It is not essential, although it can be helpful to also feel the emotion, which is why we suggest it. However, when you are actually beginning the clearing movements/techniques after you have done all of the swiping up on your head, it is important then to feel the emotion in question at least a little bit.
Most people do feel the emotion in question as they are calling up memories since they are linked, but some don’t. If you are one of those people, oftentimes as you do the other clearing practices in the program (i.e. clearing limiting beliefs in Week 1 or working with the trauma stretching practices in Week 2), you will begin to ‘feel more’ and get back in touch with parts of yourself that may be buried or blocked.
In many ways these practices are akin to peeling back the layers of an onion. As you peel back the outer layers, further layers on the inside are revealed. Often times you need to clear other emotions and beliefs before you can access or feel deeper ones you may not realize are there.