The Anatomy, Physiology & Biochemistry of Emotions

Physiological Connections to Feelings

From a purely biological perspective, we humans are feeling creatures who think, rather than thinking creatures who feel. Neuroanatomically, you and I are programmed to feel our emotions, and any attempt we may make to bypass or ignore what we are feeling may have the power to derail our mental health at this most fundamental level. – Jill Bolte Taylor

These aspects of our body’s anatomy and physiology are directly associated with how we feel:

1. Breathing
2. The Brain
3. The Nervous System
4. The Enteric Nervous System
5. Biochemistry (Neuropeptides / Molecules of Emotion)
6. The Psoas
7. Fascia

EMOTIONS ARE VERIFIABLE, FACTUAL OCCURRENCES IN THE BODY

Emotions are not subjective things. They are experienced subjectively, of course. But what is going on, in the body and the emotional field, is verifiable and factual. “I am sad” is a statement of fact, not opinion. – David Sauvage 

Details below.

How We Breathe is How We Feel

Powerful research has shown just how directly linked breathing and emotions are. Either can be the cause the other:

STUDY: HOW YOU BREATHE IS HOW YOU FEEL

The two-way connection between how you breathe and how you feel was elegantly demonstrated in a study that observed how the breath naturally changes during joy, anger, sadness, and fear… The researchers induced these four emotions in participants and measured the changes in breathing… They found that there were characteristic changes for each emotion. In a second study, the researchers turned the observations for each emotion into breathing instructions. They had participants change their breathing according to those instructions, with no hint that the breathing patterns were connected to specific emotions. The study found that the breathing patterns reliably created the emotions they were associated with, without any other emotion cue or trigger. – Kelly McGonigal PhD 

See Also

• The Breath Hub