Heal Emotions from the Body Up
"Healing trauma involves listening to your body’s innate wisdom and allowing it to guide you towards wholeness."
— Peter Levine
What I regularly see in coaching sessions is that we often try to solve emotional challenges by thinking or talking our way through them. This is called a top-down approach, starting at the ‘top’ (the thinking mind) with the hope that it will lead us ‘down’ into the body and into feeling.
And while insight can be powerful, it is not always enough to create lasting change.
There is another way. A way that works with the body, not just the mind.
I want to share an approach that has shaped my own healing and the work I do with clients: the somatic, bottom-up approach.
An alternative way in
Recently, I was having an initial coaching session with someone I had not met before. After speaking for about ten minutes, I sensed something deeper beneath the words – a sense of sadness or resentment that had not been fully processed.
Since we had not worked together before, I offered a choice:
Would it be more useful to continue talking, or would they be open to trying a somatic approach, one that involves closing your eyes and being gently guided through experiencing emotions in the body?
She said she had done years of traditional talk therapy and was open to exploring something new.
We began by grounding (from the floor up), first noticing the feet on the floor, then the contact with the chair, and finally the rhythm of the breath around the chest or belly. These are resources a person can use to stay anchored if any sensations or emotions become too strong.
Once grounded, I asked where in the body she felt the sadness or resentment we had uncovered earlier.
As we explored those sensations, I invited her to describe what she was noticing. Some people connect visually, so I might ask:
If that sensation had a shape, material, or colour – or even a weather pattern – what would it be?
If imagery does not come easily, I suggest using direct descriptors: pressure, heat, lightness, contraction, spaciousness, heaviness.
The invitation is simple:
Stay with the sensation (in the body), and avoid going back into the story (in the mind).
A practice of self-compassion
If there is one thing I would love for you to take away, it is this:
Self-compassion is the most important quality to bring into your healing.
I often talk about:
Welcoming
Embracing
Holding space
...for the emotions and sensations that arise. Sometimes I say:
Imagine you were caring for a child who was experiencing those emotions.
How would you treat them? What would your tone or approach be?
For example:
This is uncomfortable, but for the next few minutes, I will be present with you.
I am sorry it took me this long to notice you.
Please be patient with me. I am learning how to feel.
You can count on me to keep coming back and looking after you.
This is a process of learning to hold space for our own emotional experiences – not avoiding them, not being overwhelmed by them, but staying present with what is.
Caring presence, without interpretation
In a different session, a client I have worked with for over a year came in feeling paralysed about taking action on a start-up he and his business partner are developing.
I invited him to describe what he noticed, whether through imagery or sensation. I asked him to offer presence and kindness to what he found, just as I had with the new client.
At the end of the practice, he opened his eyes and asked:
That was very useful, but: What does this mean? Is this related to my mother? My father? Trauma?
I replied:
Sometimes it helps to know the cause, but it is not necessary for processing and moving forward. The most important thing is that your system learns it can hold space for anything that comes up.
That insight shifted something for him. He often gets pulled back into his head, searching for meaning, but this gave him a new anchor: the value of presence over interpretation.
Insight is not always the answer
Our bodies have the capacity to process emotions naturally, without needing to understand them rationally. But our minds are built for analysis. We are wired to find meaning, to interpret, to connect dots. We think that understanding helps us avoid repeating mistakes. And sometimes, it does.
But healing does not always come through insight.
It often comes through gentle, loving presence – a quiet, sustained, curious, and non-judgmental attention to what is already here.
This bottom-up, somatic approach teaches us to meet our emotional experience in real time, with tenderness and strength, instead of trying to manage it from a distance by thinking rather than feeling.
This process is not about rejecting the mind or avoiding insights, which can indeed be helpful. Instead, it is about complementing all the thinking work with our natural capacity to heal and process emotions and experiences, simply by being present.
A simple practice for today
If you have been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or like you have talked something through over and over but still find no relief, this might be a helpful experiment.
Set aside 5 to 10 minutes and sit or lie somewhere quiet and close your eyes.
If you are sitting, place your feet flat on the ground. Feel the connection to the floor. Let your body feel supported by the chair. If you are lying, feel the mattress beneath you.
Become aware of your breath. Become aware of where it is most noticeable, maybe around the chest, the belly, or the flow of air through your nostrils. Take a few slow breaths, focusing on the sensation of breathing in the body.
Bring to mind the situation that has been bothering you. Without diving into the story, ask: Where do I feel this in my body? Describe it, using either metaphors (shape, colour, weather, material) or direct sensations (tightness, pressure, heat, pulsing, hollowness).
Stay with it for a few breaths. Offer it presence. You might say:
You are welcome here.
This is uncomfortable, but I will stay with you.
I am sorry I have ignored you. I am learning to listen.
You can count on me.
These simple acts of caring presence allow emotions and experiences to be processed. Think of this process like parenting a child: with love, care, and attention, but also with clarity, boundaries, and wise guidance.
We live in a world that encourages analysis, productivity, and solving. But healing and transformation often start with presence, acceptance, and a different kind of listening.
In the coming days, I invite you to:
Pause.
Drop into the body.
Ask what is here, and allow it.
I would love to hear from your experience with this approach in the comments.
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