When I first learned about Laura Coe’s book “Emotional Obesity,” I wondered why I hadn’t thought of this genius concept!

Carrying around emotional baggage weighs us down and doing emotional ‘workouts’ can help us clear and unclog the stuff we didn’t even know we were holding onto so that we can move forward freely.

Old break ups. Disappointments and resentments in work. Family drama. Comparing ourselves to other people. Grief or sadness from a loss….however big or small. This year…LET IT GO! It no longer serves you.

Not only does emotional baggage carve a defensive mote around our hearts, it blocks the energy and goodness that the Universe is trying to shower you with. There’s no room for the love and joy to get in.

When our body is stuck in the fight or flight spin cycle, it builds up unnecessary stored fat around our midsection. Think of a squirrel hoarding away walnuts in its cheeks in preparation for winter. Or a bear relentlessly pillaging through trash bins in the fall to fatten up before hibernation. Every September/October in Aspen, we have to bolt down our garbage dumpster and keep it under lock and key. Brown bears tear straight through any plastic and will literally tromp into your kitchen and raid your refrigerator to self-protect. (Yes, friends have hovered on the stairs watching a bear ravage their cabinets.)

Likewise, our emotional bodies self-protect – holding onto old, useless emotional residue in an attempt to ‘stay safe’, in the comfort zone. Laura explains why at one point in time, these emotions served us (as a necessary coping mechanism)…and how we can creatively work through them once their expiration date has passed.

When we don’t know how to properly purge, transmute and clear our inner baggage (not many of us received much ’emotional training’), it clings to us…sometimes, literally making us fat. More often than not, our emotional obesity keeps us bound in endless patterns of self-sabotage and loopholes of fear and stories it’s time to outgrow.

As a writer, coach, and entrepreneur Laura has devoted her career to helping you clear emotional baggage with tools you can easily apply to daily life.

In our conversation, you’ll learn:

• How to navigate + clear what we accumulate from other people that can cause us to lose our authentic voice

• How to detox “junk food” thoughts and replace them with “nutritional” thoughts

• Identifying emotional cravings and what the patterns we uncover are compensating for

• Using “nutritional” thoughts to implement change

• Emotional “workouts” we can use as ritual for processing

• Exiting the shame-blame cycle for good!

 In the comments below, please share one piece of emotional baggage that you’re ready to LET GO OF!

xo,

Ashley

P.S. If you’re interested in diving deeper into some potent emotional training and shadow work, join me for the YOGA PSYCHOLOGY ADVANCED TRAINING at Esalen, April 5 – 10 with Sianna Sherman, Dr. Ron Alexander and Theo Dorek.