Feeling Your Feelings From the Bottom Up: A Somatic Guide to Understanding and Integrating Core Emotions Through the Body

We are often taught to manage our emotions by changing our thoughts. But what if healing begins somewhere else?

Feeling Your Feelings from the Bottom Up is a practical, body-first guide to understanding your emotions through the nervous system. Instead of starting with analysis, this book teaches you how to notice what is happening in your body, recognize emotional patterns as they arise, and build the capacity to stay present with your experience.

Through a structured and accessible approach, Tiffany Todd, LCSW, walks you through the foundations of emotional awareness, including nervous system states, the window of tolerance, and the connection between sensation and emotion. You will learn how to identify the six core emotions in your body, gently increase your tolerance for physical sensations, and respond to your emotions with steadiness rather than avoidance or overwhelm.

As your capacity grows, the book guides you toward understanding how repeated emotional experiences shape long-held beliefs about yourself, others, and the world. Rather than trying to force change through thinking alone, you will learn how new experiences in the body can begin to shift those beliefs from the inside out.

This book is both educational and experiential. Each chapter includes guided practices designed to help you build awareness, strengthen your connection to your body, and create a greater sense of internal safety.

Whether you are new to somatic work or a clinician looking for a clear framework to support your clients, this book offers a grounded approach to emotional healing that begins where emotions actually live: in the body.