(#95) Your Feelings Are Feedback: Nervous System Practices to Feel Without Becoming & Understand Emotional Reasoning

Do your emotions ever feel like the absolute truth? In this episode, we're breaking down one of the most common (and sneaky) mental traps: emotional reasoning—the idea that “if I feel it, it must be real.”

💭 “I feel anxious, so something must be wrong.”
 💭 “I feel guilty, so I must’ve done something bad.”
 💭 “I feel overwhelmed, so I probably can’t handle this.”

Sound familiar? You're not alone. This pattern can spiral fast and it’s deeply tied to nervous system dysregulation and unprocessed emotional experiences.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing:
🌿 Why your brain & body often confuse past fear with present danger
🌿 How to identify when you’re being the emotion vs feeling it
🌿 5 somatic practices to bring regulation, clarity, and grounded safety back into your body
🌿 How to stop letting feelings override your self-trust and intuition
🌿 What it really means to relate to your emotions instead of resist them

Whether you identify as a big feeler, a highly sensitive soul, or just someone who’s been riding an anxious wave lately, this episode is for you. Tune in for honest reflections, somatic tools, and mindset shifts that help you reclaim your power without bypassing your emotions.

🧘‍♀️ Grab your free somatic resource library (Breathe Easy) inside the Somatic Healing Newsletter !

💌 Want to share what came up for you? Send me a voice note → speakpipe.com/somatichealingpodcast

WORK W. ME
Somatic Breathwork Experiences
Events
Return to Soul Retreat

CONNECT
The Monthly Newsletter
DM on IG
Website
Subscribe & Review Apple Podcasts
Follow & Rate Spotify

Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the podcast.
If you are new here, I'm Rae,I'm a somatic coach and
breathwork facilitator, and ifyou aren't new here, welcome
back.
I'm so glad that you're tuningin for today's episode.
So for today's episode, Iwanted to build off of one of
the tools that I mentioned inlast week's episode called

(00:20):
observation versusidentification.
Called observation versusidentification and I think this
is something that is so commonwhen we are navigating any kind
of challenge with anxiety orsadness or grief or shame is
that we end up identifying withthe emotion and making it feel
like we are that thing.
And so I wanted to use thisepisode to really dive deeper

(00:42):
into that concept and just sharea bit more about it.
And I can share, even formyself, that I am a super
emotional person, which is, youknow, why I got into this work
because I was really interestedin learning about all of this
for myself as well, and I, youknow, I definitely will not say
that I'm perfect, but I will saythat it's taken me so much time

(01:07):
and learning to really not letmy emotions drive me, but I will
say that now I do have, youknow, a lot of different tools
and awareness around the partsof me that are, you know,
anxious or sad, or feel shame orgrief.
And so now I'm able todifferentiate between different

(01:27):
emotions and I can differentiatebetween when I'm getting like
an intuitive hit and anintuitive knowing, rather than
like an anxious worry, or when Ihave some kind of need that
maybe is coming up, maybe I'mnot expressing myself as much as
I need to, or something likethat.
I'm able to differentiatebetween all of those things

(01:48):
because I'm able to have a bitof space between my emotions,
which I think is, you know, agreat place to be in.
And it comes with, you know,more responsibility of owning
how we're feeling and owning ouremotions and understanding how
to work with them on a differentlevel.
And there's this funny thingthat can happen sometimes with

(02:11):
different feelings and emotions,especially if you're an
intuitive person and you're abig feeler.
And it kind of goes somethinglike well, if I feel this thing,
it must be true.
Well, if I feel this thing, itmust be true.
But in fact feelings are notfacts and feelings are really
feedback, they're information,they're more insight, more

(02:33):
knowledge for us to kind ofunderstand different things that
might be coming up for us, andthey're not necessarily fact, as
in they're not necessarily true.
So if you've ever felt, youknow I'm feeling super anxious,
so something must be wrong.
That is a form of, likeemotional reasoning, and it's

(02:55):
when we interpret the feeling ofanxiety and the emotion to mean
that it's real and it's trueand something is, you know,
definitely wrong.
And yes, sometimes yes, ofcourse that's true Our anxiety
can be like an accurateprotector, and other times it
doesn't necessarily mean thatsomething is wrong.

(03:17):
It might mean that you'refeeling a feeling, and so
another example might be I feelguilty, so I must have done
something wrong, or I feel superscared, so this must be
dangerous, or I feel superoverwhelmed, so I definitely
can't handle this Like I'moverwhelmed.
And what ends up happening isthat you begin to rely on your

(03:39):
emotions as evidence thatappears to be real and proof and
fact, when in fact it'sinformation.
Our feelings and emotions arefeedback, information and
insight.
Why does this happen?
Right, so, like, if this issomething that happens and it's
not always true, like, well, why?
Why are we wired this way ashumans?

(04:01):
And I think what ends uphappening is the brain and the
body interpret emotions,especially fear and anxiety, as
fact, so that when emotions andanxiety carry all this
information, it's reallyinformation that might not have
been processed, might have notbeen metabolized or understood
yet, and so we keep.

(04:23):
We find ourselves in theseanxious loops and these fear
based loops because the brainand the body are interpreting
the emotion of fear as beingsomething that's true, and then
we start making meaning aboutthings that aren't necessarily
true, when really it's like afeeling that we had that wasn't
processed or fully understoodyet.

