02/12/2026
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about various forms of kinesthetic empathy, or placing yourself in someone else’s shoes and walking with them. We are neurologically motivated by “mirror neurons” to process what we see, through our own bodies. With so many visual images coming at us from social media and the news, images that depict people in often harrowing and desperate situations, we cannot help but feel it in our bodies.
I practice kinesthetic empathy in my grief movement classes and workshops – moving with – it’s a form of physical listening and an attuning to another’s experience. By expressing kinesthetic empathy, I am communicating without words that I am sharing the grief being expressed.
I had an incredible feeling of kinesthetic empathy while watching the movie Hamnet recently. The last scene ravaged me in ways I am still processing. But to see the audience reach their hands toward Hamlet, to feel their kinesthetic response formed into that collective reaching gesture was astonishing. They all had tears in their eyes, crying for someone else’s son. Empathy is the basis for tragic drama – the idea that we must feel for those onstage in order to ultimately purge painful emotions, which in turn causes catharsis.
Kinesthetic empathy is grief shared through movement.
Kinesthetic empathy is also shared joy. As Bad Bunny’s joyous performance demonstrated, movement invites us to collectively witness and celebrate the truth of another’s experience.
How are you experiencing, practicing or sharing Kinesthetic Empathy these days? Take care of yourself and each other ❤️
