According to Ayurveda, all disease begins in the gut.

When our digestion is strong, we have the ability to digest our food, tolerate our environment, and feel good within ourselves. Our digestion can be greatly affected when we carry within us stuck energy, emotions, and pain from the past.

This can limit the body and affect how our organs function. It can cause chaos in how we perceive and live life.

I experienced digestive issues my whole life. Growing up, I was a sensitive child. I was always sick and I was diagnosed with countless problems by different doctors. I tried every medication and pill, and even allergy shots, to get better. The allergy shots created such bad symptoms in my body, including weight gain, that I became depressed. I felt completely hopeless.

I felt so lifeless after injecting vaccines into my system that I had to find my own remedies.

I detoxed my body and began doing many cleanses to help it readjust and function. Purifying my body helped release those toxins and I lost weight.

Little by little, I got better.

However, my digestive issues did not fully improve until I moved emotions out of my body and quit using food as a coping mechanism.

I have learned through yoga, Ayurveda, and my own heath issues, that our bodies are more powerful than we can imagine.

Eventually, I learned that the root cause of all my symptoms stemmed from my parents’ divorce and the heartbreak I had experienced from the abandonment and pain of losing my family. I was not able to heal until I confronted those emotions.

As I improved my total well-being, and learned to release the pain of the past through breathing exercises and other holistic measures, my body began to function better. It’s taken years to heal the issues that began when I was a little girl.

If this happened to me, I know there must be many others living with pain, past problems, trapped emotions—many who are suffering, unable to attain the good life they desire.

It is also important to be mindful of how much we consume and how much we poop out. Because when our bodies are not digesting properly, and we are not eliminating daily, we have imbalances in our system. Toxins build up within.

Yoga and Ayurveda teach that real health is improving our mind, body, and eliminating negative emotions, reactions, and whatever else is keeping us from our natural healthy and joyful state.

We are more than a physical body. To attack digestive issues, it is necessary to look at the whole body and examine how we can bring balance back to our systems.

When we feel stuck in life, and our mind and body cannot function well, we feel drained, become reactive, and feel uncomfortable in our bodies. The more we hold onto old energy, and fail to confront the root cause of our problems, the longer our physical and emotional well-being may be sacrificed.

The past lives within us—in our minds and cellular well-being. Until we truly let it go, we may be unable to attract or get what we want out of life.

Often, we learn to suppress our feelings, or have no outlet to release them. We hold on to these emotions, which later, affects our psyches. Emotional energy that gets trapped can destroy us. It keeps us feeling low, numb, unmotivated, and negative. Eventually, when we carry enough baggage, we learn to live with the pain and imbalances, and think it’s normal.

Holding onto anything from the past affects our digestion, and typically, we have no idea what’s keeping us from being radiant and thriving in life.

Weight gain is more than a few extra pounds or eating unhealthy. It relates to our emotions. Living with pain leads to not being able to “digest” life. Continuing to suppress emotions, or ignoring the problems, will not solve the issue. Eventually, we must be willing to heal our body, improve our mind, and release emotions, and anything that is keeping us from feeling empowered.

I’ve learned that coping through eating, reaching for sweets, alcohol, or even “letting it out” in exercise or yoga, does not heal the underlying problem, it merely allows us to escape temporarily.

Eventually, we must be willing to feel to get better.

Digestive problems can improve when we allow ourselves to release these old emotions. In addition, this will help our organs function better.

But, we must be willing to face our pain to improve our body, mind, and well-being.
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Author: Kali Bliss 
Image: Zak Cannon/Flickr
Editor: Lieselle Davidson
Copy Editor: Nicole Cameron
Social Editor: Khara-Jade Warren