Where Different Types of Love are Felt in the Body

You might not know this, but love is much more than just feelings; it is also felt physically. Each love is felt differently, depending on what it is.

The different types of love can be understood by examining where they are felt. As you read along, remember to notice the physical sensations of warmth, joy, calm, etc., whenever you think of someone you love, which reveals something much deeper. But why is this important?

Recognizing the sensations of love in your body can strengthen your relationship and help you better understand your emotions. Thus, this article will discuss the sensations of where and how love is felt so that you can use the insights in everyday life.

Read more to understand the different types of love and their effect on the body, and how you can use this information to enrich your love life.

Understanding the different types of love

Love can be in different forms and types. According to Lewis (2001), there are 4 types of love: romantic, familial, platonic, and compassionate or universal love. The following describes the types in detail:

Romantic love. The kind of love that is associated with romantic partners. It is an intense form of passion, care, belongingness, and physical and emotional intimacy. It is often shown in the form of emotional, physical, and psychological well-being for each other.
Familial love. A place called home, kind of love. The selfless love has deep affection and immense unconditional care for each other. This form of love is between family members. The love that you can rely on and fall back on anytime.
Platonic love. A form of love that you choose. The kind that you trust, share your vulnerabilities with, develop emotional closeness, and share little details with. This kind is called friendship, where you grow, learn, and start to believe in each other.
Compassionate or universal love. The kind of love that makes humanity alive. Universal or compassionate love is a form of affection for people, animals, the planet, or the things around us. It is a broader sense of empathy and care for the world.

Each type of love serves a different purpose for your well-being. While they might be different in sense, they share the same kind of more profound feeling in your own body.

Where different types of love languages are felt in the body

Learning different kinds of love language can help you deepen your understanding of how love is felt in your body, as well as appreciate love and help enrich your lives through better projection of love for the relationships around you.

Research has shown that emotions and bodily reactions are generally linked. Research by Rinne et al. (2023) beautifully portrays how the body reacts when connected to the feeling of love.

The study involved 1,400 participants who highlighted body areas where they felt various kinds of love. They rated their bodily sensations across 27 types of love, including romantic, maternal, and universal love. The study showed that different kinds of love light up different parts of the body.

Romantic love and passion

When it comes to romantic love, it’s much more than just words. It’s an intense sensation of romantic love felt around the chest, head, and stomach. The sensations in the chest lead to increased heart rate and rapid breathing. This leads to constant thinking about the person in your head.

Ultimately, the butterfly feeling creates hormonal changes, arousal, and attraction overlapping with lust and desire. When it comes to our brain, romantic love creates the same kind of creation in the brain as dopamine rewards do.

Learning how your body reacts to romantic love can help you better understand your bodily responses. This can help you recognize where these feelings of love are present and express them more clearly to your romantic partner.

Read more: The History of Romantic Love

Familial and platonic love

This is the type of love that parents, siblings, children, and other family members give you. It has been felt the strongest around the chest and upper body. Oxytocin, the hormone of bonding and trust, is released, reflecting the sensation of connection and safety.

When it came to platonic love for friends, it was not as strong a sensation as parental, sibling, or children’s love. The feeling brings a sense of calmness and joy. This kind of love helps individuals feel more accepted and balanced.

Your love for familiar and platonic love can be felt differently from other loves. When you recognize it properly, it can help you to enhance your projection of feelings for your family, parents, siblings, and children.

Compassionate and universal love

A love for all, the love which projects for nature, humanity, beings, and all around. It is felt around the chest, head, and throughout the body, with a sensation of warmth. For individuals, it feels like meditation with the feeling of calmness and openness to help others.

It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, making the body relax and striving towards overall well-being. It makes the individual feel a sense of connection with others around them, as the feeling is more closely associated with the concept of self.

Universal love, when appropriately understood, can help contribute to a society. This helps one feel a sense of warmth toward others and spread a sense of love among individuals and living beings. This will help you to feel humane and be more humane.

How you can use this information

It is essential to understand where and how you feel “the feeling of love” to attain self-awareness and better relationships in the future. Your body talks; it tells you about the stress, love, or even the slightest signs of connection, even before you become aware of it consciously.

The following are a few steps that might help you to understand more about yourself and your sense of love:

Concentrate. Close your eyes and focus on your thoughts. Stop anything else you are thinking of. Clear your mind and free your thoughts.
Fix on a person. Now think of a person you love, it can be family, friends, someone special, siblings, a place, things, etc. You can select one type of love out of the three categories (romantic, familiar, or compassionate). When you have chosen one, focus on that one person, thing, etc.
Notice your sensations. Now, try to notice your bodily sensations. What and where do you feel when you think of that person? Try to understand which area of the body the sensation is coming from: your chest, stomach, head, or your whole body.
Analyze and reflect. Start a journal and write down the sensations of your body, what you felt when you thought of the person, and record your thoughts in your journal. Try to maintain it and analyze it over time to determine what kind of love you feel there.

You can continue this practice for all three types of love, and soon you will be able to understand your own sensations for your kind of love, which might send up with a particular pattern. Eventually, try to add these steps to your daily life.

Understanding bodily sensations and emotional cues helps you be more empathetic and authentic in your communication. This awareness helps to build trust, compassion, and a stronger sense of connection in relationships. Ultimately, it will encourage more conscious expression of love in everyday life.

In conclusion

Love, when felt deeply, can be communicated through the body. Your body isn’t just a meat sack; it is also an indicator of love. From the sought-after romantic rush to the warm, familial, compassionate types of love, it’s all felt within the body.

What comes to mind about love is how it feels in your body and your mind. When you understand exactly how you think about love, you strive for thoughtful, meaningful relationships.

So don’t be afraid to give and receive this awe-inspiring emotion.

If you want to see more resources on love, check out the Happiness Science Labs. The lab uses the research of the Institute for Life Management Science to produce courses, certifications, podcasts, videos, and other tools. Visit the Happiness Science Labs today.