When processing emotional stress there is the feeling and then there is the narrative. The feeling arises in your body, the narrative arises in your mind. When you root your awareness in your body, you fully feel the sensations of whatever is stressing you out. That means if you feel anxious, angry, sad (or whatever it is for you) you pay attention to and embrace 100% of the associated physical symptoms of that emotion. After practising this you will notice those sensations arise and fall of their own accord and are nothing to be afraid of. Where people get stuck on their healing journey is that when emotional stress arises a story appears in the mind and becomes the focus while at the same time trying to supress the uncomfortable physical sensations. We get trapped in the mind instead of being fully in our body. When the internal narrative becomes the focus, it has the effect of amplifying the emotional stress over time, making it worse.
The body knows how to process emotional energy if you let it. When stress arises, notice what your internal dialogue is and detach from it. Instead, bring your awareness to your body and allow the full manifestation of the physical sensations to occur and don’t let those physical sensations stop you from taking positive actions or drive you into self destructive behaviour. When you can fully feel and be in your body without attachment to the associated narrative of the mind, the stress expresses and releases through the body and will diminish of its own accord over time.