(04:43):
And to elaborate a little bitmore on like why this happens,
is because the mind and the bodydon't really have an idea of
how to distinguish betweensomething that is a threat from
the past or something that isactually happening right now,
unless we teach it how to dothat, it how to do that.

(05:13):
So an example might be we'refeeling anxious and our heart
begins to race really fast, andit means that something's wrong
and you must be in danger.
Or tension means that somethingreally bad is going to happen,
or, you know, foggy thinkingmeans that you cannot trust
yourself.
And in actuality, none of thatis really true.
It's the brain and the body andthe mind trying to make sense

(05:35):
of a feeling that's felt in thebody and it's creating a story
and adding meaning to it, and weare humans, so we are like
meaning making machines.
This is what we do, and thebody and the mind are connected
and that's what happens.
So we start making meanings ofdifferent feelings that are

(05:55):
really a felt sensation in thebody, and I think this is a
great place to introduce thesomatic work and really working
with the body and working withthose sensations in the body
rather than identifying withthem.
And you can use some somaticpractices here to pause, to
regulate, understand, see andwitness your thoughts, your

(06:17):
feelings, your emotions.
And there's a few differentways that you can do this.
The first is noticing thefeeling, so noticing that when
you feel some tension in yourchest, that this is a feeling of
anxiety, it's not necessarily asign that you know you're in

(06:39):
immediate danger.
It is a feeling in the bodythat has feedback for you.
It has some insight, someinformation that it wants to
share with you.
Feedback for you.
It has some insight, someinformation that it wants to
share with you.
So it's like working withunderstanding and feeling and
noticing that sensation in thebody and noticing and seeing it
for what it is.
The second is breathing andplacing a hand on your body.

(07:01):
You can even place your hand onthe sensation, like on the area
that's feeling anxious orunsafe or sad, and you can
breathe and as you breathe,notice the center of your palm
on that feeling and send it someof that breath and you can say,
like this is a feeling, I'msafe to feel this, I don't need

(07:22):
to become this feeling, it doesnot define me, but it's here,
I'm here, I'm a feeling, I'msafe to feel this feeling and
really sit with it in that way.
The third somatic practice thatyou could do is bring yourself
back into the present moment.
So, especially with anxiousspirals and emotional spirals,
we can find ourselves eitherlike super far in the past or

(07:44):
super far in the future andwe're like not in the present.
So, allowing yourself to pause,get back into the moment that
you're in, look around, seewhere you are, notice what's
around you if you need to groundground, notice your feet on the
ground, really be with yourselfand do what you can to bring
yourself back into the presentmoment.

(08:06):
And then the fourth practice itkind of builds off of the first
and the second is noticing wherein your body you feel this.
So you can do that through abody scan.
You can kind of close your eyes, sit with it and see where the
sensation is coming up in thebody.
And is there a place also inyour body that feels safe?

(08:26):
Is there a place that feels abit more safe that you can kind
of titrate between the twosensations?
And then the fifth practice, thelast one that I'll share with
you, is moving the body, somekind of movement that will help
you to either create some spacewith the feeling, like sometimes
you need that where you need tolike shake it out, you need to

(08:49):
kind of like clear, like let goof it, or maybe you need a
movement that is more gentle.
Or maybe you need a movementthat is more gentle.
Maybe it's like a butterfly hugor like holding yourself in a
way that feels really supportivefor you.
Maybe it's laying down and onyour back and like feeling the
ground underneath you, feelingit be really supportive and like

(09:11):
really holding you.
So the fifth, in general, isjust some sort of movement that
would really help you to workwith the sensation of the
feeling and the emotion in a waythat would feel really
supportive for you.
Their information, they're notbad or wrong, but they are

(09:39):
alerting you that, yeah, maybesomething is happening on the
inside not always necessarily onthe outside of our experience.
It's like an inner experienceand I wonder, like if there
might be a story that you aretelling yourself when it comes
to feeling anxiety, and whatthat story might be, and how can
we work with that story,understand it, understand the
sensation, see what informationmight be there for us and use

(10:03):
that information to move forwardand metabolize and process the
feeling.
And so that is what we have fortoday's episode.
I hope that you enjoyed learningmore about observing our
emotions, not always identifyingwith them, slowing down,
understanding that feelings,thoughts, emotions they are

(10:23):
feedback and information andinsight and they are here for us
to learn and grow and help usto move forward and understand
ourselves on a deeper level.
So I hope that you enjoyed it.
I love hearing from you.
You can send me a DM, you cansend me a voice note, an email.
Let me know what your favoritetakeaway was.

(10:44):
And if you want access to theSomatic Healing newsletter and
the free resource library ofabout 20 different breathwork
meditation practices, check outthe show notes to sign up for
that.
And, yeah, I hope that you havean incredible rest of your day.
I hope you have an incrediblerest of your week and I will

(11:05):
talk to you soon.
Thank you for being here andtuning in to Somatic Healing for
Wellness-Focused Women podcast.
If you were moved or inspiredby today's episode, please take
a moment to leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
It truly helps the podcast growand helps more people find me
on their healing journey.

(11:26):
Make sure to check out the shownotes to sign up for the
monthly newsletter, links tomore resources, opportunities to
work with me and ways that wecan stay connected.
If we aren't already connectedon social media, head over to
Instagram to follow me atraythesomaticcoach.
Send me a DM.
I'd love to connect with youand I answer each note that

(11:48):
comes in.
I am so happy you're here and Icannot wait to talk with you on
our next episode of the podcast.