Let’s talk about big emotions for a minute. How comfortable are you with feeling and processing big emotions?

Feelings like anger, jealousy, resentment, grief, shame, guilt, and rage are not “fun” emotions to feel. And if you’re like most busy women out there, you’re not actually taking the time (especially during this busy time of year) to fully feel and process whatever you’re feeling.

It’s understandable. We live in a culture that loves to avoid feeling difficult feelings. And most of us didn’t grow up in a family where we were taught how to move through tough emotions with some modicum of grace and ease.

Most of us are walking around with a (sometimes thick) layer of coping mechanisms between us, our feelings, and the world around us. But trying to keep that sh*t pushed down and held in will exhaust you and create more harm than good in your body. The stress that comes with the holidays can only add to the mix.

 

There are a handful of simple practices you can do to help move stuck energy and big emotions out and through you – so you’re not…

⚡️ Pushing your feelings down or holding them in

⚡️ Perpetuating inflammation and stress chemistry in your body

⚡️ Neglecting or abandoning yourself and your needs along the way

 

These practices will help you feel better fast – and YES, they will also help you feel more at home in your body, too. Most of them only take a handful of minutes to do.

• Breathe: Pausing to take 3 deep full breaths – inhale fully, exhale fully – can change so much in less than 1 minute. And you can do it just about anywhere at just about any time. Ask your loved ones to do this with you if things have become overwhelming or heated.
• Move your body: Walking, dance, yoga, Pilates – any movement, but especially intentional movement – will help move stuck energy and difficult feelings in powerful ways. It will also reduce stress and help you feel better.
• Stomping: You can do this indoors (just take off your shoes) or outdoors if you want to wear big boots or shoes with a lug sole for greater effect. Stomp around. Swing your arms. Growl if you need. Turn on some music. Let it loose for 3-5 minutes. You’ll be a different woman on the other side.

• Pushing against a wall with your hands: Take a step back from the wall so you can push your hands, and your weight, into the wall. PUUUUSSSSHHHHH with all your might. This is a powerful exercise to move “hot” emotions, and it’s very effective to. Push for as long as you need.

• Vocalize your feelings: Sing at the top of your lungs, scream into a pillow, growl and moan while you stomp around, make sounds when you exhale. Using your voice in this way moves energy, and it helps shift your nervous system out of fight/flight and into rest/digest.
• Receive intentional & respectful touch: As a former massage therapist, I can’t tell you how healing touch can be. Whether you receive a hug (especially one that lasts a minimum of 20 seconds), or book a chair massage at your local health food store, or schedule a 90-minute deep tissue session – you will feel better, and it will help move your “issues” out of your tissues. 😉

 

Amidst the busy-ness of this season, as wonderful as it can be, we still need time and space to integrate our experiences and process the feelings that are being stirred – whatever they may be.

 

Try these practices in the coming days and weeks – and throughout 2025, too! Your vitality, health, and sanity will be all the better for it. And you will feel better fast, too.