The Healing Power of Crying: Unlocking Emotional Health and Connection

Crying is one of the most human things we do. It’s a release, a signal, and often, a step toward healing. Yet, many of us were raised in a culture that treats tears as something to hide—proof that we’re “too emotional” or not strong enough. But here’s the truth: crying is more than just an emotional release—it’s a gateway to better mental, emotional, and physical health.

For years, I didn’t cry much. I carried my grief and stress like a tightly packed suitcase, always on the move but never stopping to unpack. It wasn’t until I explored practices like breathwork, psychedelics, and emotional awareness that I realized how much I was carrying. Crying became a way to release what my body had been holding onto for years—and the relief was indescribable.

It turns out that science backs this up: unprocessed emotions can literally get “stuck” in your body, leading to a cascade of mental and physical health issues. Let’s explore how this happens and why emotional health is the key to a better, fuller life.

How Emotions Get Stuck in the Body

Have you ever felt a lump in your throat when you wanted to cry but held it back? Or a tightness in your chest during stress? These are examples of emotions physically manifesting in your body. When emotions aren’t fully processed, they don’t just disappear—they find places to hide, often in the form of tension, pain, or even illness.

The Science of Emotions and the Body

• The Mind-Body Connection: Neuroscientist Candace Pert’s research shows that emotions are not just in your head—they’re stored as chemical messengers in your body. This means unresolved feelings can linger in muscles, tissues, and organs, affecting your overall health.

• Stress and the Body: Chronic emotional stress triggers the release of cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, these hormones can lead to inflammation, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system.

• Trauma and Pain: A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that people with unresolved trauma are more likely to experience chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia. This happens because the nervous system remains on high alert, even when the danger is long gone.

Think of your body as a river. When emotions flow freely, the water stays clear. But when you suppress them, it’s like throwing debris into the river. Over time, the blockage builds, and the river can’t flow the way it should.

Crying and Emotional Health: What Studies Say

Crying isn’t just cathartic—it’s a built-in mechanism for emotional and physical healing.

Crying Reduces Stress

• A study from Frontiers in Psychology found that emotional tears contain stress-related chemicals like cortisol. Crying flushes these chemicals out of your system, reducing your body’s stress load.

• Crying also stimulates the release of endorphins, your body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators. That’s why you often feel lighter or more relaxed after a good cry.

Crying Builds Emotional Clarity

• Researchers have found that crying activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms your body and mind. This state of relaxation helps you process overwhelming emotions and think more clearly.

Crying Enhances Relationships

• A study published in Emotion found that crying in the presence of others can strengthen social bonds. Vulnerability signals trust, which encourages deeper connections and emotional intimacy.

The Costs of Emotional Suppression

Suppressing emotions might feel like the easiest option in the moment, but it comes with a price.

Mental Health Consequences

• Anxiety and Depression: Studies have shown that emotional suppression is linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression. When you bottle up your feelings, they tend to “leak out” in unhealthy ways.

• Emotional Numbness: Over time, shutting down negative emotions can also dull your ability to feel joy, excitement, and love.

Physical Health Consequences

• Heart Health: Research from Harvard Medical School found that people who suppress anger or sadness are more likely to develop heart disease.

• Digestive Issues: Emotions like anxiety and fear can disrupt the gut-brain axis, leading to conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

• Chronic Pain: The Journal of Psychosomatic Research found a strong link between emotional repression and chronic pain syndromes, as the body “stores” unresolved emotions in muscles and tissues.

How Breathwork and Psychedelics Helped Me Release Stored Emotions

For years, I struggled to access my emotions. I knew there was pain buried inside me, but it felt locked away. Breathwork and psychedelics were the keys that unlocked it.

Breathwork: Finding the Gateway to Grief

During a breathwork session, I focused on slow, rhythmic inhales and exhales. As the session progressed, I felt something shift. A deep wave of grief began to rise, and tears followed—years of unprocessed pain finally had a way out.

It was like opening a dam that had been holding back an emotional flood. The release wasn’t just emotional—it was physical. My chest felt lighter, my shoulders relaxed, and for the first time in a long time, I felt free.

Psychedelics: A Deeper Dive into Emotional Healing

• Ayahuasca: During ceremonies, I connected with grief and pain I didn’t even realize I was carrying. The medicine guided me through the emotions, allowing me to release them in waves of tears.

• Psilocybin: This medicine helped me see my emotions from a new perspective. Instead of fearing them, I embraced them as part of my journey. Psilocybin showed me how interconnected my emotions were with my creativity, intuition, and relationships.

