In short: emotions are not just thought about: they are felt in the chest, stomach, throat or hands. In EMDR therapy We pay attention to those sensations because they say a lot about how an experience continues to affect you. Here is what the research says about it: Body map of emotions and a simple exercise to start listening to your body.
When we work with EMDR, Paying attention to bodily sensations can help us better understand how certain experiences continue to affect us.
Sometimes you remember something that happened to you years ago and, although you know that it belongs to the past, when you talk about it you feel fear, anxiety, embarrassment or a very intense tension again. You may notice a knot in your stomach, pressure in your chest or a desire to move away from what you are feeling.
In EMDR, emotions and bodily sensations can provide valuable information about how you are experiencing an experience and how your nervous system is responding.
Emotions are not only felt in the mind; they are also expressed through the body. Learning to recognize these signals can help us better understand what we are feeling and what we need at any given moment.
How do emotions manifest themselves in the body?
When we feel an emotion, our body responds. This can include changes in breathing, an increase in heart rate, muscle tension, or sensations in the stomach, throat, or chest.
These responses are part of the way we prepare to face what we are experiencing. For example, fear can put us on alert, sadness can be accompanied by a feeling of heaviness, and joy can make us feel more energetic.
However, not all people experience emotions in the same way. Perhaps you notice anxiety in your stomach, while another person feels it mainly in their chest. Even you can experience it differently depending on the situation.
What does the body map of emotions tell us?
This illustration represents the areas of the body where people usually perceive changes associated with different emotions. It relates to research on so-called body maps of emotions, which study how we describe the physical sensations associated with what we feel. In general, some patterns that appear in this research are:
- Joy: It can be accompanied by a sensation of activation in different parts of the body.
- Anxiety and fear: They can feel like tension, acceleration, or restlessness, especially in the chest or abdomen.
- Sadness: Some people describe a feeling of heaviness, less energy, or a sense of weakness.
- Ira: It can be accompanied by muscle tension, heat or a feeling of accumulated energy.
These examples are indicative, not fixed rules. The infographic is not a diagnostic test and does not mean that a bodily sensation always corresponds to a specific emotion.
And what if you don't know how to identify what you're feeling?
Sometimes, when I ask you in a consultation how you are feeling, you might answer: «I don’t know,» «I’m not okay,» or «I have anxiety.» And that might be the best you can manage to identify at that moment.
It's okay. Recognizing emotions is a skill that can be developed, especially if you haven't had many opportunities to pay attention to what you're feeling or to express it confidently.
One way to start is to stop demanding that you immediately find the right word and turn your attention for a moment to your body. You can ask yourself:
- What am I noticing right now?
- In which part of the body do I feel it?
- Is it pressure, heat, cold, tension, tingling, or heaviness?
- What was happening just before this sensation appeared?
- Is there any emotion that might be related to it?
You don't need to find the perfect answer. The goal isn't to analyze every sensation or to always get it right; the goal is to start observing yourself with curiosity and without judging yourself.
A small exercise to connect with your emotions
The next time you notice something affecting you, try dedicating a minute to it.
- Take a break. If it feels comfortable, take a moment and gently bring your attention to your body.
- Locate the sensation. Notice if you notice anything in your chest, abdomen, throat, face, hands, or any other area.
- Describe what you perceive. Instead of saying, «I'm feeling terrible,» try to be more specific: «My chest feels tight» or «I feel a knot in my stomach.».
- Explore what might be happening. Ask yourself what happened, what thoughts came up, and whether any emotions match what you’re experiencing.
- Grant yourself permission to not know. If you can't identify the emotion, don't force yourself. You can simply acknowledge the feeling and continue with your day.
If focusing on the body increases your discomfort, you can stop the exercise and turn your attention to the surroundings: observe the objects in front of you, listen to the sounds around you, or feel the contact of your feet with the ground.
Listening to your body is also a way to take care of yourself
Learning to recognize bodily sensations can help you better understand your emotions, detect when something is affecting you, and discover what you need.
If you have trouble identifying what you're feeling, if you're overwhelmed by emotions, or if you've been disconnected from your own needs for a long time, the therapy It can offer you a space to understand what is happening to you and to learn new ways of relating to yourself.
In therapy, we work specifically so that you can recognize your emotions, understand how they relate to your experiences, and respond to them in a more conscious and respectful way towards yourself.
Sometimes, the first step isn’t knowing exactly what’s going on, but starting to listen to your body.
Frequently asked questions about emotions and the body
Why is the body addressed in EMDR therapy?
Because bodily sensations provide information about how an experience continues to affect you and how your nervous system responds. When talking about something from the past, you may notice a knot in your stomach or pressure in your chest even though you know it has already happened: that is what EMDR is about.
Do all people feel emotions in the same place on the body?
No. Body maps of emotions show general patterns (anxiety in the chest or abdomen, sadness as heaviness), but each person experiences them in their own way, and even the same person experiences them differently depending on the situation. They are guidelines, not rules.
What do I do if I don't know what I'm feeling?
Don't try to find the exact word. Focus on the body and ask yourself what the notes are, where they are, and how they are (pressure, heat, tension, heaviness). Recognizing emotions is a skill that can be learned, especially if you haven't had many opportunities to practice it.
What if focusing on my body makes me feel worse?
Let go of the exercise and turn your attention outward: look at the objects in front of you, listen to the sounds, or feel your feet on the ground. If this happens often, it’s something that’s worth working on together in therapy, without forcing it.
About the infographic and the sources
- Nummenmaa, L., Glerean, E., Hari, R. and Hietanen, J. K. (2014). Bodily maps of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(2), 646–651. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321664111
- Volynets, S. et al. (2020). Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal. Emotion, 20(7), 1127–1136. doi.org/10.1037/emo0000624
These studies examine the bodily sensations that people associate with different emotions. Their results help to understand the relationship between the body and emotional experience, but they do not provide a universal map that allows for the diagnosis of an individual emotion based on a specific body area.
Sonia López Cano, health psychologist Member M-25306 at the Official College of Psychology of Madrid and as an EMDR therapist. I treat online therapy by video call, in Spanish and English.
