I had a client yesterday who was unclear on the difference between sensations and emotions, and who was unable to locate certain sensations.
I thought I would mention a couple of things about it here:
Sensations vs emotions
For me, sensations are bodily sensations, whether they seem associated to images and words or not. I feel a sensation in my heart area.
Emotions are sensations combined with images and words which gives them a name and often a rich set of associations. I feel sad. I feel it in my throat and heart. It’s because I am alone. Nobody loves me. I was often alone as a kid. I see myself as sad. I see the sadness as a dark lump in my throat. I see images of me being alone as a kid. (etc.)
There is also a middle zone here, where we may have sensations and use images and words to describe or visualize these, and even have associations combined with them.
Difficult to localize sensations / emotions
If a client (which could be me!) describes a vague or all-encompassing feeling or emotion, and they have difficulty localizing it, I often ask if it’s a whole body feeling or sensation. The answer is often yes.
It seems that these whole body sensations often go with an all encompassing feeling or emotion, which can either be quite strong and clear (clear anxiety, depression) or can be more subtle and perhaps more vague.
It also seems that it can be difficult to localize these all encompassing feelings, at least at first. The mind may expect to find a more localized sensation, so overlooks that it’s all over the body.