These experiences reminded me that emotions aren’t something to run from—they’re something to honor.

The Benefits of Reconnecting to Your Emotions

1. Stronger Relationships

When you’re emotionally open, you can connect with others on a deeper level. Vulnerability builds trust and creates space for authentic intimacy.

2. Better Mental and Physical Health

Processing your emotions reduces stress, boosts your immune system, and lowers your risk of chronic illnesses.

3. Emotional Resilience

Releasing stored emotions doesn’t just heal the past—it strengthens you for the future. You learn that no matter what comes your way, you have the tools to face it.

4. Greater Joy and Creativity

When you stop numbing yourself to pain, you also stop numbing yourself to joy. Emotional connection fuels creativity, passion, and a deeper appreciation for life.

How to Start Reconnecting to Your Emotions

1. Create Space: Find a quiet, safe place where you can explore your feelings without judgment.

2. Try Breathwork: Start with simple techniques, like deep belly breathing, to connect with your body and emotions.

3. Be Patient: Reconnecting to your emotions is a process. Celebrate small breakthroughs and give yourself grace.

4. Seek Support: Whether it’s a trusted friend, therapist, or healing circle, surround yourself with people who can hold space for your journey.

Final Thoughts: Emotions Are the Path to Wholeness

Crying isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s your body’s way of healing and connecting. By embracing your emotions, you unlock a deeper sense of self, stronger relationships, and a healthier body.

Whether through breathwork, psychedelics, or simply giving yourself permission to feel, reconnecting to your emotions is one of the most powerful gifts you can give yourself. The next time you feel tears welling up, let them flow. They’re not a sign of fragility—they’re a sign of strength, healing, and humanity.

Your emotions are your power—embrace them.

Breathwork: Transform Your Mind, Body, and Soul with Intentional Breathing

Breathwork is one of the simplest yet most transformative practices available to us. By intentionally working with the breath, we can access deep states of healing, emotional release, and spiritual connection. While breathing is automatic, when practiced with intention, it becomes a powerful tool for bypassing the ego mind and reconnecting to the truest, highest part of ourselves—the inner healer.

For anyone curious about exploring breathwork, finding a skilled facilitator or joining a guided class is invaluable. A good guide creates a safe space for you to navigate the depths of your emotions and body, allowing you to fully surrender to the experience and reap its many benefits.

What Breathwork Does to the Mind and Body

Breathwork impacts us on multiple levels, from rewiring the brain’s neurochemicals to releasing stored tension in the body. Its effects are as scientific as they are mystical, bridging the gap between our physical and emotional selves.

Rewiring Neurochemicals

Breathwork directly influences the brain, creating shifts in neurochemistry:

• Reduces Cortisol: Controlled breathing reduces stress hormones, helping the body move from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest.”

• Boosts Serotonin and Dopamine: Breathwork stimulates the release of these mood-enhancing chemicals, promoting a sense of calm and joy.

• Triggers Endorphins: Emotional release during breathwork often floods the body with feel-good endorphins, leading to euphoria and relief.

• Enhances Oxygen Flow: By bringing more oxygen to the brain, breathwork sharpens focus, improves cognitive function, and supports overall mental clarity.

Calming the Ego Mind

One of the most remarkable aspects of breathwork is its ability to quiet the Default Mode Network (DMN), the brain’s chatterbox responsible for overthinking and self-referential thoughts. This shift helps bypass the ego—the part of us driven by fear, judgment, and control—and creates space for deeper connection.

In this state, you’re no longer “thinking” about emotions; you’re feeling them. You’re no longer analyzing pain; you’re moving through it. This is where transformation happens—when the breath invites you to meet the part of yourself that knows how to heal.

The Inner Healer: Your Deepest, Highest Self

Your inner healer is the wisest, most intuitive part of you. It’s the part that knows how to release what no longer serves you, how to face what feels overwhelming, and how to guide you back to balance and peace. Breathwork is a direct pathway to this part of yourself.

During a session, your breath creates a bridge between your body and soul, giving you access to emotions, insights, and sensations that may have been buried for years. It’s not uncommon to experience profound clarity, physical release, or even spiritual connection.

My Personal Journey with Breathwork

I’ll never forget my first guided breathwork session with Patricia at The Hub in West Los Angeles. She led us through a three-part breath pattern rooted in David Elliott’s style—two inhales (one into the belly, one into the chest), followed by a full exhale through the mouth.

At the start of the session, Patricia explained, “Your body is wise. It knows where you’re holding tension and what you need to release. The breath will take you there. Just stay with it.” She also mentioned that physical sensations like tingling in the hands and feet, tightness in the jaw, or even “lobster claws” (when the hands clench into a claw-like shape) could arise, often signaling areas where energy was blocked.

