Let's get curious; Sitting with Feelings & Moving with emotions
How moving with our emotions can help us
What’s the difference between a feeling and an emotion?
Emotion is energy in motion, it is the energy generated from an experience we have had, and when we bring awareness to this energy within us, we are feeling it. We are being conscious of what that energy feels like in our body. When we say we have a ‘feeling,’ we are saying we are being conscious of that energy travelling through us.
What does ‘to sit with a feeling’ mean?
The term is used to express being present with feeling the emotion. To stay conscious of it, rather than suppressing it, denying it, trying to override it or numb it out to avoid it and become unconscious to it.
How can moving with an emotion help us?
As emotions are energy in motion, that energy wants to move through us to completion, it doesn’t want to remain stagnant in our system for long periods of time. Once we are aware and present with the energy, rather than staying still with it, which can cause us to ruminate over it in our head, taking us out of our body and back into the story of the experience it was generated from, we can facilitate that energetic completion through movement.
What does moving with an emotion look like?
Our body will often know what it needs to do for the emotion to move through to completion. Young children are skilled in moving with their emotions, they don’t try to resist and instead allow an emotion to move fully through, this might look like a tantrum, a crazy 5 mins running around outside, or unapologetically crying and allowing their whole body to move with the tears until they don’t need to do it any more, as the emotion has run its course and the child feels ‘finished’ and moves on to their next thing. As adults, we understand that having a tantrum in public is not a safe way for us to facilitate an emotion’s completion, but what can we do, how could we work with that energy to allow its flow?
Reflections…
How often are to consciously with your emotions?
What supports you in being with your emotions?
Sound and integrating the voice into this process is also important. Sound is energy and another way to facilitate an emotion to completion. Let out breath and sound in whatever form it comes as part of that emotion moving through.
When we move with our emotions, we are embodying them, and when we embody, we are conscious of our state of being. Staying conscious is how we prevent stagnation in both body and mind.
