The short version
The exercises to release trapped emotions that this guide covers come from one specific source: the release method Dr Bradley Nelson laid out in his book The Emotion Code. It is a fixed sequence: a self-test, a set of yes/no questions, and a short physical release step, done entirely without equipment except a simple magnet. Everything below paraphrases the book’s own instructions; nothing here is medical advice, and the method itself does not claim to diagnose or treat anything.
If you are new to the concept, start with the overview of what trapped emotions are, and with the page explaining what a single emotion release involves. This page is the practical follow-up: how the process actually runs, step by step.
Exercise 1: the sway test, checking your answers first
Before you release anything, you need a way to ask your body yes/no questions and trust the answers. The simplest one the book teaches is the Sway Test: stand relaxed, feet shoulder-width apart, eyes closed or soft, and ask a question with a known true answer (say your own name). Nelson describes the body leaning forward for a yes and backward for a no (ch. 2, p. 33). Once you can get a reliable yes and no on questions you know the answers to, you have your compass for the rest of the process.
An important boundary from the book itself: Nelson’s front-matter note states that neither muscle testing nor the Sway Test should be used to diagnose the presence or absence of disease, and that the reader takes responsibility for their own health decisions. The test is for navigating the release method, not for checking your health.
Exercise 2: permission and baseline
The release sequence starts with two non-negotiable questions. First, permission: ask whether the subconscious mind is willing to release an emotion now. Nelson treats this as mandatory (ch. 6, p. 192). The premise is that the subconscious, not the conscious mind, is running this process, and it gets a say.
Second, the baseline (p. 193): deliberately test a few statements whose answers you already know, such as “Is my name ___?”, and confirm the body’s yes and no are coming through consistently. If the baseline is unreliable, everything after it is unreliable. This is the step people most often skip, and the one that makes self-testing go wrong.
Exercise 3: narrowing down to one emotion
Now the detective work begins. The method uses a chart of 60 emotions: two columns across, six rows down, each row grouped around a related theme (Nelson, The Emotion Code, ch. 6, with chart pages in the book itself). Testing proceeds in halves: “Is this emotion in Column A or Column B?”, then “Which row?”, then within the row, “Is it the first emotion, or the second?” until one specific emotion word is left.
The full chart is copyrighted material, so this page will not reproduce it; Nelson makes it freely available on his official site, and you will want it in front of you for this exercise anyway. What matters for the practice is the structure: you are not guessing which emotion you feel; you are letting the yes/no questions narrow sixty candidates down to one.
Exercise 4: digging deeper, asking when and whose
Once you have the emotion, the book adds two clarifying questions. When did it become trapped? The method uses age bracketing, asking “Did it occur before age 10? Before age 5?” to pin a rough year or life stage (ch. 6, pp. 195–196). Nelson notes the answer can be approximate; the exact date is interesting, not essential.
Then, whose emotion is it? This is where the method distinguishes inherited and prenatal emotions. Nelson describes inherited trapped emotions as energies passed down the family line, like other inherited traits (ch. 6, p. 220), and prenatal ones as emotions a fetus can pick up from its mother, most often during the third trimester (pp. 219–220). You do not need to believe the inherited framing to work the sequence, but if testing keeps pointing at an age before your birth, that is the branch the book sends you down.
Exercise 5: the release, the magnet along the Governing Meridian
The release itself is one short movement, and the book is exact about it: place a magnet between the eyebrows on the skin, roll or slide it up the middle of the forehead, over the top of the head, and down the back of the neck as far as you can comfortably reach, three times, while holding the clear intention to release that specific emotion (ch. 6, p. 212). Nelson writes that running the magnet over any part of the Governing Meridian, the meridian he describes as a central reservoir in the body’s energy system, works for the release (ch. 3–4, pp. 123, 139).
Practical notes from the book’s own guidance: breathe normally, do not hold your breath, and keep the focus on the one emotion you identified. Any reasonably strong magnet is used in the book’s examples; nothing exotic is required.
Exercise 6: confirm the release
The sequence ends by checking the work: re-test and ask whether the emotion has actually been released (ch. 6, p. 214). If the answer is yes, the release is done and you move on; if no, the method has you re-run the process. Nelson also describes a short processing period after a release (p. 217), a window where the shift settles in, sometimes noticeable immediately, sometimes only over the following days.
People commonly describe the successful release as a feeling of lightness, and Nelson’s own phrasing is that a burden is literally lifted (ch. 1, p. 31). Others feel nothing in the moment and notice the difference later. Both are normal outcomes in the book’s own telling.
Testing yourself honestly: the caveats
The book does not hide the hard part. Nelson devotes a chapter to muscle testing itself: how to test other people, how to test yourself, and how to troubleshoot unreliable answers (ch. 5, pp. 149–176). Testing yourself is the weakest link in the whole method: wishful thinking, a strong desire for a particular answer, or simple physical tension can all bend a self-test. His troubleshooting advice amounts to slowing down, re-establishing the baseline, and asking questions neutrally rather than hoping for answers.
This is also why the method’s practitioners often test for other people: the questioner and the tested person being different reduces the wishful-thinking problem. If you work through these exercises alone and the answers feel mushy, that is the single most likely reason, and it is the book’s own diagnosis too.
What these exercises are not
They are not a medical protocol, a diagnosis tool, or a therapy session. Nelson’s companion book states that the self-help method is not a substitute for the reader’s own physician (Nelson, The Body Code, pp. 5–6, St. Martin’s Essentials ed.), and his own front-matter note says the same in his first book. If you are dealing with trauma, grief, or a mental-health condition, these exercises are at most something to try alongside your existing care, never instead of it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a practitioner to run these exercises?
No, the book teaches the full sequence as self-help, and testing yourself is explicitly part of its design. The trade-off is accuracy: self-testing is harder, and the book’s own troubleshooting chapter exists precisely because of that.
What magnet do I need for the release step?
A reasonably strong, simple magnet. The book’s examples use ordinary magnets; the specific strength is not critical in the method’s own instructions; the movement, the location along the Governing Meridian, and the intention are what the procedure specifies.
How many emotions should I release in one sitting?
The book does not set a quota for self-help sessions, but a single fully-run release (permission, baseline, identify, release, confirm) is a contained few-minute exercise. Working through one emotion properly is a complete sitting; stacking several is possible but demands more reliable self-testing as you go.