At first, I was skeptical. But as I settled into the breath, something extraordinary happened.

Unlocking Grief

About 15 minutes in, I felt a heaviness in my chest—a sensation I hadn’t been aware of before. As I continued to breathe, it grew into a wave of emotion that rose from deep inside me. Suddenly, I was crying—gut-wrenching sobs that seemed to come from a place far beyond my conscious awareness.

This grief wasn’t fresh. It was ancient, raw, and powerful. I hadn’t known it was there, but my body had been holding onto it for years.

As I breathed, my hands tightened into lobster claws, and my jaw felt locked. Patricia had explained these sensations, assuring us they were the body’s way of revealing blockages and moving energy. Trusting the process, I stayed with the breath.

What followed was one of the most profound releases I’ve ever experienced. It wasn’t just a letting go of grief—it was a reclaiming of myself.

From Grief to Bliss

After that session, I committed to regular breathwork practice. At first, each session brought up more layers of emotion—grief, anger, even joy—that I hadn’t fully processed. But over time, something shifted.

The grief became lighter. My body stopped clenching. And one day, as I lay on the mat, the experience transformed into something entirely different: bliss.

The breath that had once unearthed pain now carried me to states of pure peace and joy. It felt as though I was connecting to something bigger than myself—a sense of wholeness and oneness that words can barely describe.

Why You Should Find a Facilitator or Class

If you’re new to breathwork, having a skilled guide is invaluable. Breathwork can be intense, especially when emotions and sensations arise, and a facilitator creates the safety and structure you need to surrender fully to the process.

Why a Facilitator Matters

• Safety and Support: A facilitator ensures you feel held and supported, helping you navigate challenging moments.

• Guidance: They provide cues and encouragement, helping you stay with the breath and go deeper into the experience.

• Integration: After the session, they can help you process and make sense of what you’ve experienced, ensuring lasting impact.

Whether in a private session or a group class, having a guide allows you to relax into the practice, knowing you’re in capable hands.

The Benefits of Breathwork

Breathwork offers benefits for your entire being:

1. Emotional Release

Breathwork allows you to access and release emotions stored in the body, creating space for healing and clarity.

2. Stress Reduction

By calming the nervous system and reducing cortisol, breathwork brings your body into a state of relaxation and balance.

3. Enhanced Mental Clarity

Increased oxygen flow and a quieted mind lead to sharper focus, creativity, and awareness.

4. Spiritual Connection

Many people experience profound spiritual insights or a sense of connection to something greater.

5. Joy and Bliss

With regular practice, breathwork becomes a source of deep peace and joy, carrying you into states of euphoria and lightness.

Your Breath is the Key

Breathwork is more than just a practice—it’s a transformative journey to your truest, most healed self. Each breath invites you to let go of the noise, bypass the ego, and connect with the part of you that knows how to heal and grow. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.

Whether you’re seeking emotional release, clarity, or a sense of peace, breathwork is your guide. And with each session, you’re reminded that everything you need is already within you—your breath is the key to unlocking it.

Pro Tips for a Powerful Breathwork Session

1. Create a Comfortable Space: Choose a quiet, safe spot where you won’t be disturbed. Lie down on a yoga mat or soft surface to fully relax.

2. Use an Eye Pillow: Blocking out light can help you go deeper into the practice. An eye pillow or scarf works perfectly.

3. Stay Cozy: Your body temperature can change dramatically during breathwork. Keep a blanket nearby, and consider wearing warm socks to stay comfortable.

4. Play Music: Breathwork pairs beautifully with music. Check out curated breathwork playlists on Spotify for tracks that match the rhythm and flow of your practice. Music can amplify emotional release and help guide your breath.

5. Hydrate Before and After: Your body may release a lot during breathwork—emotionally and physically. Drink water to stay grounded and replenished.

6. End with Quiet Savasana: After your breathwork session, take at least 5–10 minutes to lie still in quiet savasana. This time allows your body to integrate the experience and settle into a state of deep relaxation. It’s a necessary pause to honor the work you’ve done and let the benefits sink in.

Take the First Step

If you’re new to breathwork, start with a short session or join a guided class. Having a facilitator or using a playlist can make the experience feel supportive and structured, especially when emotions arise.

Remember: your breath is your greatest ally. It’s there for you in every moment, ready to guide you toward healing, peace, and connection. Trust it, lean into it, and let it carry you home.

Are you ready to take that first breath?