Emotions Before Thought? That's a Surprise

I just started a somatic dance coaches training! I thought we’d be jumping around from day one, but instead, we began with something quieter: turning inward.

Our first week focused on how stress and trauma live in the body. Even with everything I’ve explored through cancer recovery and Inquiry, this is giving me more language for experiences I’ve had not fully understood.

And then came a surprise, our guide said this:

We experience emotions before we experience thoughts.

Excuse me?

At first, I was confused. I’ve spent years with the Byron Katie framework: Think → Feel → Act → Have. It’s a beautiful and powerful map. And, this training offered a subtle, important distinction:

Emotions vs. Feelings

Emotions are immediate, automatic body responses - tight chest, shallow breath, clenched muscles. These can happen before we’re consciously aware of anything.

Feelings come later. They’re our interpretation of those sensations - based on thoughts, memories, and beliefs.

This clarified something I’ve sensed for years:Sometimes, my body reacts and I have no idea what it's reacting to. My conscious mind needs some time to catch up with what is already being processed.

And the discomfort causes a desire to distract; the urge to eat something. Scroll. Nap. Escape. I often feel a bit confused when this happens. Why do I suddenly want to stop and buy a donut?!?!? Why do I feel irritable for no reason? The conscious mind doesn’t yet understand, but the body knows.

The other day, I was making dinner after a stretch of travel. I felt a little tired, a little off. My partner said something, nothing cruel, nothing big, and suddenly I was crying. A lot. It seemed disproportionate. What was going on?

My mind immediately offered escape plans:

• “Stop it, you're making him feel bad.”

• “Let's watch TV.”

• “Chocolate cake sounds good.”

• “What if we put on some music?”

But I stayed. I kept chopping vegetables. Kept crying. Let it move through.

I was confused and uncomfortable and crying for about 15 minutes.

And then, this thought surfaced:

“I just want to do a good job before the cancer comes back.”

That thought had been running subconsciously in the background. My body felt it before I even knew it was there. Once I saw it, the tears had already stopped. It felt clean, clear. My mind was surprised, but the body was done. I felt calm. My body worked the thought before I was conscious of it.

And... I took that thought for a hike the next morning to check in with it through Inquiry. It's a persistent one, we know each other well, "The cancer will come back."

Why Somatic Work Matters

"Until you make the unconscious conscious,

it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

Carl Jung

The unconscious is always up to something interesting. Our bodies are often the first to speak.

They respond before the mind can make sense of things. And if we slow down long enough to listen, without rushing to escape or fix, we can hear the truth underneath it.

If you're like me, your mind can rationalize, dismiss and hide things. It likes the familiar and is not interested in new paradigms. The mind gravitates towards "a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven." It's in our biology. And so, sometimes, our bodies are the only part of us telling the truth in real time. Let's get curious... what is that about?