Summary
Joe Hudson guides listeners through an emotional inquiry technique — a structured process for exploring difficult emotions rather than avoiding them. The premise is that much of our behavior is driven by avoiding certain emotions we’ve avoided for so long that we don’t even know what they are. The technique involves deliberately calling up the uncomfortable feeling, then exploring it with somatic curiosity: noticing its edges, center, density, color, movement, and how it responds to different kinds of attention.
The guided practice moves through three rounds. In each round, the listener embodies the emotion, then explores it through a series of non-verbal questions (where is the center? how thick is it? what color?). The third round introduces a playful, childlike quality — treating the emotion like a kid examining a frog — poking it, tickling it, breathing into it, chasing it, hugging it, rejecting it, and listening to it with deep reverence. This range of interactions reveals that the emotion is not a fixed thing but responds dynamically to how we relate to it.
Joe emphasizes that this inquiry works with any emotion as long as the investigation is genuinely curious and has no agenda. With repeated practice, the relationship to the trigger transforms: rather than dreading the feeling, you become excited when it arises because it’s another opportunity to explore and learn.
Key Concepts
- Emotional inquiry is embodied exploration, not intellectual analysis
- Curiosity transforms your relationship to difficult emotions
- Emotions respond dynamically to how you relate to them
Key Quotes
“A lot of the times in life we behave in specific ways because we’re trying to avoid a certain set of emotions or a certain emotion, and we’ve avoided it for so long that we have no idea actually what it is.”
“Treat the feeling like you’re a little kid with a frog. You found a frog, you picked it up and you’re looking at it, you’re smelling it, you’re tasting it… just really embrace the feeling with that genuine sense of curiosity.”
“Pretty soon what you’ll notice is that you’ll be out in the world and this feeling will come up and you’ll be excited that the feeling’s come up because you get to inquire more. You get to learn more about it and you get to play with it some more.”
“The inquiry can work with any question you have around the felt sense of this emotion, just as long as the inquiry is truly curious, as long as the inquiry has no agenda.”
Transcript
So what this is is called emotional inquiry. So a lot of the times in life we behave in specific ways because we’re trying to avoid a certain set of emotions or a certain emotion and we’ve avoided it for so long that we have no idea actually what it is. So what we’re doing here is basically taking the emotion, embodying it as much as we can and we’re exploring it. And there’ll be several times in the journey where I basically say just come back to the emotion. So you can pick the emotion that is difficult for you. Maybe there’s a fear or maybe there is a anger or maybe there’s pain or an early childhood trauma. So just the emotion that you’re not particularly wanting to feel and the idea is that you put it in you allow it in your body completely. You and so maybe you need to remember a time when you felt it. Maybe you can just bring it up in that moment. Um maybe you have to think of a scenario that would trigger it. you know, somebody yelling at you or some death or whatever it is. And so, but every time I say, “Okay, come back to the emotion.” We’re going to go back to it, and then we’ll inquire around it, explore it, and then we’ll come back to it. Then we’ll explore it, then we’ll come back to it, then we’ll explore it, then we’ll come back to it. So, I’m going to ask you a series of questions through this, and there’s no response needed. So, if I say, “Where’s the center of it?” Your job is just to find the center of it. It’s not to say the center of it is right below my abdomen. Um if I say uh you know uh how is it moving? Is it still? Does it vibrate? Those are just questions that you’re asking yourself and noticing the response, but there’s no need to say anything about it in response. It’s just a way for you to put your attention to different places. So your job is just to be silent through the whole thing. Okay? So get into a comfortable position and close your eyes. Let’s just relax for a minute. Just notice if anything is being resisted. Notice if there’s anything that wants to protect. Notice if anything wants something to be different. All right. So, I want you to call up the feeling, the uncomfortable feeling. You can call it up through a memory or you can call it up through imagination. Pretending you’re in a situation where this feeling would come up. So, how does that sit in your body? How does this feeling sit in your body? Where is the outside edge of the feeling? Where’s the center of the feeling? How thick is the feeling? How wide is it? How does the feeling move in your body? Does it pulsate? Does it vibrate? How does it move? Can you find the exact center of the feeling? Can you move to the very middle of the feeling? Can you take one step even closer to the center of the feeling? Okay, just relax again. Let the feeling go. Take a deep breath and again invite the feeling back in. Embody that feeling again. Maybe the feeling can come up just by thinking about it. And maybe you need to imagine a scenario where every single trigger that triggers this feeling is at place at the same time. And again, notice how the feeling is in relationship to your back. How close it is to your back? How close is it to the front of your body? Do the edges of this feeling vibrate differently than the center? Can you find the exact point where the edge of the feeling ends and you begin? What is it like between the very edge and the very middle of the feeling? What color is the feeling? Does the color change? Is the center a different color than the edges, which is a different color than the middle, or is it all the same color? How solid is the feeling? How dense is it? Are the edges a different density than the middle? Is that a different density than the center? And if you explore the most dense part of it, is there still space there or is there no space? What happens to the feeling if you really slow it down to really take a look at it? And what happens to the feeling if you speed it up? You just let it run. And again, let it go. Just take a deep breath. Shake it off if you need to. And then this will be our last time. Just re-embody the feeling. Maybe call back the most traumatic experience of that feeling that you had. Maybe you can just manufacture it. And this time, just treat the feeling like you’re a little kid with a frog. You found a frog, you picked it up and you’re looking at it, you’re smelling it, you’re tasting it. Even little kids will even lick that stuff, you know, just really embrace the feeling like you with that just genuine sense of curiosity. So, what is this feeling like if you poke at it? If you poke at it in its sensitive spots? What is this feeling like if you take a deep breath into it? What is this feeling like if you hold your breath? What is this feeling like if you tickle it? If you play with it gently. What is this feeling like if you say I don’t want to feel you? Stop it. Get out of here. What is this feeling like if you give it a big old hug? Embrace it. What is this feeling like if you chase it? Chase it around the room. What is this feeling like if you listen to it really, really, really, really carefully? Like it was the most intelligent person you ever met with a deep spiritual connection. And all you wanted was just to hear what it had to say. And how is this feeling if you were just not willing to listen at all? You’re just like, you’re an idiot. Stop talking. How is this feeling if you just let it penetrate you completely? If you just open yourself up completely and allow it in, no resistance. And how is this feeling if you don’t let it in, you defend yourself. You block yourself from this feeling. And how does this feeling act if you love it and you open your arms to it the way you would a child who’s been acting bad but just totally has been doing it to get mom’s attention and you just give the child the attention. You just give this emotion that loving attention. Okay. So you can open up your eyes and the inquiry can work with any question you have around the felt sense of this emotion just as long as the inquiry is truly curious. As long as the inquiry has no agenda. And often times with a very triggering emotion, it’s good to go through this exercise many times. And pretty soon what you’ll notice is that you’ll be out in the world and this feeling will come up and you’ll be excited that the feeling’s come up because you get to inquire more. You get to learn more about it and you get to play with it some more. So that’s the invitation. Okay. Have a great day.