Feeling Your Emotions In Your Body

When you’re in a high stress state you can feel your emotions running through your body.  You may feel a sense of anger, overwhelm, fear, or deep sadness.  All of these emotions, when coursing through your body, can cause you intense anxiety, more fear, or elevated stress.  You must learn to notice, allow, accept, and really feel into the emotions in your body.  Learn how to feel your emotions in your body so that you can use breathwork to release the resistance you’re feeling to take action towards your goals.

Emotions In Your Body

When you feel these uncomfortable emotions in your body, it’s also a great time to take a closer look at what these emotions are trying to tell you.  Maybe you’re feeling scared because you’re trying something new that’s outside of your comfort zone.  Perhaps you took action towards your goal and didn’t get the result you wanted.  Notice where these feelings come up in your body.  It may be just particular part of your body like the throat, heart, belly, etc.  Or, it could be all throughout your body which causes sensations like tingling, prickling where your hair stands up, heavy, light, welling up with tears, or even breathless.  Feeling into these uncomfortable emotions in your body can help you recognize them so that you can move through them with breathwork.

Anger

Anger is an uncomfortable emotion that often occurs when you’re upset because of your lack of progress towards your goals.  Maybe something didn’t go as you had planned and you’re just not seeing the results you had hoped.  Anger can show up as frustration, enraged, impatient, irritated, overwhelmed, annoyed, etc.  Think about the last time you were angry and where you felt that emotion in your body.  Perhaps your hands were shaking, you had tight fists, and clenched palms.  It could be it was more in your chest like you wanted to say something but you couldn’t because you knew it would come out wrong in your rage of anger.  When you sense you’re angry, use this breathwork practice.  Center yourself and place your hands on your belly.  Take a long, deep breath in through your nose and exhale quickly through your mouth three times.  This practice reminds me of a bull who is upset, stomps his huff, and lets out a quick, short breath.  Notice any changes when you tune into your breath to release your anger.

Sadness

One of the other common uncomfortable emotions is sadness.  Consider the sad emotions you experience.  Such as, tears, hurt, upset, alone, disappointed, etc.  Think about the last time you were sad and where you felt this emotion in your body.  It may have been in your stomach, folded over as protection, wrapping your arms around yourself.  Or, it could have been in your throat as you trembled, choking back tears.  Use this breathwork practice to help you tune inward.  Find a comfortable position either sitting or lying down.  Close your eyes.  Breathe slowly through your nose for a minute to settle in and bring your focus inward.  Next, take a couple of minutes to scan your body from head to toe.  Notice any areas that feel off.  Continue deeply breathing through your nose for the next eight minutes, staying present to whatever comes up for you.  Then, open your eyes and journal whatever thoughts, feelings, and emotions came up for you.  The key with sadness is being present in your body to feel this emotion no matter how uncomfortable it feels.  As you learn to sit with the sadness, it will become easier to look deeper and get clear on what this emotion is trying to tell you.  This will allow you to learn, grow, and eventually express what needs to come out in order to heal from the sadness.

Fear

The last uncomfortable emotion to look at is fear.  Fear often holds you back from achieving your goals.  Fear looks like feeling nervous, anxious, worried, afraid, scared, skeptical, uneasy, stressed, vulnerable, etc.  Think about the last time you felt fear and where that showed up in your body.  Maybe you trembled, were paralyzed, or had butterflies in your stomach, etc.  As Fritz Perls says, fear is excitement without breath.  Use this breathwork practice to help you overcome your fear.  Find a comfortable place and begin your deep belly breathing.  Gradually start to lengthen the exhales until they are double the length of the inhales.  For example, exhale out for two and inhale for four.  Continue exhaling for two and inhaling for four for the next two to five minutes.  Notice how you feel after you’ve completed your breathwork practice.

Check in with your body and create that awareness when you’re experiencing these uncomfortable emotions.  Allow your emotions to rise and fall without holding onto any of them.  If you find yourself deep in an emotion or stuck in a negative repetitive thought cycle, come back to your breath.  The most effective way to increase your capacity to handle these uncomfortable emotions is to active your calming parasympathetic nervous system with breathwork.  When you breathe through these uncomfortable emotions, you’ll be able to shift your state to one of peace and calm so that you can gain the clarity you need to take the next action step towards your goals.

Take Action Challenge

Feel, Breathe, Release 

Step 1: Notice What You're Feeling

The next time you notice an uncomfortable emotion, pause and ask yourself what emotion are you experiencing right now?

Name the emotion without judgement.

Examples:

• Anger
• Sadness
• Fear
• Overwhelm
• Frustration

Awareness is the first step towards emotional regulation.

Step 2: Locate The Emotion In Your Body

Close your eyes for a moment and notice:

• Where do you feel this emotion?
• Is it in your chest, throat, stomach, shoulders, or somewhere else?
• Does it feel heavy, tight, warm, shaky, or tense?

Allow yourself to simply observe the sensation instead of trying to change it.

Step 3: Breathe Through It

Choose one breathwork practice that feels supportive for the emotion you're experiencing.

As you breathe, remind yourself that this emotion is here to teach you something.  You do not have to fight it.  You can simply move through it with a simple breathwork practice.

Stay with your breath for 2–5 minutes.

Step 4: Listen To The Emotion

After your breathwork practice, journal:

• What was this emotion trying to tell you?
• What need or fear is underneath it?
• What is one healthy way you can respond?

Treat your emotions like messengers instead of enemies.

Step 5: Choose Your Next Step

Now that you've calmed your nervous system back down, ask yourself what is one small action you can take towards your goal from a place of peace instead of fear?

Then take that action, no matter how small.

This is isn't about getting rid of or not feeling your emotions.  It's about noticing an uncomfortable emotion, listening to it, breathing through it to calm your nervous system back down so that you can clearly take the next best action step towards your goal.