From Page to Practice: Opening Up to Emotional Expression

Opening Up to Emotional Expression

For many of us, emotions can feel like a hidden language—unspoken yet deeply felt. Over time, societal pressures, past experiences, or simply the demands of life can teach us to suppress what we feel in order to keep the peace, avoid conflict, or maintain control. But as Gabor Maté reminds us in When the Body Says No, repressed emotions don’t disappear; they often manifest in the body, creating stress and tension that can impact our physical and emotional well-being.

In this post, we’ll explore what it means to open up to emotional expression, why it matters, and how somatic practices can support this process in a safe and authentic way.

Why Emotional Expression Matters

Emotions are not just feelings—they are energy in motion. When we suppress or repress emotions like anger, sadness, or even joy, we interrupt their natural flow. This can leave us feeling stuck, disconnected, or even physically unwell.

As Maté writes, the inability to express emotions, particularly anger, is a common link among certain disease profiles. Emotional suppression places stress on the body, contributing to patterns of helplessness, hopelessness, and even physical illness over time. Opening up to emotional expression isn’t just about mental health—it’s a step toward whole-body healing and balance.

The Body’s Role in Emotional Expression

The body is deeply intertwined with how we process and express emotions. When you feel anger, your jaw might clench or your fists might tighten. Sadness might bring a heavy sensation to your chest or tears to your eyes. Joy can feel like a lightness or warmth spreading through your body.

Tuning into these physical sensations is the first step to reconnecting with your emotions. Somatic practices focus on building this awareness, creating space for emotions to be felt, processed, and expressed safely.

Somatic Practices to Support Emotional Expression

1. The Felt Sense: Language for Sensations

When tuning into your body, you might notice a variety of sensations—some strong, some subtle. Naming these sensations can help ground your awareness and create a sense of connection to what's happening inside. Here are some categories and descriptive words to help identify the qualities of your felt sense:

• Temperature: warm, hot, cool, cold, burning, simmering

• Texture: rough, smooth, soft, gritty, silky

• Pressure: light, heavy, squeezing, pressing, tight

• Movement: pulsing, flowing, vibrating, trembling, still

• Shape or Size: small, big, confined, spacious, hollow

• Intensity: faint, strong, sharp, dull, overwhelming

• Location: localized, diffuse, deep, superficial

Guiding Your Awareness

Use prompts to connect with these sensations:

• "Is it warm or cool? Heavy or light?"

• "Does the sensation move or stay still?"

• "What shape does it seem to have?"

• "Where do you feel this most strongly? Does it spread anywhere?"

Encourage curiosity about the qualities beneath the sensation. For instance:

• A tightness in the chest might feel heavy and warm, with a gripping movement.

• A fluttering in the belly might feel light and cool, like ripples spreading outward.

2. Invite Movement

Once you notice sensations in your body, you can gently invite movement that aligns with what you're feeling—only if it feels natural and intuitive. Somatic work is never about forcing movement; instead, it’s about allowing your body to respond in its own time and way.

Here are some suggestions to explore:

• Tightness: If it feels natural, you might gently stretch the area or allow a small shaking movement to emerge.

• Fluttering: Place a hand over the area and see if your body invites a gentle sway or rocking motion.

• Pressure: If it feels supportive, press your hands into something solid, like a wall or a pillow, and notice what happens in your body.

The key is to approach movement with curiosity and permission, rather than trying to "fix,” change, or force what you’re feeling. Trust your body’s wisdom—it will guide you toward what it needs to release tension or process emotion.

3. Vocalizing the Felt Sense

Giving voice to sensations can be deeply freeing:

• Place your hand on the area where you feel the sensation.

• Let out a sound that matches its quality—this doesn’t need to be words. Examples:

  • A tightness might emerge as a low hum or growl.

  • A fluttering might sound like a soft sigh.

  • A sharp sensation might call for a short, high-pitched "ah!"

This practice allows your body to release emotions in a natural and embodied way.

4. Free-Writing or Drawing the Sensation

Creativity can provide a powerful and safe outlet for emotional expression. Exploring sensations through writing or art can bring clarity and create tangible evidence of change:

• Free-Writing: Describe the sensation in detail, using vivid language to capture its qualities. For instance:
  "It feels like a bubbling, warm energy in my stomach. It’s quick, like it wants to spill out."

• Drawing: Sketch or paint the sensation before and after a somatic session or bodywork. Use shapes, colors, and textures to represent how it feels in your body.

This is one of my favorite ways to track shifts during a session. Seeing the visual results outside of us can serve as a kind of "proof" of the transformation we’re experiencing internally. It creates a bridge between the body and the mind, making the intangible more concrete and accessible.

Encourage readers to experiment with this practice and reflect on how their creative expressions evolve through the process.

5. Gentle Awareness of Breath

Rather than controlling your breath, notice how it naturally responds to the sensation:

• Is your breath shallow or deep? Smooth or uneven?

• How does your breath move through the area of sensation?

Invite the breath to flow naturally. For example:
"Can I sense my breath gently reaching the edges of this tightness?"

This observational approach creates safety and openness without forcing change.

Creating Safety Around Emotional Expression

One of the key principles of somatic work is titration—taking things in small, manageable pieces rather than trying to process everything all at once. Trauma often arises when something comes on too much, too quickly, overwhelming the nervous system. Titration is the antidote, allowing us to safely build the nervous system’s capacity over time without triggering overwhelm.

This means it’s not only okay but actually preferable to take things slow. Pushing through or trying to experience as much as possible as fast as possible is what often gets us in trouble in the first place. In somatic work, we focus on creating small, digestible steps that gently train the nervous system to handle more while maintaining regulation.

Here’s how to create safety for yourself as you explore emotional expression:

• Take it bit by bit: Start with small moments of awareness rather than diving into the full depth of an emotion.

• Pause if needed: If something feels overwhelming, it’s okay to pause. Coming back later doesn’t mean you’re avoiding—it means you’re honoring your nervous system’s needs.

• Focus on manageable sensations: Work with what feels accessible. For example, you might tune into the edges of a sensation rather than its center.

• Choose a safe space: Explore in a quiet, private space where you feel comfortable.

Remember, emotional expression is a process, not a race. The goal is to gently retrain your nervous system, increasing its capacity over time while staying grounded in safety. If you’re unsure where to start or feel stuck, this is one of the ways working with a somatic practitioner can be profoundly supportive.

Why This Matters

Opening up to emotional expression is an act of self-compassion. It’s a way to honor your body’s wisdom and give voice to the parts of yourself that may have been silenced. As you reconnect with your emotions, you’ll likely find a greater sense of freedom, balance, and authenticity—not just in your body, but in your life.