The Emotional Language of the Lungs
The lungs play a vital role in sustaining life by bringing oxygen into the body and expelling carbon dioxide. Beyond their physical function, the lungs are often associated with emotions, particularly grief, sadness, and detachment. This organ holds a personal significance for me, having faced two episodes of bronchopneumonia at very young age and acute hay fever. Such conditions often prompt deeper introspection, revealing underlying emotional or symbolic connections.
The lungs encompass the heart center, representing both physical and emotional dimensions. Many symptoms affecting the lungs—such as breath-holding, emotional hurt, a sense of giving up, or fear of embracing life fully—symbolize deeper emotional struggles. The mucus often present in these conditions can be seen as the body’s physical manifestation of unshed tears. Grief frequently underlies the constitution of patients with respiratory issues. Exploring family histories of individuals with lung conditions often uncovers patterns of both physical and emotional struggles. Alongside bronchitis, pneumonia, hay fever, and emphysema, there is often a legacy of grief—stemming from death, loss, abandonment, or even orphaned children. In my own family, my father battled emphysema, while my mother suffered from chronic bronchitis.
The emotional connections between the lungs and the heart center extend beyond the physical heart. True healing lies in addressing the individual’s unique physical and emotional landscape to find the most effective remedy. When working with clients experiencing lung symptoms, the focus is on addressing the underlying causes rather than treating conditions like asthma, emphysema, or bronchitis in isolation. If your child has asthma or bronchitis, it’s important to look beyond their immediate environment. Reflecting on your own childhood experiences and the belief systems shaped by them can provide valuable insights. For young children, understanding the root cause often requires examining not only the parents' experiences but also the grandparents’. By tracing back through generations, unresolved or suppressed issues often come to light, which can manifest as lung-related symptoms in later generations. Lung conditions frequently mask deeper emotional struggles, such as depression or grief, along with a fear of embracing life fully and a sense of unworthiness. Pneumonia, for instance, can signify desperation, exhaustion with life, and emotional wounds left unhealed. As an acute or end-of-life condition, it often reflects a deep sense of having "had enough." Bronchitis, on the other hand, may point to an inflamed family environment, characterized by arguments and raised voices. It is here that another common emotion tied to lung issues emerges—fear.
Panic attacks, often linked to hyperventilation or over-breathing, are closely tied to these emotional undercurrents. While patients may learn to manage these attacks, the need to explore deeper emotional roots remains. Control and the struggle with being controlled are central themes in respiratory illnesses. These dynamics often manifest in unique and complex ways, requiring a holistic approach to uncover and address their origins. The spiritual cause of pneumonia can be the result of a sudden traumatic event in your life. What then surfaces is a lifelong suppression of grief. The fear and anxiety around this can leave you with an overpowering feeling of futility. Pneumonia, is a failure to maintain immunity to negative ideas. There is little tolerance for other ideas or opinions. The reason is often due to being emotionally abandoned at a young age, resulting in the need to build up defenses that have not allowed people in and yourself out. There has been a strong belief in having to deal with the world single-handedly. The end result is being cut off from joy and love.
In one word: authenticity. Stay true to yourself and don’t let others dictate your path or control how you live your life. From my perspective—especially having lost my father to lung cancer—this illness can manifest in those who have spent too long suppressing their own desires, constantly prioritizing others' ways to keep the peace, until it becomes deeply destructive. Asthma, is often tied to self-acceptance—or the lack of it. It can stem from constantly doing what others expect or demand to gain approval, be noticed, or keep others happy. This dynamic becomes another form of control: a push-and-pull between being controlled by others and exercising rigid self-control. When you can’t breathe freely, it’s often because you’re not truly living—you’re caught up in living for someone else, always worrying about their opinions.
Interestingly, many individuals with asthma share a common trait: they are “pleasers” and peacemakers. Often, they come from environments filled with control, rigid rules, or high expectations. They may fear breaking the rules or falling short of the standards set for them, leaving them feeling unworthy. These emotional burdens can weigh so heavily that they spend their lives metaphorically—and sometimes literally—holding their breath. One of the deepest issues of lung symptoms is that of feeling unworthy or unable to attain perfection, leading to difficulties with the breath and consequently with the soul! It is the point at which we experience the external world coming in and then have to choose how we deal with it.
The breath, a reflex action, stops us from totally cutting ourselves off from the outside world, from making ourselves impenetrable to what we don’t want to experience. Let’s not forget that our lungs are our largest organ of connection to the world. Unlike the skin, where we can choose whether or not to make contact with others, the connection established through the lungs is involuntary and constant. We cannot avoid it—even when people or situations feel so overwhelming they seem to "take our breath away." Interestingly, symptoms often shift between the lungs and the skin. For instance, suppressing a skin condition with cortisone or other treatments can lead to asthma, and when asthma is controlled, the symptoms may resurface on the skin. This back-and-forth seesawing of symptoms is particularly concerning in children. Skin issues, being external, often represent a more superficial problem, whereas lung conditions signify a deeper, more critical imbalance.
Asthmatics, for example, may unconsciously attempt to shut down their breathing as a response to fear or anxiety. Yet, another common thread is a desire for power or a sense of smallness. In some cases, this need for control manifests through allergies, which can subtly govern the family dynamic or environment. For children, allergies, food intolerances, or selective eating habits may be their only perceived means of asserting control over their lives—often unconsciously. These control issues, however, might not originate with the child but could stem from unresolved patterns within the family’s ancestral history. Allergies themselves can also reflect deeper psychological themes, such as a fixation on purity, cleanliness, and avoiding anything seen as impure, dark, or messy. This drive for perfection often ties to remedies aimed at addressing these traits. In asthmatics, there’s also a metaphorical aspect to their symptoms—“puffing up” their lungs may reflect an inner desire for power or aggression. After all, the very nature of asthma symptoms is quite forceful, as if the body is fighting for its space and voice.
Ask yourself:
What is it that takes my breath away?
What is it that I am unwilling to accept?
What is it I am unwilling to give out?
What is it I am unwilling to come into contact with?
Am I afraid to take a step towards some new freedom?
These questions can guide us to the emotional roots of respiratory conditions. Lung ailments are rarely just about the physical—they reflect suppressed emotions like misery, fear, and a resistance to life’s joys.
By exploring these underlying struggles, we can begin to free ourselves from restriction and truly breathe in life. The invitation here is profound: to embrace the breath of life with authenticity, balance, and a heart open to both its anguish and its joys.
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ABOUT ME
I am here to serve.
One of my principal missions is to change people's consciousness, skyrocket your inner awakening, and raise the vibration.
I am a Multidimensional Healer specializing in healing complex PTSD.
Holding a postgraduate in Transpersonal Regression Therapy from the TASSO Institute Holland.
Certified NLP & LIFE Coach (RSCI), among other things, I am also a natural Animal Communicator and gifted intuitive. I started to communicate telepathically with beings like animals and many more at the age of 7 yrs old. By the end of 2020, I have been naturally attuned with light language, after I met my first Galactic & Angel beings. Some of them became my new spiritual guides and we are now working together as a team.
Read my full story here: https://www.sabinetherapies.com/about-sabine
Stop discounting your worth and own your value! Believe in yourself, stay mentally sharp and energized, be more inspired, maximize your productivity, keep calm in all situations, embrace challenges, and create an exciting future with endless possibilities.
Much Love,
Sabine Patricia Poncelet
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