Body as Home for Mind
An Embodied Guide to Anxiety (IV)
This is the fourth post in a series on embodiment and anxiety. Read Part I, Part II and Part III.
Following on from my last post about the senses and pleasure, in this post we will explore physicality and embodiment as ways out of anxiety. Being comfortable in your own skin is both a long-term antidote and an immediate way out of anxious states of being. Although some people embody this state naturally, it is a skill and a way of being that you can cultivate through somatic presence. Being at home in yourself is also powerfully magnetic, a state that other people resonate with and are drawn to.
body
One way to recognize the feeling of anxiety is that it makes you want to ‘jump out of your skin’—a literal desire for dis-embodiment. When you’re anxious, your attention is jittery and skittish, like you can’t properly feel or settle down into your physicality. The predominant direction and shape of your energy is scattering up and out; what you need instead is to gather down and in, or at least to contain the spreading out of yourself before you dissociate completely.
I sometimes think of disembodiment as a form of somatic homelessness, because this body is our first home in life. If you don’t feel at home in your own skin, it’s not likely that you’ll feel at home in the world. Conversely, once you start to feel at home in your body, the world feels safer and more welcoming too. And it can also go the other way—finding a place in the world where you feel at home can prompt you to come home to yourself more deeply. (More on this in the next post.)
mind
Anxiety is characterised by agitation of the mind, swirling and chaotic thoughts and feelings that keep you disconnected from the present moment, the world around you, and yourself. You might find yourself obsessively thinking, planning and predicting what could happen, imagining scenarios from the past or future and desperately searching for solutions. Your mind is trying to problem-solve, but because you aren’t relaxed, present, or aware, you don’t have access to your best ideas, your most inspired solutions, and you may not even have a solid grasp of the situation or be able to use your common sense. In other words, the thoughts you have when you’re anxious are not helpful or productive, and they usually do not correspond to reality.
That’s why the best thing you can do for yourself is get a clean break from the messiness inside your head, and return to the situation once you feel more stable and clear. At that point, you will have gained valuable perspective and are likely to understand things more easily, recall information more clearly, put together ideas more creatively—and find a better solution to your problem.
Here are a few ways you can come down out of your head and into your body:
(intentional) movement
Many people instinctively realise that moving their body is a way to detach from the mind—that’s why people run, swim, play sports, do yoga, learn to fight etc. Find a way of moving that helps you connect with and tune in to your own body. Going to the gym is good for you, but it won’t help your anxiety if you move mindlessly on the machines or tune out by watching videos during your workout.
If you are using movement to help with anxiety, the main purpose of your movement practice is not achieving physical goals like becoming stronger, lifting more, or going faster. These may be your secondary goals, but your primary goal is to train your mind, body and nervous system synergistically and holistically. This is another way of saying I want my movement practice to be embodied, or at least mindful.
Holding this intention (or your own version of it) will change your relationship to your movement practice, and it will also mean you make different choices about how to move and what to prioritise. Your intention becomes the benchmark against which you evaluate whether to do something or not. If a practice encourages you to override your body, it’s out. If it suggests that you space out or do other things with your mind while moving, it’s out. And if it’s something that your nervous system can’t handle or adapt to, it’s out.
the yin and yang of movement
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to make your movement practice more embodied. One is a more yin (receptive, internal, gentle) approach; the other is more yang (active, external, engaged):
Yin: Deliberately increase your sensitivity to and awareness of your body as you move
This is the approach taken in forms of movement like yoga asana, qi gong, natural movement, dance, somatics etc.
This is also ideal for anxiety as it trains your awareness without overloading you with new stimulation.
Yang: Choose a type of movement that is novel or complex enough that you have no choice but to become absorbed in it
This is the approach in contact and fighting sports; certain forms of weight training like powerlifting, kettlebells, steel clubs and mace training; and any athletic endeavour where you focus on technique, such as gymnastics
This is less ideal for anxiety because the novelty or complexity can be overwhelming. However, some people find that the extra challenge allows them to slip into physicality more easily.
This distinction is somewhat artificial, as many times we can and do blend both. But I wanted to make the two approaches clear, so you know what you’re doing when and why. Combining the two together is the best way to make a practice embodied, and has the added benefit of leading to a flow state experience.
In terms of movement intensity, as above, you have two options. Again, the first is more yin, the second more yang:
Yin: Choose gentle, rhythmic and slow movement, like qi gong, swimming, rowing, or yoga. Regularity and rhythm are soothing to the brain and body, and you can enhance the impact by using appropriately timed music, or syncing your breathing to your movement. Moving in this way keeps you in the in-between mode I spoke about in Part I, not too high or too low, so you learn to embody relaxation in action. Avoid anything too dramatic or intense, as well as environments and instructors that encourage you to push too hard or override your body.
Yang: Some people prefer to move at high intensities to get the excess energy out of their system. In this case, make sure you remain in touch with your body during the peak intensity (don’t dissociate), and give yourself extra time and space for recovery after the practice. Recovery (or physical down-regulation) is the most important part; more than the movement itself, you are trying to teach your body how to return to balance after stress and intensity. If you can’t feel yourself coming into relaxation afterwards, moderate the intensity and/or stick to the yin types of movement above.
