Bay Area CBT Center · Somatic and nervous-system work
Body Sensation Tracker
Emotions arrive in the body before they arrive in language, and most of us skip straight to the label. Naming a feeling “anxiety” ends the inquiry; describing the actual tightness under the breastbone — its size, its edges, its temperature — keeps it open. Sensations that are described with curiosity tend to move. Sensations that are only labelled tend to stay.
How this works
- Find it in the body first. Before naming any emotion, locate where in your body something is happening. Point to it if that helps.
- Describe it like an object, not a feeling. Size, shape, temperature, weight, texture, whether it's moving or still. Curiosity is the active ingredient.
- Stay with it for thirty to sixty seconds. Not longer at first. You are checking whether it shifts, not trying to make it shift.
- Rate it before and after. Sensations often change under attention — getting smaller, moving, softening, sometimes briefly getting stronger first.
- If it gets overwhelming, stop and come back to the room. Less is more here, every time.
You're describing, not fixing
The moment this turns into “make the tightness go away,” it stops working — you're back to struggling with it, which is what keeps it locked in place. The instruction is genuinely just: notice it, describe it accurately, and see what it does. Sometimes it dissolves. Sometimes it doesn't. Both are fine, and neither is the goal.
Before you start
Go slowly and take less than you think you can. Somatic work gets its results from small doses, not from pushing through. If you find yourself flooded, dizzy, numb, very far away, or panicky, that is a signal to stop — not a sign that you should try harder.
If you need to stop: open your eyes, put both feet flat on the floor, look slowly around the room and name five things you can see, and let your out-breath be longer than your in-breath. You do not have to finish the exercise. Stopping early is a skill, not a failure.
If you have a trauma history, this is best done alongside a therapist rather than alone. A worksheet cannot track how you're doing while you do it, and that tracking is a large part of what makes this work safe. Take it to your therapist, or use it to notice what you want to bring to a session.
Words for sensation
Most people have a rich vocabulary for emotion and almost none for sensation, so the description collapses back into “bad” or “anxious.” Borrow from here until your own words come.
- Quality — tight, loose, heavy, light, sharp, dull, prickly, buzzing, fluttery, numb, hollow, full, knotted, raw, tender, solid, liquid, electric, thick
- Temperature — hot, warm, cool, cold, icy, flushed, clammy
- Movement — still, pulsing, spreading, contracting, rising, sinking, radiating, vibrating, waves, jittery, churning
- Size and shape — a fist, a band, a stone, a plate, a knot, a wire, a weight, an empty space, a ball, a column
- Edges — sharp-edged, blurry, spreading out, contained, no clear boundary
- Pressure — pressing in, pushing out, squeezing, gripping, dragging down, lifting
A useful question when you're stuck: if this sensation had a colour, a temperature, and a weight, what would they be? People who can't find a description will often answer that immediately.
Step 1The tracker
One sensation per cardOne sensation at a time. If several are competing, pick the loudest one — or, if that feels like too much, deliberately pick a quieter one to start with.
How much each one shifted
Change in intensity after staying with it. Negative numbers mean it settled. Positive ones are worth reading too — some sensations rise before they release, and some need a shorter dose next time.
How much each one shifted
Change in intensity after staying with it. Negative numbers mean it settled. Positive ones are worth reading too — some sensations rise before they release, and some need a shorter dose next time.
Rate a sensation before and after and the change appears here.
Step 3Patterns over time
Come back to this after five or six observations. This is where the tracker earns its keep — single entries tell you almost nothing.
Most people have two or three home locations. Knowing yours means you can check them deliberately.
Worth noting without conclusions. Areas of low sensation are common and are simply information.
Your dose. Respect it — it lengthens over months on its own, and forcing it makes it shorter.
Your privacy. Everything you enter stays in your own browser. Nothing is sent to Bay Area CBT Center and nothing is stored on our servers. Your answers are saved on this device only — use Clear all to erase them. This worksheet is an educational tool and is not therapy, a diagnosis, or a substitute for care. If you're having thoughts of harming yourself, please reach out to a professional or a crisis line rather than working through this alone.