Anxiety in your body can manifest in various ways.
It’s common that when you feel anxiety, you have uncomfortable sensations in your body. An upset stomach, tight muscles, cold or sweaty palms, a headache, or fast breathing or heart rate.
Our natural tendency is to try to make these feelings go away. To run from our body’s messages, to distract ourselves, to stay busy, to avoid these feelings in any way we can or to try to force them to change.
And while this can work in the short term, or might feel less uncomfortable in the short term, it actually perpetuates the cycle, training your body to be more keyed up, more avoidant, and essentially afraid of itself in addition to whatever outside thing you were worried about. So, what can you do instead? In this video you’ll learn what to do with anxious sensations in your body.
What To Do With Anxiety In Your Body
OK, so your tendency is to escape, to perpetuate the anxiety cycle by avoiding your own body’s messages and sensations. But the more we struggle against our sensations, the worse they usually feel. That’s because we’re essentially telling our brain that these sensations are dangerous, that this feeling is going to harm us. That’s not working, so, instead, let’s slow down. And do the opposite.
- Let’s lean in.
- Sit with it
- Get curious
- Soften into it.
- Review Willingness
- PEACE
- Present
- Explore
- Accept
- Curious
- Expand
If you notice an area of your body that is claiming your attention, you can gently place a hand on that area and rest for a minute or two.
It’s important to understand our intention with this technique. We aren’t trying to change the sensation or fix tension or make a feeling go away.
We are simply making gentle contact with that body part and offering it our support and undivided attention. We treat these areas of discomfort as we would cherished friends.
We lean in, we go slow, we listen to them and connect without an agenda. As we bring our presence, our attention to that area, we sit with it, and we rest.
So go ahead, pick an area of your body. I’m going to use my shoulders. Place your hand gently on the area.
You could also rest something heavy in your hands, or on that body part to help you give it some attention.
Remind yourself, “I can handle feeling this feeling” “This is uncomfortable, but I can feel this feeling and be ok.”
Cultivate Compassion And Make Space For Anxiety
Imagine these sensations are your friends, coming to you with difficult messages. Visualize yourself listening to their story with compassion. You aren’t judging what they’re saying, you aren’t judging them, you’re just listening with compassion.
Send some love to your body. Thanks for trying to keep me safe. I appreciate you. Imagine this part of your body is like a small child, out of breath after running in to give you a message, give it a mental hug, listen to what it has to say.
You are confident in your ability to hear them, you are warm and kind. You don’t actually have to already have these characteristics, just visualize yourself embodying them. Create a facial expression to match that kindness.
Don’t worry if you don’t embody these qualities already, no one gains them overnight, we are just going to develop them through practice. You can learn to listen to your body with compassion, with warmth, openness and wisdom.
Notice how as you make space for these sensations, your capacity to feel them increases. Imagine it’s like a jar, perhaps you felt like the jar was overflowing with emotion, but now the jar is expanding, and you have space to spare for that feeling, and you can be curious and expand your awareness and notice other areas of your body that are perhaps calm or warm or soft.
You can handle feeling your feelings. They are just messengers, your body is your friend, you can listen to it. You got this.
Click the link below to learn how you can Break the Anxiety Cycle in 30 Days.
