Somatic exploration: build capacity for emotion

There is a practice I teach with some regularity that I have termed the 'zoom out' practice, or the 'artichoke' practice. This somatic exploration of our experience in our body can help to create space around our emotions, and help us parse out what is actually going on, as well as start to build some capacity to sit with our feelings.

This practice can be used for two different goals.

1. It can be used in moments when our emotions feel too overwhelming or confusing to sit with.

   When our loudest feeling is too difficult to feel, that does not mean we have to choose between all or nothing/feeling or suppressing. Instead, we can work to zoom out until we find one that does feel manageable, slowly building a somatic awareness of our emotions, and our capacity to sit with them. The mantra I want to offer here is - Feel the first feeling that is manageable

   
   

2. It can also be used in calm, regulated moments too. We can use these moments to explore some of our trickier, more confusing experiences, and start to build some capacity to 'feel our feelings'.

What do I mean by 'zooming out'? Let me offer an example.

You might feel an intense anxiety that you cannot sit with. Rather than forcing yourself to sit with it and risk overwhelm, zoom back a little until you can find what other ‘parts’ are there. You might find on that zoom out that you are feeling scared about sitting with that anxiety. Can you sit with this part? If not, continue zooming out. You might notice an annoyance that you are feeling anxious and can’t sit with it. Does that part feel manageable to sit with? If not, continue zooming out until you find a layer that does feel manageable. 

I invite you to take the following two questions out into your daily life, into yoga classes, and into any scenario where you find yourself trying to sit with difficult emotions. 

What is my experience right now?

How do I feel towards that experience?

If it feels safe to, you might choose to explore each of these layers further, untangling what feels like one emotion into lots of different distinct and discrete parts and zooming out until you have found all your parts. If you want to, the below practice guides you through some somatic explorations of these parts.

Take space to practice

A great way to get to know all your 'layers' or 'parts' is to physically sketch or map them out.

Choose a situation or emotion you have been navigating recently. Start with the loudest emotion/experience that you feel in your body. You can ask yourself that first question - 'What is my experience right now?'.

You do not have to find a descriptor that makes sense. You might have a very clear answer like 'anxiety', but it might be vaguer - 'yucky', 'heavy', 'sticky', 'big', 'I don't want to feel this'. You might have just a shape or an image, or just a feeling!

You can give this part as much detail as you like. Learn how it feels, what the physical sensations are, if you have a sense for the motivation of each part. You might draw what your emotions look like, or where you feel them in your body. 

When you feel you have gotten to know this part, or you have sat with it as long as feels manageable, you can ask the second question - 'How do I feel towards this experience?'.

In the same fashion, explore this next experience, giving it as much detail as you want. Explore its sensations, notice if it feels more or less manageable to sit with.

Keep this practice going, asking yourself 'how do I feel towards this experience' and moving through each part of your experience, each emotion you might be holding, until you have them all down on paper.

As you move through these layers of experience, you might (key word here - might) eventually find a soft warm understanding or compassion. The theory this exploration is based in is called Internal Family Systems, and this theory calls this, the Self. Your truest self, the self you are beneath all the layers of your emotions and experiences, you at your heart. If you find this Self, allow yourself to sit in the experience in the same way. Explore your Self energy, learn how it feels to be there with your true heart self.

The value of this practice is that rather than trying to force right to the inner layer, we can soften into openness, shifting one layer at a time. Start with the outermost layer, learn to feel safe and comfortable there and gradually work in towards the center. This is how we can start to build capacity to sit with our emotions whilst keeping our nervous system within the window of tolerance, ultimately building regulative flexibility, which is so important in healing our nervous systems.

Let me know how the practice went for you!