Searchers looking for a chart of where trauma or emotions are stored in the body usually want two different things: a body map with labeled zones, and a way to work out which emotion is stuck. Dr Bradley Nelson’s method offers the second, not the first. This page explains what the method actually claims about location, describes the structure of Nelson’s Chart of Emotions without reproducing it, and separates the model from established medicine.
The short version
Two answers, because the question has two layers. First, in this method a trapped emotion can lodge anywhere in the body, and there is no fixed map of which feeling goes with which spot. The practitioner asks the body directly where the emotion is lodged, as an explicit step in the process. Second, Nelson’s Chart of Emotions does group emotions, but by organ pair rather than by body region: sixty emotions arranged in six rows, each row keyed to a pair of organs such as the heart and small intestine. It is a lookup tool for identifying which emotion you are dealing with, not a diagram of body locations.
What the method says gets stored, and where
The starting premise: Nelson describes a trapped emotion as a ball of emotional energy that forms when an emotion is too much for the body to process fully at the time (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 1, p. 4, Wellness Unmasked ed.). His account gets specific about size and location: these energies vary, in his words, from the size of an orange to the size of a melon, and the emotional energy always lodges somewhere in the physical body, with the tissues inside that sphere being the ones affected (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 2, Wellness Unmasked ed.). In his framework these energies do not dissolve on their own, which is why the method treats them as a hidden cause of ongoing discomfort.
Where does a given emotion lodge? The method’s answer is that you find out case by case. The published flowchart for the process includes an explicit step: ask where it is lodged. The practitioner uses muscle testing, a yes or no questioning technique, to narrow down the location for that specific emotion in that specific person (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 6, pp. 192 to 194 describe the questioning steps). So the model has no fixed storage map. The same emotion may be found near the shoulder in one person and near the abdomen in another.
The Chart of Emotions: structure, not a body map
This is the part most people are actually looking for when they search for an emotions chart. Nelson’s chart is laid out as two columns across six rows, and each row is keyed to an organ pair. Every row holds five emotions in each column, ten per row, sixty in total. The rows, in the book’s order:
- Row 1: Heart or Small Intestine. The emotions grouped here relate to loss and connection, for example abandonment, betrayal, and heartache.
- Row 2: Spleen or Stomach. Grouped here are the worry family, for example anxiety, disgust, and nervousness.
- Row 3: Lung or Colon. The grief family sits in this row, for example sadness, sorrow, and discouragement.
- Row 4: Liver or Gall Bladder. The anger family, for example anger, bitterness, and resentment.
- Row 5: Kidneys or Bladder. The fear family, for example dread, horror, and terror.
- Row 6: Glands and Sexual Organs. The pride and shame family, for example humiliation, jealousy, and lust.
The organ pairings match those used in traditional Chinese medicine’s energy system, and Nelson’s whole framework sits on that energy-medicine foundation: his chapters on the energy world discuss meridians and the governing meridian as the pathways his techniques work through (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 3 to 4, pp. 123 and 139).
We have deliberately described the chart rather than reprinting it. The full chart, with every emotion in place, is copyrighted material, and Nelson makes a printable copy available free through his own website. The book itself points readers there for the downloadable flowcharts (Nelson, The Emotion Code, p. 225). If you want the real thing, that is the legitimate source.
Is there a chart of where trauma is stored in the body?
Not in this method, and it is worth being precise about why. Charts titled that way circulate online, and they are usually modern interpretations rather than anything Nelson published. Within his framework, the chart answers a different question: given the emotion, which organ pair does it group under. The location question is answered in session by asking the body, not by consulting a map. If you see a diagram claiming each emotion has a fixed home in the body, treat it as someone’s visualization, not as the method’s teaching.
On the science side, the honest position is that this is a model, not established physiology. Research on how emotional memory involves the body is a real and active field, and ideas about somatic storage are discussed in trauma therapy, but no accepted body map of emotions exists in mainstream medicine. Nelson’s chart belongs to his system of energy work, and this site presents it as such.
The Heart-Wall: one place the method does locate emotions
There is a well-known exception to the no-fixed-location rule, and it is the heart. Nelson describes the Heart-Wall as multiple trapped emotions that the subconscious has layered around the heart, a protective structure he calls a creation of the subconscious mind (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 7, p. 231). In his account the heart is the one place where the body consistently builds up stored emotional energy, because the subconscious assigns it a guardian role. Releasing a Heart-Wall means working through those layered emotions one at a time with the same process. If your interest is the heart specifically, that chapter of the book is the place to read, and our overview of emotion release covers the mechanics.
How practitioners find where an emotion sits
For completeness, the actual sequence. The method’s steps run: obtain permission, establish a baseline with muscle testing, check whether a trapped emotion exists, identify which emotion it is using the chart, release it, and confirm the release (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 6, pp. 192 to 194, and the flowchart at p. 226). Location enters at two points: the flowchart’s ask-where-it-is-lodged step, and the confirmation questions afterward. Every answer comes from yes or no muscle testing rather than from memory or guesswork, which is why the method treats the chart as a naming tool and testing as the locating tool.
What this model can and cannot claim
Can the chart tell you where your pain comes from? No, and the method does not claim it does. Persistent pain needs a proper medical workup, full stop. The chart’s job is narrower: help identify which emotion is being worked with. Can anyone use the chart alone to release something? The method says no: identification is one step among six, and the release and confirmation steps are what complete the process.
Also keep the stakes proportionate. This is a self-help framework published by a chiropractor, presented on this site because many people find the structure useful for thinking about emotional patterns. It is not a diagnostic system, and it is not a replacement for your doctor, which the books themselves state plainly in their own disclaimers.
Frequently asked questions
Does every emotion have a fixed location in the body?
In Dr Bradley Nelson’s method, no. The chart groups emotions by organ pair, but the physical location of a trapped emotion is found by asking the body during a session. The one consistent location in the method is the area around the heart, where the Heart-Wall forms.
Where is anger stored, according to this model?
Nelson’s chart groups anger with the liver and gall bladder row, alongside bitterness and resentment. That grouping is a naming device within the method. It does not mean anger physically sits in the liver, and it is not a medical claim about liver health.
Where can I get the actual chart?
From the author. The book directs readers to Nelson’s website for a free printable copy of the flowcharts and the Chart of Emotions. That official download is the accurate version, and it avoids the altered copies that circulate on other sites.
Is there scientific evidence for emotions being stored in the body?
The general idea that emotional experience involves the body has research support, and trauma therapy takes body-based approaches seriously. What lacks scientific support is the specific map-like claim that named emotions store in fixed organs. Nelson’s framework is an energy-medicine model. Treat it as a lens, not a lab result, and keep ordinary medical care in place for anything physical.
What should I read next?
For what happens after an emotion lets go, see the signs your body is releasing trapped emotions. For the reason emotions get stuck at all, our page on emotional baggage covers the model, and the exercises page covers what you can try on your own.