The Hidden Language of Emotions

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Maria T. Resele, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.

Understanding and Transforming Emotional Energy

Emotions are not abstract invisible forces. They are energy in motion. We don’t just think emotions; we feel them, sense them, embody them. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, emotional energy constantly flows through us, influencing our physiology, behaviors, and relationships. As an integrative somatic therapist, I’ve witnessed how becoming aware of this energy is the key to emotional freedom and resilience.

The Energy of Emotion
Emotional energy is deeply contagious. You’ve likely experienced this first-hand, walking into a room where someone is angry; even if they smile or speak kindly, something feels off. Their emotional state permeates the space, affecting your own. This phenomenon highlights how attuned we are to the emotional frequencies of others.

Emotions don’t just exist in the mind; they are embodied experiences. They signal connection, tension, or safety, often without words. In this way, emotional energy becomes a silent language, shaping how we relate to the world and to ourselves.

Why Emotional States Shape Outcomes
Our emotional state influences not just how we feel, but what we experience. Consider these two scenarios:

Scenario A: You do some work while feeling joyful.
Scenario B: You do some work while feeling frustrated.

In Scenario A, you likely end the task feeling light and accomplished. In Scenario B, you might finish feeling drained and irritable. Why? Because emotions carry frequency. High-frequency states like joy, peace, and gratitude nourish the body and nervous system. Low frequency states like anger, guilt, or shame deplete them.

We can’t leap from shame to joy in a single step and that’s okay. Emotional transformation is a gradual process. Like stepping onto a moving bus, we first need to slow it down. You might shift from guilt to anger, then to sadness, neutrality, hope, gratitude, and eventually, joy. This emotional progression often described as the Polyvagal Ladder that reflects how the nervous system slowly recalibrates from states of stress to states of ease

The 90-Second Rule of Emotional Shifts
Neuroscience shows that while emotions can feel overwhelming, their initial chemical lifespan in the body often lasts no more than 90 seconds. What prolongs an emotion is typically how we focus, interpret, or replay the experience. We may not control the initial feeling, but we do have a window of choice in how we respond. With gentle awareness, we can shift our focus and invite a new emotional state to emerge. This isn’t about forcing positivity, it’s about allowing space for change. This process is supported by the brain’s Salience Network, which helps us move from rumination (Default Mode Network) to presence and purposeful action (Central Executive Network). In other words, how we use our attention influences whether we spiral downward or rise toward balance.

Awareness Is the Gateway
Before we can shift an emotion, we must first become aware of it. Take a mindful pause and ask yourself:

What am I feeling right now?
Where do I feel it in my body?
Does it have a color, shape, or movement?

Emotional pain often hides in the body as tension, tightness, or numbness. Naming it is the first step to taming it.

Somatic Exercise
Transforming Anger with Submodalities
Recall a moment of mild anger.
Locate it in your body.
Notice its qualities: Is it sharp, heavy, spinning?

Now shift it:
Change the color to something softer.
Soften the texture, make it feel light like silk.
Slow or reverse any spinning.

These small internal changes could shift the emotional charge and no words needed.

Taming the Inner Critic
The inner critic is a harsh, persistent voice that fuels stress and self-doubt.
To disarm it, shift its submodalities:

Notice its tone, pitch, and location.
Now change it; make it sound like a cartoon, lower the volume, or mute it entirely.

Each time you do this, you interrupt the Default Mode Network patterns that feed shame and fear. With practice, the brain learns to default to self compassion over self judgment.

Emotional Freedom Begins with Awareness
Emotional freedom isn’t about avoiding difficult feelings, it’s about learning to respond instead of react.

Every emotion carries a message. Instead of resisting, gently ask:

What is this emotion trying to tell me?
What is its positive intent?
What happens if I simply listen?

When we acknowledged, emotions often soften. Through breath, touch, or safe presence, we help them move through the body and let go.

The Neuroscience of Healing
At the core of emotional experience is the amygdala, our internal radar for threat. It triggers changes in heart rate, breath, and digestion. But you are not your amygdala. With awareness and somatic tools, you can shift your state, even in overwhelm.

The brain operates through three key networks:

Default Mode Network (DMN): Reflection, imagination, and self-judgment
Central Executive Network (CEN): Focus and purposeful action
Salience Network (SN): The bridge that regulates attention and emotion

Touch, movement, and breathwork activate the Salience Network, helping the brain regain balance and quieting anxiety or rumination.

Trauma, Memory & Rewiring
Trauma is not your destiny, it’s a looped memory stored in the body. When gently accessed in a calm, embodied state, it can be transformed. This process is called active forgetting.

Try this:
Recall a difficult memory, and pair it with slow breathing, grounding touch, or mindful movement. Notice how the emotional charge begins to soften. The brain starts to record a new narrative: safety over fear.

Healing Through Connection & Intuition
Real healing happens in relationship. Empathic, non-judgmental presence dissolves shame and builds inner safety.

When we align with values like truth, love, and kindness, we activate both our Salience Network and intuition. Healing isn’t logical, it’s embodied. It rises from presence, from connection, from what feels deeply true within.

Conclusion:
You Are the Alchemist of Your Emotional State
Every emotion is an opportunity. With awareness, compassion, and somatic tools, we can shift our internal energy and change how we experience the world. Emotional energy doesn’t have to control us. With practice, we can learn to direct it, transform it, and ultimately, heal through it.
Let your emotional energy become your compass not your cage.

Maria T. Resele
Integrative Somatic Therapist & Coach

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