Research shows that how we feel influences how we breathe, and how we breathe influences how we feel. Guided, evidence-based teachings on working with emotions can benefit every student and client.
Emotions affect us in countless ways, with direct connections to our biochemistry, breath, brain, nervous system, enteric nervous system, psoas, and fascia.
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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.
The Biochemistry & Physiology of Emotions
There’s no two ways about it: emotions are central to the human experience, and our ability to understand and effectively work with them — and to teach others to do so — has a direct impact on our well-being in every way.
Here you’ll find a Q&A on the biochemistry and physiology of emotions, where we explore the physical processes underlying emotions, including their biochemistry and connections to breathing, the brain, gut, psoas, and fascia.
For the subject of Emotional Well-Being as a whole, get an overview and context here. The Research & Teaching Guide included there has links to full lessons, as well as Substack posts featuring selected excerpts.
Study Guide
When teaching, training, or consulting, consider using well-crafted, sometimes rhetorical questions that gently reveal gaps in understanding. Insightful questions naturally reveal the significance of the subject at hand, helping to spark increased interest and curiosity.
We provide hundreds of Q&As to summarize core concepts for hundreds of subjects of importance to teachers and providers. Assessments serve as effective teaching aids, offering concise overviews that reinforce and support key teaching points.
Identify six categories within the body’s anatomy and physiology that are directly associated with emotions.
See the full lesson to explore how these aspects of our body’s anatomy and physiology are directly associated with emotions:
Brain and Nervous System
Biochemistry
Breathing
Enteric Nervous System
Psoas
Fascia
Describe Candace Pert’s contributions to the scientific understanding of the biochemical nature of emotions and the mind–body connection.
We have Candace Pert PhD to thank for publishing paradigm-shifting research and scientific explanations for how the mindbody connection works, including the vital significance of “molecules of emotion.” Pert’s contributions led to a sea-change of new science and medical research from a biochemistry perspective.
Biochemistry is a branch of science that combines biology and chemistry, seeking information on cellular function, metabolism, and how signals like hormones and neurotransmitters influence the body.
It explores the chemical processes and substances that occur within living organisms — examining how molecules like proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids interact to sustain life.
A few foundational insights from Pert’s research as described in her book, Molecules of Emotion, stand out:
Emotions are measurable processes. — Emotions are not merely abstract; they are real, measurable processes within the body.
Emotions are not confined to the brain. — While the brain plays a central role in emotions, emotions are not confined to it. Emotions involve widespread biochemical signaling systems that operate throughout the body. Information is transmitted across all systems and organs.
The mind and body are unified. — Mental and physical processes are inseparable; emotions, beliefs, and expectations are grounded in biochemistry. The biochemical network continuously responds moment to moment to “intelligently guide what we call life.” [Forward to Molecules of Emotion]
The Breakthrough That Changed How We Understand Cell Communication
Peptides serve to weave the body’s organs and systems into a single web that reacts to both internal and external environmental changes with complex, subtly orchestrated responses. Peptides are the sheet music containing the notes, phrases, and rhythms that allow the orchestra — your body — to play as an integrated entity. And the music that results is the tone or feeling that you experience subjectively as your emotions.
Candace Pert PhD
Explain Jill Bolte Taylor’s finding on the chemistry of emotion, including the 90-second rule.
Jill Bolte Taylor PhD is a neuroscientist known for her work on brain function and emotional processing. She studied the brain at Harvard University and other institutions, and became widely known after experiencing a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain — giving her a rare, firsthand perspective on how the brain constructs reality.
Her recovery and insights led to the bestselling book My Stroke of Insight and a hugely popular TED Talk where she explained her experience and what it revealed about consciousness and emotion. In her later work, including Whole Brain Living, she expanded on how different parts of the brain shape our emotional lives — and how we can work with them more intentionally.
A key insight from her first-hand experience is that when we don’t “re-stimulate the emotional circuit” with our thinking, the chemistry of emotion is brief. She explains:
When something causes an emotion, the brain activates an emotional circuit.
This activation releases a cascade of neurochemicals into the body.
According to Taylor, this chemical surge naturally lasts about 90 seconds.
After that, the emotion should begin to fade on its own. However, if we keep thinking about what caused it — replaying or analyzing — we re-trigger the circuit. That creates a loop, allowing the emotion to persist for minutes, hours, or longer.
Taylor emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between:
The automatic emotional reaction, and
The extended emotional experience (often experienced as suffering) sustained by thought
Summarize research demonstrating the close relationship between breathing patterns and emotional states.
Research shows that emotions are not only experienced in the mind — they are expressed through distinct patterns in the body, including the breath.
In one study, researchers observed how breathing naturally changes during emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, and fear. They found that each emotion was associated with a characteristic breathing pattern.
In a second phase of the research, these patterns were translated into specific breathing instructions. Participants were asked to follow the breathing patterns — without being told which emotion each pattern corresponded to. The results were striking: Participants consistently reported experiencing the emotions associated with the breathing patterns.
Thus, we see that the relationship between breath and emotion works in two directions:
Emotions influence how we breathe
How we breathe influences how we feel
This reveals the powerful insight that yogis and other practitioners have long known: by consciously changing the breath, we can change our emotional state.
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