Five ways to process emotions in five minutes

Today I’ve compiled a few somatic approaches you can use at home to form a more loving and kind relationship with your mind-body.

Instead of negative self-talk when things go wrong and sensations overwhelm you, try one of these gentle approaches to support emotional regulation.

All of them can be done in five minutes or less to begin with, which is a practice that is going to be more accessible than having to carve out an hour of your day.

Somatic Tracking
This is a process of identifying bodily sensations associated with specific emotions. Scan your body and notice where you feel tension or discomfort, and focus on those areas, observing without trying to change anything. You can also combine this with mapping these sensations across a drawing of a body, using different colours in different areas that represent the sensation you experienced.

Compassionate Self-Touch
Practice self-soothing through gentle touch. When you feel heavy or tense, place your hands on the areas of your body where you’re feeling that sensation. Send compassion and warmth to these areas, letting your body to relax under your touch. You can also self-massage the area or do some light tapping.

Visualisation
When you are experiencing big feelings, visualising yourself in a safe, peaceful place can be really helpful to guide you back to yourself and away from emotional overwhelm. Practice this by building yourself an imaginary world that feels safe, relaxing and nurturing. Put as much details as you can into the visualisation including people, pets, trees, flowers, animal totems, or whatever else that brings a sense of ease. Include sounds, colours, smells to deepen the sensory experience. Notice how you feel a sense of peace and ease wash over you. Then, when you are experiencing big emotions, you can imagine yourself in this space, replicating that response of relaxation.

Journaling Body Stories
Expressing your feelings and experiences through writing is a powerful practice that aligns mind and body. The practice of cognitive understanding and creative expression through writing combined with tuning into body sensations and emotions integrates the two hemispheres of the brain. Focus on how your emotions show up in your body, noting specific sensations or areas of tension. Write about these sensations: how they feel, what they look like, how they change, are they hot, spiky, soft, shifting? Write about what they mean to you. This practice can help you see the connection between your emotional state and thoughts in a more aware and deliberate way.

Titration Meditation
Titration is a gentle way of exploring your experiences and how they sit in the body without overwhelming your system. Take a moment to find a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down. Connect in with the body and a recent experience you’ve had that made you emotional. Touch in with the sensations that come up related to that experience. Gentle zone in and explore these sensations and thoughts that arise. Shift your awareness to move away from the sensation and thought if it becomes too much.

These are gentle and nurturing practices that ground you in the body. Becoming more embodied helps you to stay present and not get overwhelmed by your emotions or derailed by your thoughts. Bringing an awareness of how you move through the world and the sensations that accompany you can transform your relationship with your Self.

Remember, if at any time you feel overwhelmed, you can stop. You are in agency here. If anything comes up that you want to explore, then consider getting in touch. We can have a free 30 minute consultation to discuss your concerns, discoveries, and questions.

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