What is anxiety and how can I escape it?

Anxiety is a state of being not simply a state of mind, it’s a whole body experience. When we understand the mind-body connection we learn there are emotional layers to anxiety as well as physical symptoms.

Our physical symptoms are more tangible, you can describe them clearly as they are happening in your body; tightness in your chest, numbness in your arms or legs, brain fog, a racing heart and shortness of breath, to name a few. Emotions can be harder to catch and label as ultimately they feel very much in our head.

The truth is those emotions and symptoms are in a feedback loop; our thoughts experiences (internal/external) and the physical sensations we feel in our body together manifest as a state of anxiety. 

But what is anxiety?

The nature of anxiety is…

• Fear-based

• 
Often irrational 

• 
Fight, flight or freeze 

• 
Rapid urgency to it 

• 
Scattered

• 
Intense

• 
Out of control 

Anxiety is ultimately the separation from your present self, whether it be an experience in your physical environment or a “what-if” scenario playing out in your mind the overwhelming feeling is that you are unsettled and unsafe. It’s important to know your mind will perceive an imaginary, “what-if” scenario the same way it perceives physical danger in your external environment, so your body will react to that danger whether it is happening now or as a projection of a future experience in your mind. As you focus your attention on the future version of yourself in a worst-case scenario situation you disconnect from yourself and your body reacts to your experience.

How do I escape those feelings when they are happening?

Moving out of an anxious state and escaping the intensity of the emotions you are experiencing is coming into presence. Shifting your attention to the present moment away from overwhelming thoughts can be challenging so think about putting the brakes on. This is where you use your breath to calm your nervous system and direct your attention back to your body in the present moment.

I’d like you to take a slow deep breath with me as if you could fill your belly with breath and then pause for a moment before letting it go. Repeat this practice a few more times, breathing it into your belly, pausing and then releasing it with a gloriously loud sigh!

How do you feel?

Using words to describe both physical and emotional feelings in our body helps us to acknowledge and honour how we are feeling. We can also make our emotions more tangible when we write them down or say them out loud, rather than a sea of unhelpful thoughts racing through our minds. 

Another great tool is learning to recognise your unique signals when your body is in distress, symptoms such as a tightness in your chest, shortness of breath, and tension in your muscles, to relieve the intensity of those symptoms consider giving your body the opposite of those feelings.

Anxiety is both physical and emotional, it is not only in your mind, which is why yoga and somatic practices are so beneficial for people experiencing anxiety because it influences the entire nervous system.

Explore this…

1. What are you feeling? Where are you experiencing tension or other sensations in your body?
2. What would the opposite of those feelings and sensations be?
3. What thoughts are running through your head? Name them, write them down, acknowledging them can be a relief alone.
4. What thoughts would be more helpful to you right now?
5. What resources do you have that can help relieve the physical and emotional experience you are having?

Come back to your breath. Your breath is the fastest and simplest way to reconnect and rebalance, it’s also a free resource!

“To chill out, breathe it out” - extending your exhalation is like putting on the brakes and tuning you straight into the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, calming you, helping you to think more clearly and feel connected to your body.

We are cyclical beings and in a constant state of change therefore know these feelings will pass. By acknowledging when we are anxious and how it makes us feel we help ourselves remember that things will shift when we find ourselves there again. 

For anyone who is struggling right now please know you are not alone, you are enough and you are so loved.

Big love, always,

Becki