Your body & anxiety: how to soothe an anxious nervous system.
Your heart starts racing. Your breathing gets faster. Your mind rushes into a million thoughts. You start sweating. Maybe you want to run away from what you’re facing. Your appetite disappears or digestion slows down. Maybe you feel like pooping (yep, anxiety poops are a thing).
Welcome to your stress system.
We all know what it’s like to be here, though maybe you don’t know the physiology behind it.
The autonomic nervous system has two branches, the sympathetic & the parasympathetic (more on this next week). Calling it the sympathetic nervous system makes it sound oh-so-nice, though it often feels anything but.
The sympathetic nervous system controls your stress response, your response when your system feels in danger & you gotta fight or run.
Now the stress system often gets a bad rep, though its job is simply to keep you safe, to help you escape danger when it shows up.
The typical example you’ll usually hear is that of being chased by a predator. Your sympathetic nervous system assesses the danger & kicks into action, redirects blood away from your digestive system & sexual organs & delivers vital energy to your muscles so you can run.
But what happens when the predator lives in your mind? What happens when you can’t run?
The problem arises when we get stuck in this state & many of us do. Be it a result of modern day stressful living or a traumatic history, understanding the stress system & how we can work with it can act as a life-raft when we’re stuck in a storm of overwhelm & anxiety.
Here is where working with the breath & the body comes in, this is called a ‘bottom-up’ approach (vs a top-down approach of starting with the mind/talking therapy).
When you get stuck in this stress response the common wisdom is often to find calming practices.
On the surface, this makes sense.
In practice though, this very often feels *impossible*
With an understanding of the nervous system, we can see why: your body has just been pumping your body full of stress hormones, directing energy to your muscles & getting you ready to run - calming & sitting still is the last thing it’s looking to do.
That’s not to say calming practices won’t help BUT they need to be done at the right time.
So where do we start?
First, we need to find a way to discharge the energy: this could mean jumping, shaking, running - OR, for the yoga-inclined: opt for a strong, dynamic start - turn up some music & start with some fast sun salutations, as you’re going, feel into your body & bring in any movements it’s craving.
Eventually, slow your movements down & finally move to calming practices.
Allowing this built up energy to move through you, giving it a way to discharge will open you up to being able to approach calming practices such as slow pranayama & restorative poses.
Bringing these together will allow you to bring yourself back into a state of balance.
Want to learn more + how to create a yoga practice to soothe your anxiety?
Join The Anxiety Reset workshop.
