Why Your Nervous System Is Vital To Managing Anxiety & Stress: A Mind-Body Approach
By Dr. Linh | Doctor of Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture, Licensed Acupuncturist, Somatic Practitioner, Hypnotherapist
How many of us intellectually knew we were done with the stressful meeting, but still felt it in the body?
The body tells a story. Research is showing that the body tissues holds memories, emotions and experiences. Even though the difficult conversation is over, the body is still processing the experience.
You might experience it by the heart beating fast, or ruminating thoughts as you lay down in bed. You might feel a tightness in your shoulders or in shallow breaths.
This is your body’s physiology experience of stress that differs from what our minds know.
What Anxiety Actually Is in the Body
Anxiety, from a nervous system perspective, is a survival response. Like a bunny running away from a fox, the bunny’s senses are activated to stay on alert.
Our nervous system acts similar when we are experiencing stress or had stressful events in our day. Our bodies start to constantly scan for threat to ensure that we are safe; like this bunny. That experience can show up as constant thinking, increased heart rate, shallow breaths, slow digestion and tightness in our muscles.
In this case, our body is protecting us. It is adapting to what it is experiencing in our worlds. What becomes difficult is the constant sense of being ‘on’ or in this activated state.
Thinking Your Way Out Is Not The Way
Many people with anxiety name that they have tried therapy, journaling, meditation, and sheer willpower; while these modalities and tools are helpful. We must reroute the body’s signals of danger, process and restore a sense of safety so the mind and body can come back to feeling more relaxed, calm and at peace.
Somatic practice works with the body's own regulatory intelligence: the breath that wants to deepen, the trembling that wants to move through, the tension that is ready to release if only it's given permission. It is a guided return to the body's own capacity to complete, settle, and restore.
Offering nervous system regulation works at the root. Supporting to return of the body’s baseline so that the mind-body can ease back into relaxation and feel less reactive or anxious.
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Dr. Linh is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, licensed acupuncturist, hypnotherapist, and somatic practitioner. She works with women navigating psychosomatic health conditions, anxiety, burnout, and stress through a nervous system-informed, slow, gentle and nature centered approach.
