What's The Root Cause of RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome)? A Fascinating Perspective
Quick Overview: In this article, Stephen dives into the root cause of RLS (restless legs) according to the spiritual meaning and shares his own experience with resolving restless leg symptoms from a holistic approach.
Internal restlessness (whether chronic or not) signifies conflict within the emotional realm. When I was dealing with painful restless legs, I knew I needed to address my emotional side. When I did, the physical restlessness resolved completely.
Hello and welcome! My name is Steve, and I’m honored that you’ve found this space. If you are seeking a deeper answer to your pain, you are not alone! There is another way, and I hope that my experiences are illuminating for you.
My name is Stephen, and I help individuals build up healthy relationships with themselves to transform their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It’s how I overcame my own chronic health challenges and it’s how I’ve helped others find freedom from theirs too.
I believe we are meant to embrace, not bypass, our emotional sides and human experiences as part of our healing paths. We’re on this planet, in this body for a reason! My values honor the full integrity of our human + divine nature, the inherent intelligence of the body, and the emotional strength within.
I’m happy you were led here.
Most of us are unaware that your relationship with yourself, your body, and your emotional side profoundly impact your health & well-being…for better or worse.
On that note, how would you describe your relationship with your emotional side? (a very real part of yourself!) And how is that side of you being treated?
Most of the people I work with tend to answer those questions with, “not so great, could be better, or I don’t go there.” Repression is usually the main culprit.
We don’t often learn that repressed emotional pain has the power to create physical symptoms. Power that we cannot use our minds to outthink or take a pill to get rid of it. (which you’ve probably tried!)
Those who arrive here (like you) are trying to solve health & well-being challenges so they can feel better, be more themselves, and live life more fully. Most often though, there are walls up between themselves and their hearts that are being overlooked.
Which makes a lot of sense when society tends to discount the healing power of a loving, compassionate heart and the emotional aspect isn't given credit as a primary factor in our health. Instead, most people have learned to be in the head, trying to solve and fix...and it's exhausting.
When My Restless Legs Showed Up
I remember that moment like it was yesterday. There I was...it was 11pm on a weeknight, and I couldn’t sleep a wink. Why? Because my legs were KILLING me.
It felt like the bones in my legs were expanding, but couldn’t expand because there was nowhere for them to expand to. So because of that, they felt restricted, like I had compression bands around my legs...and it was so so painful.
And then a new phenomenon began — what felt like buzzing sensations all through my legs from my ankles all the way up into my hips. I was in agony, rolling back and forth, flopping all over the bed trying different positions to find some sort of comfort all the while trying not to disturb Anne too much. But inevitably she was awake too from all the jostling and groaning.
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
II watched the minutes and hours tick by...11:41, 12:32, 1:11… Finally at 3am, I decided to go out to the couch in our living room. Maybe a change of scenery and surface would do the trick? (I’m sure you know the answer to that already...a solid no.)
I was the epitome of restless that night. There I was...fidgety, on edge, agitated...and debating whether I would ever sleep soundly again.
I wouldn’t wish restless legs like that on my worst enemy...not that I really have enemies to my knowledge...but you get my drift.
Later that morning...yes morning...because I didn’t get to sleep until sometime in the 4 o’clock hour, I decided to investigate my resources to understand the root cause of restless leg syndrome.
As someone who guides healing work, this new phenomenon of restless legs intrigued me. What I have come to understand over years is that the root cause of health symptoms, like restless legs, is emotional.
The internal state of restlessness and physical pain that’s now coming out is mirroring the emotional pain sitting within. Imagine shaking a bottle of soda vigorously and then opening it...THAT is like what’s happening inside your body.
Why does it happen? To bring the inner pains to your attention. So they can be addressed. So you can benefit from them and feel better!
Want something for relief?
If you’re looking for some relief from painful restlessness, I created this somatic meditation from my heart, as an approachable tool. Get the download →
Spiritual Meaning of Restless Legs
You probably arrived here through a search typing in ‘restless leg syndrome spiritual meaning,’ so let’s dive a bit deeper.
Humans have souls…we have spirits that can feel low or high. The spirit is critical to overall health. The spirit is defined as “the nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character.”
Emotions are expressions of the spirit,. Think about these statements: “He's in low spirits. Her spirit is broken. My job is soul-crushing.” If we are disconnected from our spirit, we experience discord…physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The spiritual reason for any illness is disconnection.
Where the symptom is happening is the body’s way of telling you where the disconnection with your spirit is happening.
In my experience, the physical body is responding to those pains that are happening within the emotional body.
People tend to run away from the pain or try to eliminate it, but unfortunately that doesn’t work. In fact, running away from the pain can manifest as restless legs.
