Emotion – it is word that provokes mixed experience in people from wanting to talk about it to wanting to avoid it and run away from it.
The word “emotion” originates from the Latin word “emovere”.
- “e-” meaning “out” or “away.”
- “movere” meaning “to move.”
I’d like to build on that idea of movement and invite to you look at the emotion as energy in motion. Why energy you ask? Because literary, emotion is a cascade of energy—and by energy, I don’t mean some magical voodoo experience. I mean literal energy transmission: neurons firing and cascades of hormones being released that result – these are energy producing reactions in your body.
This surge of energy can show up for you as restlessness, warmth or heat in the body, tension, coldness, a racing mind, and or in habits such as a compulsion to eat, smoke, scroll on the phone… anything really. But as long as we brace ourselves and resist the onset and movement of this energy in our body, we trap it inside. It doesn’t go anywhere—it gets stored in the body.
In it’s unrestricted state, every emotion follows a wave pattern: it rises, crescents, and falls.
We often freak out when experiencing emotions (energy in motion) as bodily sensations—often uncomfortable or downright disturbing—because we’re afraid of them. Or, we might be so detached from our body that we only experience emotions as compulsion, a craving for destruction, an intense pull, or racing thoughts. But these are all symptoms of preventing the emotion from unfolding.
By freaking out at the experience of emotion in our bodies, we arrest this movement energy—quite often at the crescent, the most intense stage. We don’t allow the full wave to unfold, release, and recede. We might find temporary relief by distracting ourselves—watching TV, playing a game, etc. And don’t get me wrong—I’m not opposed to using distraction at times to ease the intensity of what we’re feeling.
What we need to remember is that if this energy charge is arrested and not discharged, it will come back to haunt us—often when we least expect it… like when we’re trying to sleep, or while at work when something reminds us of the original incident, or when we’re intoxicated. Sometimes it just stays silently stored in the body as inflammation. There are many ways this energy can show itself, often without our conscious consent.
This is basic physics. There’s no magic here. It’s not something you can logic your way out of.
So, what can we do?
We can choose how we respond when emotion (energy in motion) shows up. We can start by normalizing the experience of uncomfortable sensations that come with emotions, and let them rise, crest, and fall using grounding and breathwork.
Here’s one technique to try:
- Check in with your body.
What emotion(s) are you experiencing? Name them. - Notice the sensations that accompany those emotions.
Identify their location, and assign a color and shape to them. - Shift your full focus to breathing.
Take 3 breaths, paying attention to the rise and fall of your stomach. - Return to the sensations.
Has anything changed? Color, shape, location, intensity (more, same, or less)? - Go back to the breath.
Take 3 more focused breaths. - Repeat.
Then check in with the sensations again.
With each cycle—and with each subtle change in your sensations—you are allowing the natural wave of energy to rise, crest, and fall. You are giving the body permission to move through the process.
With every round of attention and breath, you are releasing the energy through the shifting sensations in your body.
The body sensations are the movement of energy itself.
This is how the discharge happens—not by thinking through it, but by staying with the body’s language of sensation.
When clients tell me “It’s not working, I am not feeling a change in sensations.” I ask, “Were you able to stay with your breath and body sensations, or did your mind wonder off thinking about this and that?”
They almost always reply, “Yeah, my mind wandered off.” The key is to keep the focus in here and now and it may take a bit of practice.
If this approach isn’t for you—don’t give up.
There are other ways to work with emotion (energy in motion):
- Writing – Express all your thoughts and emotions on paper, without censorship or inhibition.
- Movement – Let your body move in a way that feels aligned with what you’re feeling.
These are just three methods—but the possibilities for release are endless.
The biggest takeaway: Emotion is energy in motion—and it either gets stuck or released depending on how we respond to it.
I am here to help you thrive in every relationship – starting with yourself.
Viktoria
