The Emotion Molecule

• Explains how emotions relate to physiological and cognitive patterns, offering practical methods for intentional emotion regulation • Describes how the endocannabinoid system (ECS)—and its emotion molecule, anandamide—shapes emotional processing and how to navigate it intentionally • Includes an encyclopedia of nearly three dozen emotions, detailing health impacts, related beliefs, and somatic interventions What if there was a road map to your emotions built into your biology and nervous system? Medical researcher Uwe Blesching, an authority on the intersection between the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and mind-body health, provides this map by blending cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology with practical methods to cultivate emotional awareness and strengthen your personal agency. Blesching outlines how tapping into our endocannabinoid system reveals the impact of underlying beliefs and choices on our emotional experiences. Through the process of emotional authorship, we can learn to recognize and reframe our beliefs to shift our emotional reactivity. He integrates these insights with body-based strategies to support you in navigating and regulating your ECS, including somatic practices, breathwork, and reflective exercises. Through the exploration of 21 emotions—including anger, anxiety, fear, and sadness as well as happier states of mind such as courage, gratitude, joy, and trust—and the author’s easy-to-use practical techniques, readers will learn to identify common beliefs and behaviors to build healthy relationships with their emotions to support psychological balance, physiological resilience, and self-directed healing.