What is Shape of Emotion?
Shape of Emotion is a model, process and tool of how individuals structure, store, represent and regulate their inner feeling states.
Shape of Emotion is an innovative approach to emotional regulation and emotional engagement that focuses on the embodied, experiential nature of emotions, guiding individuals to engage with their feelings directly through a simple, structured four-step process. Grounded in the theories of embodied cognition, interoceptive awareness, and the constructionist theory of emotion, Shape of Emotion offers a practical and learnable skill for cultivating emotional well-being and resilience.
By offering an accessible, adaptable, and culturally sensitive tool for emotional regulation, Shape of Emotion represents a paradigm shift in understanding and engaging with emotions. The Emotional Fitness Class, a scalable application of Shape of Emotion, offers a promising solution to the shortage of mental health professionals and the high costs associated with one-on-one interventions, highlighting the potential of this approach to bridge the gap in mental health services worldwide.
The design of Shape of Emotion
How does Shape of Emotion work?
Learning to use Shape of Emotion
Shape of Emotion is a self-organising process
Shape of Emotion is a self-organizing process that allows emotions to naturally evolve and transform.
Unlike traditional techniques that often involve cognitive restructuring or suppression, Shape of Emotion allows emotions to naturally evolve towards a state of balance, without the need for conscious effort or control.
By engaging with the emotion through Shape of Emotion, the emotion naturally transforms, leading to relief from distressing emotions and a fuller experience of positive emotions.
This self-organizing nature sets Shape of Emotion apart, offering a unique and intuitive approach to emotion regulation.
Shape of Emotion is highly personalised and targeted
Individuals can choose the specific emotion they want to work with.
Shape of Emotion can be used to work with any emotion, whether it's a difficult (negative) emotion like anger, sadness, or anxiety, or a supportive (positive) emotion like calm, joy or love.
Individuals can choose the specific emotion they want to work with, whether it is a recently experienced emotion, an emotion from the past or even an emotion that may be experienced and felt in the future.
This makes Shape of Emotion a highly personalised and targeted process for managing emotions.
Comprehensive approach to emotion regulation
Shape of Emotion provides a comprehensive approach to emotion regulation, embracing the full spectrum of our emotional experiences.
Shape of Emotion offers the ability to both down-regulate difficult emotions and up-regulate supportive emotions.
This dynamic capability allows individuals to not only manage distress but also to actively cultivate positive emotional experiences, contributing to overall emotional health and well-being.
The comprehensive approach recognizes the value of all emotions and empowers individuals to engage with them in a balanced and enriching way.
Down-regulating negative emotions
Shape of Emotion provides a structured, embodied method to directly engage with difficult emotions, offering in-the-moment relief from their challenging impact and effects.
When an individual encounters difficult emotions such as anger, anxiety, fear, grief or sadness, Shape of Emotion can relieve the distress associated with these emotions, promoting a state of emotional balance and well-being.
This approach allows individuals to manage their difficult emotions effectively, leading to a more balanced emotional state and immediate relief from the discomfort they may cause.
Up-regulating positive emotions
Shape of Emotion empowers individuals to enhance their experience of supportive emotions.
In addition to managing difficult emotions, Shape of Emotion can be used to amplify supportive emotions like calm, focus, joy, love or peace.
By using Shape of Emotion with supportive emotions in this way, individuals can make these positive emotions feel more intense, fuller, and "more."
This unique feature contributes to building emotional fitness and resilience, fostering a more enriched emotional life.
Shape of Emotion builds emotional resilience
Regular use builds the capacity to engage with and release emotions in a healthy, effective way.
One of the key features of Shape of Emotion is its potential for building emotional resilience, or what we call emotional fitness.
By repeatedly engaging with their emotions through the Shape of Emotion process, individuals can gradually reduce the intensity and impact of chronic distressing emotions, leading to a state of homeostasis where they are no longer at the mercy of their emotions.
Over time, this process builds the capacity to engage with and release emotions in a healthy, effective way, leading to greater emotional fitness.
Shape of Emotion offers several unique advantages
Shape of Emotion has a number of unique advantages compared to other modalities and tools.
Shape of Emotion transcends the limitations of language and definitions, providing a more comprehensive, nuanced, and authentic understanding of our emotions.
Shape of Emotion acknowledges the richness and diversity of our emotional experiences and provides a practical tool for engaging with these experiences in a direct, embodied way.
