Making yourself cry on command is a learnable skill, whether you need it for a performance, a creative project, or simply to unlock an emotional release that feels stuck. The approach that works best depends on your goal: actors use imagination-based techniques that can produce tears in under a minute with practice, while physical methods like staring or cutting onions trigger reflex tears almost immediately. Here’s how each method works and what to expect.
Use Vivid Daydreaming, Not Painful Memories
The most reliable emotional crying technique comes from acting training, and it doesn’t require you to relive your worst moments. The Meisner Technique, one of the most widely taught approaches in professional acting schools, specifically avoids dredging up personal trauma. Instead, it trains you to use your natural ability to daydream in a graphic, vivid way. The idea is simple: your brain responds emotionally to imagined scenarios almost as strongly as it responds to real ones.
To try this, find a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted. Close your eyes and build an imaginary scene in as much sensory detail as possible. Don’t just think about a sad concept like “loss.” Instead, picture a specific person you love sitting across from you, imagine the texture of their clothing, the sound of their voice, and then imagine them telling you something devastating. Fill in every detail: the lighting in the room, the expression on their face, the silence afterward. The more specific and sensory the daydream, the more your body treats it as real.
This takes practice. Professional actors spend months developing what’s called “emotional preparation,” which is essentially self-induced emotion created before stepping on stage or in front of a camera. The key insight from trained actors is that forcing tears doesn’t work. Straining to feel something shuts down the emotional response. Instead, you build the imaginary circumstance vividly and then let yourself respond naturally, without monitoring whether tears are coming.
Physical Methods That Trigger Reflex Tears
If you need tears quickly and don’t care whether they come from genuine emotion, several physical techniques stimulate your tear glands directly.
Staring without blinking. Hold your eyes open and avoid blinking for as long as you can. Your eyes will dry out and your tear glands will kick in to compensate. Most people start producing visible moisture within 30 to 60 seconds. Looking slightly upward or into a light source (not the sun or anything intense) speeds this up. The tears won’t stream dramatically at first, but your eyes will redden and glisten, which is often enough for photos or video.
Yawning repeatedly. Yawning compresses the lacrimal glands that sit just above your eyes, squeezing out tears mechanically. Force three or four big yawns in a row and you’ll likely notice your eyes watering. This works best combined with the staring method.
Cutting an onion. When you slice into an onion, you break open its cells and release enzymes that produce a volatile chemical. That chemical drifts into the air, reaches your eyes, and reacts to form a tiny amount of sulfuric acid on the surface of your cornea. Your nervous system detects the irritation and floods your eyes with tears to wash it away. For maximum effect, cut the onion close to your face and avoid running water, which washes the chemical out of the air. This produces copious tears but also redness and a burning sensation that takes a few minutes to fade.
Menthol tear sticks. Used on film sets, these are waxy sticks containing menthol that you apply to the skin just below your eyes. The vapors rise and irritate your tear glands. They’re effective but come with a clear safety warning: never apply them directly to your eye. They’re designed for external skin use only, and putting the product in your eye can cause injury.
Music, Memory, and Emotional Triggers
For many people, the fastest path to real tears is a song. Music bypasses your rational brain and connects directly to emotion, especially songs tied to specific memories or periods in your life. Put on headphones, choose a song that has made you emotional before, close your eyes, and let yourself sit in whatever it brings up. Pairing music with the vivid daydreaming technique described above is particularly effective.
Watching a scene from a movie that has made you cry before works on the same principle. Your brain has already built the emotional association, so it takes less effort to access it a second time. Keep a mental list of your reliable triggers. Some people find that reading old letters, looking at photographs from a specific time in their life, or even recalling the sound of a loved one’s voice works consistently.
Another approach is to focus on feelings of gratitude or love rather than sadness. Think about someone who has shown you unconditional kindness, or a moment when you felt deeply seen. Tears from tenderness and overwhelm come more easily for some people than tears from grief.
Why You Might Feel Better Afterward
Emotional tears are chemically different from the reflex tears you produce when you chop an onion or stare too long. They contain a compound related to endorphins, your body’s natural painkillers. This is why a good cry often leaves you feeling lighter or calmer. The physical act of sobbing also slows your breathing and activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the branch responsible for rest and recovery. So if you’re trying to cry for emotional release, aim for the imagination or music-based methods rather than physical irritants, because the relief comes from the emotional tears specifically.
Why You Might Be Unable to Cry
If you’ve been trying to cry and simply can’t, the problem might not be emotional. A surprisingly long list of common medications reduce tear production as a side effect. Antihistamines (allergy medications) are a frequent culprit, as are antidepressants, blood pressure medications like beta blockers and diuretics, antipsychotics, and even over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin and ibuprofen. Acne medications containing isotretinoin are particularly known for drying out the eyes. If you’re on any of these, your tear glands may be physically producing less fluid, making it harder to cry even when you feel emotionally ready to.
Beyond medications, emotional numbness itself can be a barrier. Chronic stress, burnout, and certain mental health conditions can blunt your emotional responses. This doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It means your nervous system is in a protective mode. Breathwork techniques that alter the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your body, done with a trained facilitator, have been used therapeutically to help people access emotions that feel locked away. Even something as simple as slow, deep belly breathing for five minutes before attempting any crying technique can lower your defenses enough to let emotion through.
Practical Tips for Faster Results
Regardless of which method you choose, a few things make crying easier. Privacy matters. Most people’s brains suppress tears when they feel watched or judged, so find a space where you feel safe. Lowering the lights helps because bright environments tend to keep you alert and analytical, while dim spaces let your emotional brain take over.
Hydration also plays a role. If you’re dehydrated, your body has less fluid available for tear production. Drink water beforehand, especially if you’re combining emotional and physical methods.
Finally, don’t judge the tears when they come. A common mistake, especially for people using acting techniques, is to notice the first sign of emotion and immediately think “it’s working!” That self-awareness pulls you out of the feeling. The best advice from professional actors is to leave yourself alone once the emotion starts. Stop monitoring. Stop evaluating. Just let it happen.