Healing Reactions and the Mind / Body Connection

Why you might feel worse before you feel better.

Have you ever had a holistic therapy session and felt more emotional, tired, or achy afterwards? 

It’s not uncommon to feel a little “off” after a holistic therapy session - emotionally, physically, or energetically. This is often referred to as a healing response or detox reaction, and while it can be uncomfortable, it's usually a positive sign that your body and mind are beginning to process and release stored tension, toxins, or emotions.

Holistic treatments aim to bring your body back into balance.  They can work on a number of different levels, physical, emotional and spiritual.  In doing so, they can stir up things that have been stuck or suppressed.  While most sessions are calm and relaxing, it can be a shock if you suddenly feel more emotional or unsettling as experiences come to mind that you weren’t expecting.

A holistic session aims to prompt the body to make changes where they are needed.  This can include opening up stuck areas so your lymphatic system can clear waste and toxins including inflammation, boost circulation and relax tight muscle fibres.    Think of it like stirring up a muddy pond—things get cloudy before they clear.

Mind body connection:

Physical symptoms can be the result of something not functioning as it should in the body or as a result of bad posture or injury. Many of us might recognise a more hunched posture when stressed or worried.  We feel tight across our neck and shoulders, might have headaches and migraines, tight jaw or grinding teeth, shallow breathing or digestive disturbances. 

But did you know that physical symptoms can also be the result of stuck emotions?  Our cells hold on to emotional experiences and these can get stored in our tissues. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (upon which Kinesiology is based), our organs are all linked to different positive and negative emotions. For example, our lungs are connected to grief and sadness, our liver to anger and frustration, our kidneys to fear, and our heart to love, joy and hate.

Lymphatic health:

Often I will do a quick lymphatic system check at the start of a session where I will gently palpate 19 different areas.  Tenderness and tightness in some of these areas can indicate stored emotions – the upper abdomen where your Cisterna Chyli is located (a major lymphatic organ) is a huge area for this.  Have a quick check yourself to see what it feels like – just find the area around halfway between the bottom of your sternum (breast bone) and your belly button, and have a gentle prod.  It can feel quite tight or uncomfortable or it might feel really tender.  Sometimes just a gentle touch alone in this area on a client can be enough to cause them to burst into tears as they need some emotional release. 

When things are stirred up in the body, by way of a holistic treatment, your immune system kicks in to deal with it.

This means you might feel tired, more emotional, have muscle aches, go to the toilet more frequently or have a headache.  This is a good sign that your system is responding, and change is happening.

How to look after yourself after a treatment:

Give yourself time to rest, stay hydrated, and be gentle with yourself.  Lots of fluids, clean food (avoid ultraprocessed if you can), plus gentle, regular movement and doing the Big 6 lymphatic routine (see previous blog) will help your lymphatic system clear any detox symptoms.  This phase usually passes quickly, within 24 hours, leaving you feeling clearer, lighter, with reduced pain and more aligned.

Try to avoid alcohol and strenuous exercise. A walk is fine, a heavy class or gym session probably not! Look at it this way, if you’ve paid for a treatment to help yourself feel better, it makes sense to try and get the most from it afterwards too.

Remember, healing isn’t a linear process. Sometimes things need to get a little worse before they get better.  A healing reaction is a great sign that you are responding to treatment.  Try to make a note of anything you experience and let me know at your next session.