The spiritual cause of restlessness is an issue of feeling stuck, trapped, or not being able to escape a place or an uncomfortable situation. Oftentimes, it's tied to emotional expression or suppression.
So how could this look? Well, let’s take me for example.
When I experienced the restless legs symptoms that I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was going through a tough time with one of my family members where we didn’t see eye-to-eye on things. (I’m pretty sure just about everyone has been there before, right?)
At that time, there was a world event going on, and this member of my family was telling me about how they didn’t agree with their friend’s, so-and-so’s, viewpoint on the situation. It got pretty charged energetically, (I am very sensitive to energy) and he was criticizing so-and-so saying things like, “How can a person be so stupid to think…” and “I just don’t understand at all how you can’t see it this way.” Well, as it turns out...I had a very similar viewpoint to so-and-so! *cue the awkward silence*
I was in this situation where I felt really uncomfortable...and in fact, I can remember feeling agitated, fidgety, and...you got it...restless. I just wanted to walk away, but I couldn’t...I felt trapped in that conversation, and in essence, I felt stuck!
Instead of voicing my thoughts and communicating how I felt hearing what they were saying about someone who had a similar viewpoint as me...I shut down. I didn’t feel safe expressing myself, and I beat myself up about it later. I remember thinking to myself afterward, “Why couldn’t I just say something! I’m kicking myself for not telling him how I feel and how I see things.” Notice the words kicking myself.
Anytime you suppress your emotional side, it creates a state of stress (and restlessness) inside the body. You feel it as deep tension (or RLS) because a whole part of yourself is being shut off! Which is the same thing as spiritual disconnection.
So what can be done? Your body and your heart are your perfect teammates to help you transform the pain. Hear me out.
Love is the ultimate healer for our well-being. It mends the disconnections, and it’s time to take its power seriously.
For me, love looked like allowing myself to feel what I was feeling, voice it to myself and my wife, forgive myself, and offer radical kindness to myself.
I did that and my symptoms resolved. Granted, I’ve had a lot of practice doing so and it’s why people come to me for help now too.
How you treat yourself impacts your health and well-being. In fact, it’s the foundation. Being hard on yourself, trying to control and override the body, holding back your emotional side or self-expression....these are all ways that we withhold love for ourselves.
So it makes a lot of sense that being hard on yourself and holding parts of yourself back doesn't feel good! It either creates tensions that you can feel deep in your system (rls!) or it leads to collapse. In either case, it's painful. Period. Think of the environment this creates inside of you...turbulent, unsafe, disconnected. It's like a battlefield is going on inside yourself. And this pain is going to show up one way or another, including symptoms.
Why? While the health, medical, and wellness spheres want you to believe it's because of outside reasons that you don't feel well, I am here to stand for something much more empowering. This is an inside job that is within your grasp. Your body is your ally and teammate on that journey! It takes care of you and alerts you of the parts of yourself that aren’t being treated well so you can tend to them. To nurture love there. And love for yourself is a powerful medicine that you can cultivate through your own body.
To me, love is being present and at home in yourself no matter what.
Even in uncomfortable places like anger, failure, fear, and grief. When you are shining bright and also when you are feeling low and dull. This kind of love needs to be strengthened within you just like going to the gym and lifting weights to build up your muscles! It’s thrilling, refreshing, and unconventional.
That’s exactly what my services are for. I am there to help you connect with the wisdom of your compassionate heart and nurture its healing power. I am there to help give your emotional side and self-expression an outlet. And I am there to help you form a strong partnership between your body, mind, and heart to get to the medicine that your spirit truly seeks, no matter the health challenge—greater love and freedom. It’s something no pills, diets, or procedures can give.
It's deeply nourishing, and you will feel profoundly better and more connected because of it.
When you nurture love within yourself, everything changes. When you build up your relationship with your body, it leads to greater trust, love, and connection with yourself. As you can imagine, that feels really good in your system! Your mind can relax and your body can heal naturally while you grow deeper into your heart.
I have helped individuals feel confident, peaceful, and free in their health & well-being. And I would be honored to help you too. ↓
Ready to experience something that works?
I’d love to connect with you and talk about supporting your well-being. Over a connection call you will:
Connect with a loving human who’s overcome health challenges with emotional healing.
Clarify the root goal underneath your desire of living without pain.
Discover the way out of your painful restless battle.
Explore investment options if you are interested in working together deeper.
↓ Schedule your space to talk with me below.
Know that you are not alone in this journey. I am committed to helping you achieve the healing and growth you seek if you so desire.
Always rooting for you. ~Steve
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Sources
Brill, Michael Richard. (2008). Numerology for Healing: Your Personal Numbers as the Key to a Healthier Life. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books.
Romero, Joman. (2016). Knowing Ourselves: What Does The Body Want To Tell Us With Diseases? CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
