I remember the moment I visited my grandmother in a care home and met a relative of another elderly resident sitting by the neighbouring bed. The room was quiet, the atmosphere tense, and her words seemed polite and kind. The hands holding the feeding bottle of tea were trembling. It was visible, yet few would have seen it as a clear signal for change — and yet that body was telling a story of helplessness and chronic tension that her mind had decided not to address or seek help for. When I handed her my card as she was leaving, she thanked me quickly and hurried away.
The reflection is simple: the body never lies. Every tense shoulder, every shallow breath, every migraine carries within it a story of emotions that had no one to hear them and nowhere safe to be set down. When the mind rationalises, denies, or tries to "fix" the problem, the body stores the truth as muscular tension, discomfort, and psychosomatic signals. Healing is therefore not about changing thoughts — it is about learning to listen to the deepest and most authentic narrator we have: our own body.
PERSONAL LESSON I: TOUCHING PEACE IN A FAMILY CRISIS
Understanding this principle became especially significant for me in the face of a personal crisis — caring for my beloved grandmother, and ultimately her passing.
I visited her the day before she died. It was a visit full of simple, wonderful presence. She told me the best way to pickle cucumbers and how to properly apply face cream. We put on the cream together, I kissed her sweet face and sang a mantra. I said: "See you the day after tomorrow." She left us that morning.
When I received the news, my heart was full of peace. I did not cry. I was in the middle of my work, offering others hope and support. That peace was the result of years of inner work — including EFT, which had already helped me say goodbye to her inwardly and give her my permission to go.
And yet I watched my family — including my parents — struggling with the crisis of caring for my grandmother with dementia. I saw anger, helplessness and fear — emotions that blocked their access to clear, calm solutions. They could not accept that grandmother was forgetting to take her medication, they grew angry, could not ask for help, and pushed it away when it was offered.
THE ROLE OF RATIONALISATION AND HAWKINS' SCALE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Many people seek escape from this pain in the intellect, trying to rationalise the problem. They do so because emotional states are simply too difficult to bear.
Dr David R. Hawkins, in his Map of Consciousness, presents a hierarchy of emotions and energetic states. The numbers assigned to emotions (from 0 to 1000) are units of logarithmic calibration and indicate the vibrational frequency of each state. The lower the number, the more destructive and paralysing the energy.
At the base of the scale, in the low-energy zone, lie states such as Shame (20) — a deeply paralysing state that destroys self-worth — alongside Guilt (30), Apathy (50), and Fear (100). These states are characterised by helplessness, hopelessness, and the urge to hide. This is precisely why we ignore the body's signals and try to escape into rationalisation.
Anger (150), while negative, is already a form of movement, and together with Pride it is often the level at which the mind tries to anchor itself — seeking blame outward or inward.
The most insidious state, however, is Pride (175). It is the ego's trap, compelling us to grit our teeth and pretend we have the situation under control. Pride sits higher than Shame and Fear, but still below the threshold of constructive Courage (200). It is the last barrier before asking for help and reaching Acceptance.
Rationalisation and Reason (400) on Hawkins' scale represents a state of high intellectual potential — but it becomes a trap when used to escape lower emotions such as Shame, Fear or Anger, rather than integrating them. In other words, knowledge without feeling is a trap that keeps us in dissociation. Real transformation begins only at the level of Acceptance (350), and then Love (500) and Peace (600), when we allow ourselves to feel what previously provoked Shame.
PERSONAL LESSON II: THE FAMILY CRISIS AND HAWKINS' SCALE
I saw this mechanism clearly in caring for my grandmother. Watching my family, I could see how they were caught in the lower states on Hawkins' scale: Fear (for grandmother's health and for money that was running out) and Anger and Disappointment (at grandmother for forgetting her medication, at a system that offered no ease). Beneath those emotions often lay Shame and Guilt — "we should have done more", "how does it look that we can't manage?" That fear and Shame about themselves and the situation paralysed action. The absence of Acceptance (level 350) of what was inevitable — ageing, illness — blocked by Pride ("we don't ask for help") prevented earlier, round-the-clock care, which ultimately led to a fall and immobility. It is hard to believe, but sometimes one simply does not notice — does not hear — offers of help from outside, so powerfully do these states obscure the perception of reality.
