How to Process Emotions in the Body
A practice for noticing, understanding, and moving with your emotions.
Have you ever felt a “wave of emotion” hit you out of nowhere? It rises, peaks, and suddenly you’re pulled under. When emotions feel that strong, it’s natural to want to push them away, but fighting against them often makes the experience more overwhelming.
This practice is about learning to move with the wave rather than against it. When we can ride it, we remind ourselves that no emotion lasts forever and that we’re steadier than we think.
The Surfing Emotions Exercise
Step 1: Notice where it lands
When you feel an uncomfortable emotion surfacing, pause and take a few breaths. Instead of pushing it away, bring your attention to it.
Do a quick body scan and notice where you are experiencing the emotion. For example, your jaw, throat, chest, stomach?
Step 2: Describe the sensation
Focus on that area and notice the exact sensation. Is it hot or cold? Tight or loose? Fluttery or heavy? For example: “There’s a knot in my stomach,” “My jaw feels tense,” “My mouth feels dry.”
If you’re a visual person, you might even imagine giving the emotion a colour or texture.
Step 3: Notice how it shifts
Sit with it. Keep your breath steady, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Notice how the sensation changes: rising, falling, moving. Emotions are fluid, not fixed.
Instead of resisting, try to soften around it. Imagine sending breath into that area.
If visualising is hard, use gentle self-talk: “Of course I feel nervous, this is nerve-wracking.” or “It makes sense I feel hurt, that was upsetting.”
Step 4: Ground yourself
Place your feet firmly on the floor. Breathe in deeply, as if drawing the breath up through your body. Exhale slowly, letting go and softening with each breath.
Why this helps
What you’re teaching your body through this practice is that it’s safe to feel difficult emotions. At a nervous system level, you’re learning that even though emotions can be uncomfortable, you can sit with them and still be okay.
Over time, you’ll start to notice the early signs more quickly, that small twinge in your jaw or chest before it hits you out of nowhere. Instead of suddenly being overwhelmed, you’ll catch it earlier and steady yourself sooner.
This isn’t about getting rid of emotions. We don’t want to, emotions are messengers. Surfing the wave is about creating safety, recognising what emotions are telling us, and learning to ride them in a new way.
A note on practice
Like any skill, this can take time to feel natural. It’s normal to feel uncomfortable at first, or to notice your inner critic saying it’s silly or pointless. You might even feel the emotion intensify for a moment when you put your attention on it, especially if you’re used to ignoring or pushing feelings away.
That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It just means your system is adjusting to something new. Keep working with it gently, and over time it will feel less intimidating and more familiar. Things do shift.
Try it for yourself
Free Resource: I’ve put this exercise into a simple, printable PDF you can keep on hand.
If you try this practice, I’d love to hear how it goes. Do you notice where emotions show up in your body? Are there certain ones that are harder to ride than others?
Share with a friend, or leave a comment and share your reflections, your insight might help someone else learn to move with their emotions.
Thank you so much for this, so so clear & helpful!
I have saved this pdf to my phone, so I have it on hand for whenever needed. thank you again <3