4 Steps to Feeling & Releasing Your Emotions

Emotions are natural signals guiding your growth, energy flow, and well-being. Learning how to feel and release emotions—especially those stored in the body or suppressed over time—helps you stay balanced and empowered.

In this post, you’ll learn four science-backed strategies for effectively releasing emotions.

Why Emotional Awareness Matters

Emotional awareness—the ability to notice, name, and respond to your feelings—is key to psychological health and satisfying relationships (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Studies show that higher emotional awareness reduces anxiety and depression while improving overall life satisfaction (Extremera & Fernández-Berrocal, 2005).

Neuroscience explains why naming emotions helps: affect labeling reduces amygdala activity (part of the brain’s large salience network) and activates the prefrontal cortex, supporting calm and regulation (Lieberman et al., 2007). Simply identifying what you feel begins the process of release.

The Science of Releasing Emotions

Releasing emotions isn’t just psychological—it’s biological. When stress-based emotions remain unprocessed, the body stays in stress mode (McEwen, 1998; Segerstrom & Miller, 2004).

Expressive writing studies confirm that regularly processing emotions lowers blood pressure, boosts immunity, and enhances well-being (Pennebaker & Chung, 2011).

Emotions Stored in the Body

The body “keeps the score” of unprocessed feelings (van der Kolk, 2014). Tight shoulders, clenched jaws, or a heavy chest often signal unreleased emotional energy.

Somatic approaches such as Somatic Experiencing (Payne et al., 2015) and Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2011) show that engaging breath and movement restores safety and emotional flow.

4 Steps to Releasing Emotions

These four science-based frameworks for releasing emotions can help you increase your emotional awareness and develop valuable skills for guiding your nervous system back into releaxation in times of stress.

1. Check In With Yourself

Pause throughout the day and ask, “How am I feeling right now?” This builds interoceptive awareness—the skill of sensing your inner state—which improves regulation and resilience (Critchley & Garfinkel, 2017; Hill & Updegraff, 2012).

2. Identify and Name What You Feel

Use a Feeling Wheel or the emotional guidance scale to identify and clarify emotions. Greater emotional granularity (being specific about what you feel) leads to better mental health and calmer reactivity (Kashdan et al., 2015; Torre & Lieberman, 2018).

Try the following journal prompts for emotional awareness:

• What emotions arose today?

• Where do I feel them in my body?

• What are they asking me to understand or release?

3. Validate Your Experience

Self-validation soothes the nervous system and releases tension. Acknowledging your feelings—without judgment—activates oxytocin, reduces cortisol, and supports recovery (Neff & Germer, 2013; Linehan, 2015). Validation isn’t approval of behavior; it’s acknowledgment of your inner experience.

4. Practice Conscious Release

Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor (2008) found emotions last about 90 seconds unless re-triggered. Ask yourself, “Can I let this go?” and breathe through the wave. This practice engages what researchers call “cognitive defusion” which helps you observe thoughts and emotions as passing mental events. Acceptance and mindfulness allow emotions to pass faster than suppression (Kohl et al., 2012; Hayes et al., 2011).

To summarize the four steps to releasing emotions:

• Check-in with yourself

• Identify and name what you feel

• Validate your experience

• Practice conscious emotional release

Releasing Suppressed Emotions

Suppressed emotions—those pushed away to avoid discomfort—often drive stress and tension (Gross & Levenson, 1997). Emotion-focused therapy (Greenberg & Watson, 2006) and trauma-informed modalities like EMDR or somatic experiencing help safely access and release repressed emotion (Shapiro, 2018; Foa et al., 2009).

These therapeutic processes typically involve:

1.      Creating a safe, supportive environment where emotions can emerge

2.      Gradually building tolerance for uncomfortable emotional experiences

3.      Exploring the origins and protective functions of emotional suppression

4.      Developing new capacities for emotional expression and regulation

For releasing repressed emotion—feelings that have been unconsciously blocked from awareness, often related to trauma or adverse childhood experiences—working with a trained therapist is particularly valuable.

Releasing Emotions Through Movement

Movement is one of the most effective ways to release emotions stored in the body as it leverages the body’s natural capacity to process and dissipate or integrate emotional energy. Here are four science-backed movement practices that can help release emotions:

• Tremoring or shaking (TRE): discharges stress (Berceli & Napoli, 2006)

• Expressive dance: boosts endorphins and reduces cortisol (Quiroga Murcia et al., 2010; Koch et al., 2014)

• Yoga or somatic movement: improves vagal tone and emotion regulation (van der Kolk et al., 2014)

• Cardio exercise: rewires mood pathways and supports neuroplasticity (Schuch et al., 2016)

Emotional Baggage: The Science Perspective

As a conscious evolution author, coach and teacher, I’m inclined to highlight a common misconception around emotional well-being. The idea of emotional baggage—carrying past pain indefinitely—is a myth. Emotions are transient neurobiological states that dissolve when fully processed (Gross, 2015). What lingers are learned response patterns, which have more to do with beliefs and behaviors rather than “baggage.” Through neuroplasticity, these learned behaviors and patterns can be changed (Davidson & McEwen, 2012; Denny & Ochsner, 2014). Mindfulness retrains the brain to create new adaptive and flexible responses, reducing reactivity (Hölzel et al., 2011). You’re not burdened by old emotions—you’re simply rewiring old responses to situations and relationship dynamics.

Creating Your Emotional Release Routine

Developing a sustainable practice for feeling and releasing emotions requires consistency, patience, and self-compassion. The key is to start a small manageable practice and stay consistent (Lally et al., 2010):

• Morning check-in: notice and name feelings.

• Midday release: use breath or movement to clear tension.

• Evening journal: reflect, validate, and let go.

These micro-practices of releasing emotions build fluency in emotional awareness and help keep your body and mind aligned.

Emotional Awareness as a Life-long Skill

The scientific evidence is clear: developing these skills leads to measurable improvements in mental health, physical well-being, relationship quality, and overall life satisfaction. More importantly, this practice returns you to your natural state—one where emotions flow freely, providing valuable information about your needs and values without becoming obstacles to your growth and happiness.

Remember that all emotions, even the most challenging ones, are temporary experiences moving through you. By meeting them with awareness, compassion, and skillful release, you honor both the wisdom they carry and your own capacity for continuous renewal.

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About Kidest OM

Kidest OM is an author, teacher, and educator guiding individuals through personal development and consciousness evolution. As a futurist and co-creator, she offers insightful perspectives and practical tools for manifestation and cultural evolution. Her books include "Manifesting Health & Longevity: New Realities from Quantum Biological Human Beings" and "Nothing in the Way: Clearing the Paths to Success & Fulfilment" which are available globally in eBook, print, and audiobook on her website and through online book retailers. You can also find more inspiration and motivation from Kidest on her blog and social media channels!