Those who act from Fear and Shame are unable to see Solutions. Only when the obstructing emotions are released and Acceptance takes their place do the doors to help open.
EFT AND MINDFULNESS: TOOLS FOR MOVING TO A HIGHER ENERGY LEVEL
This is precisely where my methods come in: EFT and Mindfulness. Their aim is not Analysis (level 400), but Release and Acceptance (level 350+).
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques): When an emotion is too overwhelming, EFT allows us to bypass the blocked rational mind and address the issue directly to the nervous system. The tapping process, combined with naming the difficult emotion (e.g. "Even though I feel shame, I accept myself"), helps neutralise the destructive energetic charge of Shame. It allows a person to move safely from paralysing Shame (20) to Courage (200), enabling action.
Mindfulness: This is the practice of Acceptance (350) in motion. Mindfulness teaches us not to judge or fight the pain. It helps us recognise the inner trembling — fear, anger — and gently return to the breath, rather than being swept away by panic.
THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF BLOCKED EMOTIONS
What happens when emotions remain stored in the body? From a psychobiological perspective, unexpressed fear, anger or grief activates our autonomic nervous system (ANS), putting it into fight, flight or freeze mode. When this state persists too long — as in chronic stress situations (such as those of a carer) or as a result of early, unprocessed trauma — the nervous system loses its ability to regulate itself.
These emotional "shocks" are stored as muscular tension (readiness to fight or flee) or as withdrawal (a frozen state). Over time, this leads to a range of problems that conventional medicine often classifies as psychosomatic: headaches, digestive issues, insomnia, or chronic fatigue. To break this cycle, we must bypass the rational mind and enter into direct dialogue with the place where the emotion is held.
EFT AND MINDFULNESS: AN EMPATHIC CONVERSATION WITH TENSION
In my practice, I combine two powerful tools that enable this "conversation" in a gentle and empathic way: EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and Mindfulness.
EFT works like an emotional key to releasing blocked energies. Through gentle tapping on the endpoints of meridians (known from acupressure) while simultaneously focusing on the problematic emotion, we help the nervous system exit its alarm state. It is literally a process of physically releasing anger, grief or helplessness — resulting in a reduction of cortisol levels and a restoration of felt safety.
Mindfulness is the art of being present — teaching us acceptance and non-judgement of the signals coming from the body. It is not about fixing the pain or fighting it, but about noticing it and being with it. In this way we cultivate resilience: not the avoidance of difficult emotions, but the gentle return to balance when they arise.
AN AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE AND THE ANCHOR OF PEACE
Holistic support also means caring for the rhythm of life. Ayurveda teaches Dinacharya — the importance of sleep and circadian rhythm for stabilising the ANS. Ayurveda and the whole tradition of holistic medicine, represented by Deepak Chopra, emphasise that body and mind are inseparably connected, and that physical healing must come through emotional healing.
And the most important tool of all remains the Breath — our fastest bridge to Peace (600). As a yoga instructor, I know how working with the breath (Pranayama) supports emotional regulation. When we regain control of our breath, we regain control of our ANS.
Micro-practice: The Anchor of Peace (Acceptance): Pause for a moment right now. Place your hand on your belly. Take a deep, slow inhale (4 seconds) and a long, releasing exhale (6 seconds). With each exhale, think: "I feel this, I accept this, I release this." This is a conscious choice to move from resistance to Acceptance.
THE ART OF LISTENING TO YOURSELF
Real healing and resilience begin when we stop seeing ourselves as a problem to be fixed, and start listening to ourselves. Life events — a caring crisis, a loss — show us that unprocessed emotions block solutions. My personal story and years of practice have deepened my conviction that the wise integration of body, breath and mind is the only path to lasting transformation.
I invite you to begin a dialogue with your body — using EFT and mindfulness to touch peace and find authentic strength for living.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chopra, D. (2020). The Secrets of Holistic Medicine.
Church, D. (2018). The EFT Manual: An Essential Guide to the Revolutionary New Technique for Total Emotional Freedom.
Hawkins, D. R. (2012). Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2018). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness.
Pert, C. B. (1997). Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine.