiatry professional (and what you might tune into on the yoga mat). For some people, trapped emotions can result in physical symptoms like:

• Chest tightening
• Quickened breath when a memory or emotion is activated
• Stomach knots
• “Random” aches or pains (6)
• Frequent illness (7)

How Does Stretching Promote Emotional Release?

Studies suggest that intentional movement like yoga and passive and active stretching may help alleviate the symptoms of PTSD, which can involve suppressed or trapped emotions. (8) Research also shows that mind-body practices like yoga and deep breathing can be useful when it comes to ongoing self-care routines for people with PTSD, which suggests that these methods can also be helpful for people with fewer trauma responses. (9)

How does stretching accomplish these Herculean tasks of stress relief and trauma symptom reduction? All the physiological mechanisms aren’t known at this time, so we need to do more research to figure out the “how.” (8) But that doesn’t mean we don’t know anything about how deep stretching can calm the nervous system and promote emotional release. Here are some clues that research has found thus far:

• Stress and suppressed emotions are often associated with heightened cortisol levels. Mindful stretching and deep breathing may help reduce cortisol levels, bringing down stress significantly and perhaps prompting a sensation of emotional release. (10)
• Stretching can potentially help reduce feelings of anxiety, which often feels like an emotional release. (11)
• One study on people with multiple sclerosis suggests that tension and trauma-releasing exercises — i.e. movements that activate your hips — can reduce symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, sensory disturbances, and stress while increasing sleep quality. (12) 

Stretches to Release Suppressed Emotions

While many types of intentional, breathing-based stretches trigger emotional releases — everyone’s body is different! — here are some of the main categories of stretches that can help improve well-being. 

• Hip Stretches: The best hip flexor exercises work to open up your hips and potentially release a lot of stress and muscular tension. (12) Because a lot of people may store trauma and tension in different parts of their bodies, including their hips, these stretches can be particularly helpful for release.
• Chest Openers: Research suggests that a lot of emotions and emotional tension can “live” in our upper bodies, including our chests. Doing stretches that open this area can stimulate big emotional responses. (1)
• Neck Stretches: As with the chest, a lot of tension can live in the neck and head region. Stretching your neck muscles can provide a lot of relief. (1)
• Shoulder Stretches: Similarly, stretching your shoulders can help give release to the emotions that often accumulate in your upper-body region. (1)

Hip Stretches Release Emotional Tension

Since research suggests that stress and tension may live in the hips, this might be a particularly charged area to stretch for both beginners and advanced athletes. (12) Past experiences of trauma can also impact a person’s relationship with their body, which may also impact the types of emotions that are brought up by stretching the hips. (2)(3)(4)

Below are some stretches to unlock the hips. “Consider moving very slowly into a deeper range of motion, never stretching into physical or emotional pain — try moving through discomfort instead of pain,” says BarBend’s Alex Polish, a certified personal trainer. “Finding that fine line can be difficult, and you might want to start this journey with the support and guidance of a trusted healthcare professional or yoga teacher.”

They add, “Trans and nonbinary people may also experience dysphoria around their hips, chest, neck, and shoulders — which can amount to and include trauma — and may want to work with a trans-affirming fitness professional to help guide them through these movements in a safe and gender-affirming way.”

• Lunging Hip Flexor Stretch: This movement opens your hips while not requiring you to get down on the ground, which can be even more vulnerable for many reasons. Use padding under your back knee and support yourself with your hands and yoga blocks as needed. You can also use a weight bench or step to support your front foot if your belly or chest need more space.
• Butterfly Stretch: On your back, you’ll bring your feet together and let your knees splay outward. This can be an extremely vulnerable position, especially as you expand your range of motion. You can choose to do this stretch with your eyes open and perhaps with a blanket over your lower body.
• Figure-Four Stretch: You can do this stretch sitting cross-legged on the edge of a chair or couch, with your top ankle over your other knee. You could also perform it on the ground, lying on your back and hugging your thigh to you. Either way, focus on breathing deeply throughout the stretch.

Emotional Factors Fuel Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain has a documented relationship with emotional trauma and stress. (13)(14) Physiologically, some of this might have to do with your lower back’s relationship with tight hips. (15) By stretching your hips and the psoas muscle, which runs from the lower back and through the hips and upper legs, you may be able to get some relief for chronic lower back pain. 

Check out our list of the best lower back exercises, but if your main goal is reducing pain, Polish recommends working alongside a chronic pain-competent, affirming physician and/or physical therapist. 

Chest Openers Can Be Very Vulnerable

While everyone’s body and relationship with their body and emotions are different, research does suggest that many people hold a lot of tension, emotion, and even trauma in the chest area. (1) Like so many types of stretching, chest-opening exercises can be very vulnerable. Not only are you potentially helping yourself trigger emotional release, but you also may specifically store memories and trauma in certain areas like your chest. (2)(3)(4)

Below are some stretches to try. “As with hip stretches, make sure to slowly increase your range of motion and only move through discomfort, not pain or panic,” says Polish. “Step back and care for yourself as needed.”

• Kneeling Chest Opener: Place cushions under your knees for this one. You can work with a plyo box in the gym or a couch or low table in the house. Place both arms straight out ahead of you on the surface you’re using and move your chest gently toward the floor to activate the stretch. You can also perform this movement standing in a hinged position if you’d prefer not to kneel.
• Resistance Band Chest Stretch: If your shoulders can manage it safely, hold either end of one of the best resistance bands and bring your arms back behind your head. Adjust until you find the spot where you feel your chest stretching wide, and hold that position through a few deep breaths. You can do this sitting or in a standing position.
• Doorway Stretch: Place one palm flat on the side of an open doorway and face away from your hand. Keep your arm straight or with your elbow bent according to your comfort level. For transmasculine athletes, make sure you’re not binding during stretches like this. Instead, you might want to opt for wearing a baggy sweatshirt.

