How to Feel Your Emotions: Why the Little Things Are the Big Things
If you’ve ever wondered how to feel your emotions without being overwhelmed by them, you’re not alone.
So many of us were taught to stay calm, keep it together, and move on; but that approach only takes us further from what we actually feel.
Feeling your emotions isn’t about effort or control. It’s about slowing down enough to notice what your body already knows.
And in that noticing, something profound starts to shift.
The “little” moments that signal deep change
In sessions last week with two of my 1:1 somatic coaching clients, both shared experiences that could sound like little things, but are actually really big things.
For one, it was allowing herself to feel angry and frustrated about something disappointing that happened, without judging or shaming herself for feeling that way. She noticed how different it felt to simply be in the emotion, to let it move through until it naturally softened.
We’ve spent months gently supporting her body to feel emotion that had been held for years, and to re-wire the beliefs about what it means to experience anger, frustration, grief, and sadness.
For another, the moment came when she chose not to be drawn into a conversation she didn’t want to be a part of. We’ve worked somatically with her pattern of staying quiet to keep the peace: so using her voice, even when it felt uncomfortable, was a profound act of self-trust.
These may look like small moments from the outside. But to a somatic practitioner, they’re evidence of deep transformation.
They show me that a woman’s capacity to live authentically — to feel what’s true and express it — is growing.
They show me that her body is becoming less weighed down by old, undigested emotions.
They show me that she’s no longer looping in old patterns of behaviour, but meeting life from her adult, present-day self, with access to her voice and to choice.
Why we often resist feeling our emotions
Many of us grew up believing emotions were something to control, manage, or rise above. Anger was unattractive or “not feminine”. Sadness was embarrassing. Frustration meant we were impatient.
So we learned to keep calm, stay polite, and hold it all together.
But the more we suppress emotion, the more the body carries it. It shows up as tension in the chest, exhaustion, indecision, anxiety, or the sense that we’re living slightly out of sync with ourselves.
When people ask me how to feel my emotions, what they’re really asking is:
How do I stop wronging or neglecting myself when I feel something uncomfortable?
Feeling isn’t fixing, it’s listening
You don’t need me to tell you that, in 2025, wellness and healing can often look big and extreme. From cold plunges to plant medicine to ten-day silent retreats, it can start to feel like if it’s not dramatic, it’s not worth doing.
Somatic work isn’t about big or dramatic.
My clients and I don’t chase big things.
We work with what’s real: the everyday emotions, choices, words, and experiences that quietly change how you show up in the world.
This is what somatic coaching is about: learning to listen to your body’s cues. The body doesn’t lie. It tells us what feels right, what feels off, and what needs attention — but only when we slow down enough to listen.
How somatic coaching helps you feel your emotions safely
In my 1:1 work with women in Sydney and online, we follow your body’s cues, at your body’s pace.
Together, we explore:
What your body is communicating through emotion, tension or recurring challenges
The patterns of behaviour that once kept you safe but now keep you stuck
How to stay connected to yourself and your body when big feelings arise: without numbing, judging, or spiralling
As your body learns that it’s safe to feel, you start responding to life with more ease, clarity, and trust in yourself.
Because the little things — feeling an emotion instead of analysing it, using your voice instead of staying silent — are the big things. They’re what transform how you feel in your body.
If you’re ready to feel different
If you’ve spent years putting everyone else’s needs before your own, it’s no wonder decisions can feel confusing or overwhelming. Over time, your body learns that it’s safer to keep the peace than to listen to what it truly needs, but that doesn’t have to stay your default.
You can begin right now, with a free online class designed to help you reconnect to your body and feel your emotions with confidence.
Join me for Cultivate Self-Trust: The Overwhelm Edition — a 60-minute somatic exploration where we’ll gently explore why overwhelm, anxiety, and indecision arise, and how to deepen trust in your body’s signals so that knowing what’s right for you becomes second nature. You can reserve your free spot here.