One of my favorite sayings when it comes to food and body work is, “You need to feel in order to heal.” But we’re conditioned to be super logical and analytical, so it can be difficult to actually get out of our heads and into our bodies to explore and heal our emotionality.
 
This is something I struggled with at the beginning of my journey to recovery, and something that I see many of my clients deal with as well. So today, I want to outline the best ways to finally get out of your head and learn how to feel your emotions.
 
Identification vs. observation.
 
We feel so identified with our emotions and flooded by our emotionality that it can be super overwhelming to feel. Pain, anxiety, and other negative feelings are scary, and this is why we tend to suppress these feelings or numb out with food. It’s a defense mechanism.
 
But you can’t heal if you don’t feel your emotions. You need to get curious. Observe the emotions that are present for you. Take time to do daily check ins. Ask yourself:
 
How am I feeling in my body right now?
 
What are the sensations that are coming up for me?
 
What is going on?
 
You don’t need to own these feelings or make meaning around them, just observe without identifying. You are not anxious, angry, or sad, you are EXPERIENCING those emotions. You are separate from them.
 
Use your breath and move your body.
 
Emotions can get stuck in your body. You may feel locked up or tense. So it’s important to use your breath and do some movement to help process and release these feelings from your body. Set an intention to feel your emotions, and then use intuitive movement to process them. Intuitive movement isn’t exercise, it’s when you move your body in a way that feels good to allow the emotions to surface and then release. It could just be swaying, or dancing in circles with your arms thrown over your head.
 
You may cry or get angry or super sad as you do this practice, and that’s okay. Just go with whatever you’re feeling in the moment. You need to begin to process so that you can heal.
 
Change your relationship to your emotions.
 
Many of us are taught that emotions are a bad thing. Maybe when you were younger, you were told sadness equals weakness or that anger means you’re bad. It’s possible you may even have a dysfunctional relationship to pain and emotions.
 
But emotions are beautiful. It doesn’t matter if they’re high vibing, like joy or bliss, or low vibing like fear or anger. Emotions are a way that your body communicates with you. You get to feel those emotions, but you need to feel safe doing so.
 
To allow yourself to feel safe to feel, you need to change your relationship to feeling. Allow yourself to go there. If you numb out with food, you’re denying yourself an opportunity to heal, grow, and develop. Pain is just a cue from your body that something is out of alignment in your life. When you can accept that sensation is just information, you are more willing to feel into it.
 
So ask your body, “how much deeper can I feel my emotions?” Be childlike and get really happy or really sad. Children have such a huge capacity to feel emotionality, but adults often suppress and shy away from this. See how much deeper you can feel so that you open yourself up to feeling higher vibrating emotions.
 
When I was learning to truly feel my emotions, the thing that helped me the most was curiosity.
 
Get curious about your emotions. When something comes up for you, acknowledge it, get curious and ask yourself what you haven’t looked at in your life. As yourself where you need to show yourself more love.
 
When we suppress our need to feel, there is no room for growth in our lives. So instead of identifying with your emotions, observe them. Get curious. Use breath and intuitive movement to help you acknowledge and process your emotions. And change your relationship to pain. Pain isn’t bad, it’s just a way for your body to communicate with you and help you become more aligned so that you can live as the highest, best, and most authentic version of yourself.
 
If you’d like to watch the video version of How to Feel Your Emotions, click here.