The emotion wheel helped me identify feelings or rather be more specific about identifying them. I had a lot of "anger" I needed to release. I tried a lot of different ways of processing it all, but if I didn't identify it beyond general anger, none of the techniques worked.
I know this is a different approach, but when I couldn't easily identify a feeling, my T suggested giving it a name like Joe or Jane as if it were a stranger I had just met. Then I took the step of getting to know Joe or Jane (aka exploring the feeling). When it came time to apply anger release techniques, I could recognize the real feeling behind the name I assigned. This worked to help me sort complex emotions like feeling rage, fear, anticipation and relief all at once. I've worked through a lot of emotional abuse and trauma this way.