Neck and Shoulder Tension Holds Emotional Weight

According to research, it’s not just constant typing and texting that may be causing that persistent tension in your neck and shoulders. It may also be your emotional state, or stored emotions that haven’t been addressed, as research suggests that a lot of emotions reside in the upper body, including the neck and shoulders area. (1) 

To stretch out this area mindfully, here are some options for you:

• Neck Circle: Neck circles are one of the best neck stretches to improve mobility and release tension. Slowly bring your chin down toward your chest. Carefully roll your head to the right, bringing your right ear toward your right shoulder. Let your head tilt back, trying to stimulate a stretch in the front of your throat. (This might feel particularly vulnerable — only linger in this position as long as you are comfortable.) Continue rolling your neck so that your left ear comes toward your left shoulder. Keep your shoulders down and back, letting your neck do the stretching. If you want, you can pause the circle and use very gentle pressure from your hand on your head to deepen the stretch.
• Slow Arm Circle: Start with your hands at your side and slowly bring your arms up until they’re both raised above your head with your thumbs facing behind you. Stretch all the way up. Rotate your palms outward to face away from so your thumbs are facing the front of you. Slowly bring your arms back down behind you until your hands are at your sides again. Try to keep your arms close to your body the whole time, and don’t stop breathing.
• Child’s Pose: If child’s pose isn’t accessible to you as is, you can use yoga blocks to prop up your hands. If it feels too much emotionally to be stretching your hips and shoulders at the same time, shuffle your knees closer together so you can focus on your shoulders alone.

[Related: Best Mobility Exercises]

Why Is Deep Stretching So Emotional?

When was the last time you had a good sobbing session, rolling into a fetal position on your bed? Or maybe the last time you curled up for a horror movie you hugged your popcorn with your knees super close to your chest. It’s pretty instinctive for humans to curl up and make ourselves smaller — specifically, to bring our knees up in front of our torsos (where so many of our vital organs live) — when we feel sad or scared.

“Trauma is stored throughout our bodies, and it’s natural to want to curl up and protect ourselves from feeling that trauma,” says Alex Polish, certified personal trainer and BarBend editorial member. “Deep-seated emotional distress can make it that much harder to sink into the stretches that, as a strength athlete, you should be doing.” 

How to Prepare Yourself for Emotional Release?

Different people hold muscle tension differently in their bodies. For some, hip openers are by far more intense than chest openers. For others, it’s the other way around, or some other combination entirely.

The first step to figuring out how to stretch through the emotions is acknowledging that the process can be an emotional whirlwind.

Ask Questions

“Get curious about what’s going on for you. Are you feeling sad? Overwhelmed? Excited? Scared? Panic is actually pretty common, whether you’re in a big group during yoga class or doing an intense lizard stretch all on your own in your gym’s stretching area,” says certified personal trainer Alex Polish. “Pull out of the stretch when you need to, of course, but try to breathe into it when you can. Remind yourself that you will not, in fact, die if you hold the stretch just a little longer (though it might feel like that sometimes).”

Modify And Breathe

Perform less intense modifications of the stretches that trigger the most emotions for you, and gradually increase their intensity over time. “With each inhale, make your body a little longer; and with each exhale, try to sink just a little bit deeper into whatever stretch you’re doing,” says Polish. “That will keep your mind and breath actively engaged, so that the feelings won’t feel so sudden and out of nowhere.”

Prepare Mentally

For lifters especially, it’s important to gear ourselves up for stretching. It can be easy to think, “okay, the hard part is over,” when you’ve finished your lifts, but stretching and yoga for strength athletes can potentially create a whole new level of mental toughness. 

Try to not let deep stretching take you by surprise. You expect intense emotions when you’re about to max out on the platform, so you’re usually not taken aback or scared by doing so — the same goes for stretching. Try preparing similarly for stretching and see what a difference bracing yourself mentally can make. Remember that the more effectively you stretch, the more effective your lifts will be.

Other Ways to Release Trapped Emotions

As a supplement to traditional talk therapy or any prescribed medication you might be taking, movement can play a very important role in releasing emotions that might get shunted to the side in the whirl of day-to-day life.

Here are some ways — aside from just stretching — that you can give a physical outlet to these emotions.

• Intentional Movement: Moving intentionally can really mean anything: tuning in to the rhythm of your body while you vacuum or wash dishes; paying attention to your breath and form during heavy weightlifting sessions; and even going on mindful walks where you’re paying attention to the world around you and your own space within it.
• Yoga: Yoga is not simply a series of stretches: it’s an entire mind-body-spiritual practice, and trauma-informed yoga has been shown to be an effective mechanism for decreasing stress and increasing overall mood and mental health. (9) 
• Meditation: Sometimes, meditation for athletes includes movement — other times, you’ll be encouraged to keep still. Either way, this practice of grounding yourself in the present moment can be very helpful. (9)(11)
• Deep Breathing: Research suggests that deep breathing can help significantly reduce stress and anxiety. (9)(11)
• Somatic Therapy: Working through somatic exercises with a licensed, affirming somatic therapist can be a powerful way to create a mind-body connection. 

Stretch Through It

Whether we want to think of it this way or not, lifters are emotional creatures. Integrating stretching — even and especially when it gets emotional — into your practice is only going to make you a more mentally-fit athlete.

FAQs: Stretches to Release Trauma 

References

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