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Why We Cry Cathartic Tears: The Emotional Release Behind Forgiveness, Reiki, and Ho’oponopono

Discover why crying is common during Reiki, Ho’oponopono, and forgiveness work. Explore the science and spiritual meaning of cathartic tears and emotional release.

“I was bawling – the good, cathartic tears.”

That’s what one of our students in the Ho’oponopono Reiki program messaged me recently as she began reciting the four sacred cleansing mantras:

“I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.”

Her words lingered with me long after I read them.

Cathartic tears.

That word…catharsis…landed so deeply.

But why do we suddenly cry during forgiveness rituals and energy work?
Why does the body release, often before the mind fully understands what is happening?

Let’s explore.

🌿 What Catharsis Really Means

The word catharsis comes from an ancient Greek term katharsis meaning to cleanse, to purge, to purify, or literally to wash something from the inside out. It it the name given to any powerful emotional release that leaves you feeling clearer, lighter, and freer.

It was used by the philosopher Aristotle to describe the profound emotional effect of ancient Greek tragedies. Early theatre wasn’t simply entertainment, it was a ritual of collective emotional release.

In these dramatic plays, audiences witnessed themes of loss, betrayal, grief, love, sacrifice, redemption and the rawness of the human condition. And as the actors cried, raged, or broke open on stage, the audience often wept with them.

People cried openly. They felt deeply. They were moved beyond words. And afterward, they experienced a strange, soothing lightness, a sense of having been emotionally cleansed.

Aristotle believed this emotional release was essential to human wellbeing. By watching tragedy unfold, people could purge the emotions they had been holding inside, often unknowingly.

This was catharsis. A sacred, inward cleansing. An emotional exhale. A reset of the soul.

People often experience catharsis when they:

cry deeply
release long-held emotions
express something they’ve been suppressing
journal or speak honestly about their feelings
have a breakthrough during healing or therapy
experience art, music, or stories that move them

A cathartic moment doesn’t always feel “good” as it’s happening , sometimes it’s messy, vulnerable, or overwhelming. But afterward, people usually feel a sense of relief, clarity, or completion, as if something heavy has finally shifted.

In energetic healing, catharsis is often seen as a release of stagnant or suppressed energy from the body or aura.

You might notice it through sudden tears, spontaneous deep breaths, or an intuitive feeling of “something leaving.”

This is the body’s way of discharging old emotional frequencies, often ones you didn’t even know they were holding.

I’ve often noticed clients receive Reiki say things like: “I don’t know why I’m crying” or “That came out of nowhere.”

Because catharsis happens when the body decides it is safe to let go.

Anything heavy that is blocking more open to receiving light.

🌧️ The Science of Why We Cry

Crying is emotional, yes, but it is also profoundly physiological and neurological. Like every process in the human body, there is an underlying purpose woven into it, a built-in design meant to protect us, cleanse us, and support our healing. Nothing in our biology is accidental.

Science has spent decades studying tears, and what researchers have discovered is extraordinary:

Crying is not a weakness. Crying is a healing mechanism.

Here’s what’s actually happening in the body:

1. Emotional Tears Contain Stress Chemicals

Science shows that emotional tears (not the tears from cutting onions or wind irritation) contain:

cortisol (the stress hormone)
prolactin
ACTH (a hormone related to stress response)
manganese (linked to mood regulation)
toxins and emotional “metabolites”

This means:

When you cry, you literally release stress chemistry from your body.

Your tears are physically detoxifying you.

This is why people often say:
“I felt lighter afterwards.”

It’s biological.

💓 2. Crying Activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System

The parasympathetic system is the “rest, relax, digest, heal” part of your nervous system.

When you cry, your body automatically:

slows your breathing
relaxes your muscles
lowers your heart rate
shifts you out of fight-or-flight
restores homeostasis

In other words…

Crying switches off survival mode.

This is why tears often come after an event or intense situation…the body finally feels safe to release.

🫂 3. Crying Activates Attachment & Safety Hormones

Emotional tears trigger the release of:

oxytocin (the “love hormone”)
endorphins (natural pain relievers)

This creates feelings of:

comfort
connection
safety
emotional openness

Crying helps us find safety inside ourselves. This is why cathartic tears feel warm, relieving, or comforting. We are literally activating our inner safety system.

🧬 4. Crying Integrates Emotional Memories

Crying is also part of how the brain processes and integrates emotional experiences.

Emotional tears stimulate the:

amygdala (emotions)
hippocampus (memory)
prefrontal cortex (meaning + understanding)

This is why you often gain clarity or insight after you cry.

The brain is reorganizing the emotional event.

🌿 So… Why Do We Cry During Reiki, Ho’oponopono, or Forgiveness?

Because these practices have a way of lowering our emotional defenses, almost without us noticing. They coax the nervous system out of survival mode and into softness. They activate compassion, remembrance, and inner safety. They brush up against old memories that have been waiting patiently for us to be ready. They shift the brain into a quiet, receptive space where processing can finally occur. They open the heart, soften the subconscious armor we’ve carried for years, and make room for energy that has been stuck to finally move.

In these sacred moments, crying becomes more than an emotional reaction—it becomes a release.

Crying means the healing is happening.
Crying means the inner child feels safe at last.
Crying means the nervous system is unwinding its tight grip.
Crying means truth is landing gently where it needs to.
Crying means forgiveness is integrating into the cells, into the story, into the self.
Crying means energy is loosening, shifting, leaving.

