Tears as Medicine: Reclaiming the Sacred Release of Emotion

There's something most of us were taught early on: Don't cry.

Be strong.

Pull yourself together.

Push it down and carry on.

And so, we learned, slowly, silently, to disconnect from one of the most natural expressions of our inner world: emotion.

Especially the kind that moves through us as tears.

A few weeks ago, I found myself in the thick of it, moving through a rough patch that cracked me wide open. I was overwhelmed. Exhausted. Raw. And the tears came.

But instead of feeling held in that release, the first thing I heard, loud and sharp, was "Stop Crying."

It hit something deep in me. Not just because of that moment, but because of the thousand times I'd heard that phrase in childhood, in society, in unspoken expectations. Because we've been conditioned to believe that crying is a weakness. That emotions are a problem. That strength is measured by how much we can hold in, instead of how much we're willing to let go.

But here's what I've come to understand:

Crying is a cleansing.

It is sacred release.

It is our body's alchemy, - turning emotional heaviness into energetic freedom.

When we repress our emotions, we don't erase them. We bury them. And buried emotions don't disappear; they fester. They show up in our bodies, in our skin, in our energy, in our nervous system. They manifest as tension, fatigue, anxiety, or even chronic illness.

Emotion is energy in motion. It's meant to move, not stagnate. Tears are part of that movement. They're a signal that something inside us is ready to be witnesses, felt, and set free.

So the next time the tears rise, I invite you to let them fall. To not rush to "fix" it or "pull yourself together." But instead, to sit with it. Breath through it. Honour the emotional truth of the moment.

This too is self-care. This too is healing. And this too, is alchemy.

You are allowed to feel.

You are allowed to release.

You are allowed to be held - in your joy and in your sorrow.

Always.