Somatic Meditation for Emotional Release

We begin by settling into our practice with mindful breath awareness, sensing where you can feel the gentle expansion on your inhalation, and where you notice the soft contraction on your exhalation. Breath awareness can serve as a grounding and soothing practice, inviting us to shift from thinking into feeling.

Next, we explore self-havening, which is a nurturing self-soothing touch intended to anchor you to the present moment, welcoming calm and restoring an inner sense of balance. This technique is useful when strong physical, mental, and emotional sensations arise. You can return to this self-soothing touch at any point during your practice and also in your daily life when strong sensations arise.

You’ll be invited to explore your physical connection to the earth, visualizing yourself tethered to the earth like the roots of a tree, creating a strong and supportive foundation.

We continue our practice with a full body scan, gently scanning for areas of ease and relaxation, as well as areas of tension and discomfort. You’ll be invited to focus on a sensation that calls for your attention, whether that be physical, emotional, or a feeling. Once you’ve located the sensation, you’ll be invited to send love and kindness to this sensation through your breath. We’ll also explore visualization, self-touch, and affirmations to nurture this sensation with compassion.

As with all somatic practices, there’s no goal or objective to achieve. Simply being present with the sensation, acknowledging it, and offering love and kindness to the sensation may be enough to allow the emotion to surface and be expressed.

You might even find that the emotion is released following the practice, especially if you choose to journal afterward.

It is also quite possible that an emotional release doesn’t happen, and that’s perfectly okay. The invitation is to meet yourself exactly where you are, and show compassion to yourself throughout this process. Many of us have been taught, either explicitly or implicitly, to suppress emotions, so it may take time for your body to feel safe enough to release them. This is why it’s called a practice. Emotional release will come in time. Trust that it’s a part of the healing process.

You are encouraged to return to this meditation practice whenever it feels good!