Crying is not the breakdown … crying is the breakthrough.

When we cry—especially during practices rooted in compassion, presence, and spiritual cleansing—the stored energies of the body finally begin to move. This is why tears can rise suddenly and without warning. It is the body discharging a pocket of emotional memory, releasing what it no longer needs, and making space for light to take its place.

Of course, the reasons why an individual cries are deeply personal. Tears do not owe anyone an explanation. They are not something we need to analyze, justify, or translate into neat language. Crying is a response that often rises from layers we cannot see, memories we don’t consciously hold, or energies that are simply lifting, shifting, or re-flowing to where they need to go.

We don’t always understand why we cry – and we don’t need to. The body knows long before the mind does. Tears often speak in ways the mind cannot. The beauty of catharsis is that it does not require comprehension. It only asks for compassion.

🌺 Catharsis in Ho’oponopono: The Release of Inner Data, Subconscious Memory, and the Layers of Self

Ho’oponopono is a practice of inner reconciliation and purification – one that works directly with the memories and emotional imprints that shape how we feel, react, and experience the world.

In Ho’oponopono, everything we hold…every belief, every fear, every wound, every pattern…is considered data. Not in a mechanical sense, but as energetic information stored within the subconscious mind. This data is inherited, learned, absorbed, or remembered through the body, the lineage, the inner child, and the emotional memory.

When we recite the four sacred phrases:

I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

…we are not merely speaking words. We are speaking to the subconscious self, the deeper inner world, the hidden layers that carry what our conscious mind cannot fully touch.

Each phrase serves a unique purpose.

“I’m sorry” serves as the first step in healing by acknowledging the emotional pain we hold, bringing awareness to the need for change and forgiveness.
“Please forgive me” opens the door for release, offering a way to let go of guilt, shame, or any negative emotions that weigh heavily on the heart.
“Thank you” shifts the energy toward gratitude, appreciating both the healing that is unfolding and the wisdom gained from the experience.
And “I love you” completes the cycle by infusing the situation with the healing energy of unconditional love, the highest vibrational force of all.

Essentially, once we accept that the suffering is within us and therefore within our control, we can forgive it, find the lessons in it, and then heal it so we can move forward with greater peace, clarity, and self-compassion.

In Ho’oponopono, catharsis is not seen as a breakdown, but as the clearing of old memory.

This memory, or inner data, often includes:

old emotional reactions
inherited trauma
stored grief
childhood wounds
beliefs absorbed from others
unspoken fears
patterns we have learned throughout our lives that keep us stuck or misaligned with our true purpose and path

When the mantras are spoken with sincerity, these layers begin to lift, quietly, gently, like sediment rising from the bottom of still water.

The catharsis that follows is the sign that something deep within is being released. They are the visible expression of invisible cleansing.

🩵 Why Forgiveness Is So Emotional

Forgiveness is often perceived as a gift we offer to others, yet its true essence lies in the liberation it grants to the self…a release, a softening, an inner peace that nourishes the soul from within.

There are so many misconceptions about forgiveness. Many people believe that forgiveness means excusing, forgetting, or condoning what happened. Others fear that forgiving makes them vulnerable, or that it somehow invalidates their pain. But forgiveness, in its truest form, is not about rewriting the past… it’s about rewriting the emotional imprint the past has left within us.

And this is why forgiveness is such and emotional experience. Forgiveness asks us to gently dissolves the walls we built for survival.

Forgiveness is emotional because it involves:

acknowledging your pain
validating your truth
releasing the charge around the story
letting go of the burden you’ve been holding
choosing peace over the cycle of re-living the past

Forgiveness taps into the deepest layers of the subconscious … the places where shame, grief, resentment, and unspoken sorrow have taken root.

Forgiveness is emotional because it is a meeting of self. It is a moment to remember how beautiful and special we are, how worthy we are of love. It is about reclaiming your power. It is a homecoming.

It frees the inner child from carrying burdens they were never meant to hold.
It loosens the subconscious memories that have shaped how we see ourselves.
It reopens the heart … gently, patiently, and always in divine timing.

Forgiveness is not a gift for the past.
It is a gift for the present self.
A return to inner peace.
A choosing of freedom.
A declaration that your soul deserves to move forward unburdened.

What If I Don’t Cry?

Not crying during healing work is completely normal and it does not mean you’re blocked, resistant, or “doing it wrong.” Every nervous system releases differently, and crying is only one of many forms of emotional or energetic cleansing. Your body knows exactly what it’s doing.

Your system might be choosing other forms of release, such as:

a deep exhale
warmth in the chest
tingling or buzzing
feeling tired afterward
vivid dreams
sudden clarity
mood shifts
a sense of peace
a wave of calm or neutrality
spontaneous yawning
sensations moving through the body

These are all signs the energy is shifting.

Forgiveness, Reiki, and Ho’oponopono work on layers of the subconscious and energy field, not just the emotional surface.

Even without tears, the mantras and the energy can clear old memories, soften denfenses, open the heart up gently and shift your internal story.

Healing doesn’t require crying. Healing requires willingness to be open to whatever arises in order to move forward.

Crying is simply one expression of catharsis. But catharsis can also be silent, subtle, steady, or invisible. Some of the deepest healing happens without a single tear… in the quiet moments where the heart softens, the body unclenches, and the soul whispers, “I’m safe now.”

Trust the process. Your peace is unfolding, one mantra at a time…with or without cathartic tears 💙

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