Shape of Emotion offers a proactive approach to emotional well-being, empowering individuals to actively engage with their emotions, releasing them and building their emotional fitness over time.
Respect for cultural diversity
Shape of Emotion is culturally sensitive and respects cultural diversity
in emotional experiences and expressions.
Shape of Emotion transcends cultural boundaries as it focuses on the universal human experience of emotions, not relying on language or culturally specific concepts. This makes it accessible and effective for individuals from all cultural backgrounds.
In group settings, facilitators ensure the process is inclusive and respectful of cultural norms and practices. This adaptability makes Shape of Emotion a versatile tool for global use, contributing to its potential for widespread impact on emotional health and well-being.
Overcomes language barriers
Shape of Emotion transcends language barriers, enhancing its universal accessibility.
Unlike many mental health interventions that are developed in English, Shape of Emotion does not rely on language. This makes it accessible and effective for individuals from all linguistic backgrounds.
Addresses stigma and other misconceptions in mental health
Shape of Emotion offers a non-stigmatizing approach to emotional well-being.
In many cultures, there is significant stigma associated with mental health issues, and misconceptions about mental health can be prevalent.
By focusing on the universal human experience of emotions and framing the process as building "emotional fitness," Shape of Emotion helps to normalise and destigmatize the process of seeking help for emotional issues.
Improves the scalability of interventions with group work
Shape of Emotion shines in group settings, making it a scalable solution
for emotional regulation and resilience.
While many mental health interventions require one-on-one sessions with a trained professional, which can be costly and difficult to scale up, Shape of Emotion's group application, known as an "Emotional Fitness Class," allows participants to regularly engage with their emotions, release them, and build their emotional fitness over time.
Shape of Emotion can be used in virtually any group setting, regardless of the size or context of the group. These include corporate workshops, military and veterans groups, community centres, rural villages, educational institutions, support groups, and more. This versatility makes it a uniquely scalable solution to the challenges often faced by mental health interventions.
Addresses some of the biggest mental health challenges of today
Emotional Fitness Classes address some of the biggest challenges facing
mental health and emotional wellbeing interventions today.
This includes the lack of qualified professionals, the high cost of one-on-one interventions, and the difficulty of scaling up these interventions to meet the need and demand for support.
By providing a tool that can be used in a group setting, Shape of Emotion offers a cost-effective, scalable solution to these challenges.
Pervasive and persistent healing
Regularly attending an Emotional Fitness Class builds the capacity to engage with and
release emotions in a healthy, effective way
Regular participation in an Emotional Fitness Class can lead to pervasive and persistent healing, forming the bedrock of our approach to building emotional fitness.
This approach allows individuals to repeatedly attend to the discomfort that a difficult emotion may bring, which in turn leads to a state of homeostasis where they are no longer at the mercy of their emotions.
Over time, regular attendance of an Emotional Fitness Class builds the capacity to engage with and release emotions in a healthy, effective way, leading to greater emotional fitness.
Significant improvements in emotional well-being and quality of life
Shape of Emotion transforms the way we understand and engage with our emotions.
In terms of its possibilities, Shape of Emotion has the potential to transform the way we understand and engage with our emotions, fostering greater emotional intelligence, resilience, and compassion.
It could significantly reduce the burden of poor emotional health worldwide, providing a simple tool for self-empowerment and skill-building. The impacts could spread exponentially from individuals to communities, leading to significant improvements in emotional well-being and overall quality of life
Transforming lives: Real experiences with Shape of Emotion
From daily inspiration to pain relief, these words reflect the real impact of Shape of Emotion.
Here's what some of our community members have to say about their experiences with Shape of Emotion. These genuine expressions reflect the positive impact and sense of well-being that our unique process brings to those dealing with negative emotions.
What a lovely way to start my day!
Thank you so much for this process.
Thank you so much, feeling quite relaxed right now.
Really interesting how this all works.
Great experience! Thank you!
It helps, and I am grateful!
This is the calmest my soul has felt all day. God Bless you both.
Thank you, I am blessed!
Lovely and soothing.
It’s helped me be less numb to my own feelings.
Thank you for your support.
Thank you for the pain relief.
The design of Shape of Emotion
How does Shape of Emotion work?
Learning to use Shape of Emotion
