Hi,
I'm Dr.
Kim.
Recently,
I've been moving through a lot of frustration in my life and I want to share with you what I've learned.
Frustration is more than an emotion.
It's a signal,
A message from your body and mind.
It shows up when things feel blocked or are not unfolding the way you want.
For me,
It was coming up a lot around technology.
When nothing works the way it should,
I noticed my urge to scream,
To clench my jaw,
To tense my shoulders.
Frustration has a sound too.
I found it was bursting out of me as an urgh.
In traditional Chinese medicine,
Frustration is linked to the liver along with emotions like anger and resentment.
The liver governs the smooth flow of qi or energy throughout the body.
When the liver is blocked,
Energy stagnates and we feel even more frustration building up in our system.
This is your body telling you something needs to move,
Shift or be released.
So how do we move through frustration?
First,
Here is what not to do.
Don't keep forcing,
Striving or pushing.
That only breeds more frustration.
I learned this the hard way.
When I was frustrated with my webcam for taking blurry videos,
I re-filmed my video again and again only to achieve the same blurry results,
Causing me to get angrier and angrier.
This eventually led to a sharp pain in my neck from the stress that literally forced me to stop what I was doing.
I didn't listen to my body,
So my body forced me to stop.
Instead,
Pause.
Pause the task that's causing your stress.
Step away,
Remind yourself it's safe to take a break and you are in no danger if you do so.
Then move towards the first step,
Acknowledgement.
Feel into the emotion of frustration and notice where it lives in your body.
Feel heat in your chest,
Tightness in your shoulders,
Heaviness in your gut.
Breathe into it and witness it without resistance.
Then it's time to move it through and out of your body.
After all,
Emotions are simply energy in motion and we can shift them.
Qigong and somatic movements are my favorite movements to do for unblocking liver qi.
Stand up and shake your body.
Flick your hands and wrists.
Imagine all of the stress,
Frustration and anger flicking off your body.
Release it.
Do this for two minutes.
Next,
Stretch your arms up overhead.
Plant your feet and hips to the front and twist your upper body from side to side.
Repeat this for another two to three minutes,
Releasing through the liver.
Finish by rubbing your palms together,
Placing them over your liver,
Right over your right lower ribs and breathe deeply.
Imagine the frustrated,
Angry,
Resentful energy releasing from your liver.
If you would like a fully guided practice explaining how to do this,
Please let me know.
Frustration also wants expression.
Try the liver healing sound,
A big shhh as you exhale or you can simply yell into a pillow.
Repeat the sound until you feel a release.
Let the sound carry the energy out and notice how you feel afterwards.
You can also support your liver with herbal teas like dandelion,
Chrysanthemum or peppermint.
My absolute favorite is chrysanthemum.
I'm having some right now.
It calms the liver and restores the flow of qi through your body.
Finally,
Reflect.
Ask your frustration,
What are you trying to show me?
Often it's pointing towards redirection,
A different action or the need to ask for help.
Frustration is a guide,
Not an enemy.
And in case you're curious to know what happened with all of my technology problems,
I asked for help.
My partner fixed everything within an hour.
The next day I was back to creating content with joy,
Not frustration.
By acknowledging and moving frustration through you,
You create space for clarity,
Peace and action aligned with your true self.
I would love to hear from you.
What's been frustrating you lately?
Let me know in your review.
Thank you so much for listening.
See you tomorrow.