If you don’t know where to begin with movement, perhaps recall activities you enjoyed as a child, or something that you’ve always wanted to learn to do with your body. It doesn’t have to be a sport—it could also be something like dance, walking on the beach, building or crafting, gardening...
Whatever you choose, do it in an environment that appeals to you, where you can open your senses and enjoy being in physical form.1 Use music if you’d like to, move with a friend or in a supportive group. If you’re joining a class, tell the instructor that you’re there to reduce anxiety, so they are aware not to drive you too hard and to accommodate your pace rather than treat you like a competitive athlete.
structuring your practice
Before the start of your practice, take 5-10 minutes to downregulate, or shift into parasympathetic mode.2 You can do this via: slow, paced breathing, gentle flowing movement, listening to music you like, opening your senses to self and world, ‘doing nothing’ or lying down and resting. The reason for this is so that you begin your movement practice from a place of stability and groundedness, rather than from heightened arousal. This way you are more in tune with your body as you move, and therefore less likely to dissociate, overtrain, or get injured. You also carry a little bit of calm into the practice with you, so it won’t exacerbate your anxiety or increase your arousal.
Do the same at the end of your practice. Take 5-10 minutes to just ‘do nothing’ and let the high and the buzz of your movement settle into you. For the yogis reading this, the idea is the same as in savasana, but you don’t have to do it lying down. In this process you are training yourself to tolerate (and even enjoy) a higher level of arousal, one that you voluntarily created. At the same time, you deliberately accelerate the process of down-regulating after intensity, through conscious relaxation. Side benefits of taking these extra minutes at the end is that they: speed up your recovery process3; allow your brain to integrate new learning pathways that you explored in the session; and create a seamless transition into your next activity.
The sensations that arise in and after a strong movement practice overlap with the sensations of anxiety. The difference is that with movement: (1) the arousal is mitigated by your hormones (specifically, dopamine and endorphins); and (2) unlike in anxiety, you chose to create this state in yourself. Both of these reasons make it that much easier to absorb and accommodate the high without it tipping over into anxiety.
Once you find a movement practice or class that you like, do the thing regularly so that your nervous system and body understand that this is your time-out for self-care. More on the importance of routines in the next post.
Somatic Practice
Outside of movement, you can also develop embodied awareness through interoceptive or somatic practices. Interoception (= interior + perception) is feeling the inside of your body, for example through sensations of heat or cold, pressure and contact, movements or energy flow. It is this sense that tells you when you are thirsty or hungry, energised or fatigued, or if a part of your body is tense or relaxed. These are only the most basic forms of interoceptive awareness; with practice you can refine your awareness to feel any structure or process within the body, down to the level of tissues and cells.
When you are anxious, two things can happen:
You become hyper-aware of certain bodily sensations (such as a rapid heart rate, fast or shallow breathing, sweaty hands, roiling stomach, dry mouth, jittery or twitchy sensations); while being unaware or unable to feel the rest of the body. This is a form of hypervigilance, and even though you are feeling your body, it is not the same as being embodied.
Alternatively, you could be totally dissociated from your body and unable to feel it at all. It is frozen, numb, stuck or tense somewhere ‘down there’ while you float above it all in your head or outside yourself.
What we want to develop is a state of embodied presence, in which we are in our own bodies without being hijacked or overwhelmed by specific sensations. It’s a global awareness that feels restful, simple and easy, and doesn’t involve concentration or effortful focus. When you are able to slip into it, there is a profound sense of ease and relaxation—like you’ve found your way home.
Note that embodied awareness is not exclusively internal, but it always includes the body. In other words, you can be outwardly oriented, but as long as you are still aware of your inner, physical self, it still counts as being embodied.
where to go?
The inside of your body is just like the outside world that you inhabit—both are filled with a variety of landscapes, atmospheres and ever-changing weather patterns. When you first approach embodied practice, seek out the inner spaces where you feel you can snuggle up and let go: the equivalent of your favourite cafe or bookstore, your bedroom, the beach, the top of a mountain etc. Instead of physically going to a place in the outer world, you are simply travelling around your inner landscape using your mind.
You could visit, or rest awareness in: the roof of your mouth, the deep bowl of your pelvis, the softness of your belly, the surface of your skin, the center of your chest, the curve of your neck or spine, the places where your body touches the ground, the arches of your feet or the hollow of your palms… Sometimes you also find immediate relaxation by moving your awareness around your body, as when you follow the sensations of your breathing, or while doing a body scan.
The best advice I can give is don’t try too hard. Trying is the mental equivalent of bodily tension, and also the default tendency of an anxious mind. We need to soften or drop down under that tension to find a natural, easy and open awareness, which is the default state of the human mind itself.
Conclusion
I hope these ideas are helpful to you in your exploration of anxiety. One of the hardest things about somatic work is that, beyond a certain point, you can’t really explain things in words. The other person has to experience the state—only then can they start to understand how much power it has and what it means to them. Since I have some skill with language, I am always trying to find new ways to describe my own states of being and to help others find words for theirs. I learned from my training in Laban movement that the things we have words for gain importance, while those that we can’t describe are more likely to be forgotten or dismissed. Finding the right fit of words and images to inner states is like hunting for buried treasure: most of the time you are groping in the dark, but when you find it, it changes everything.
If you appreciated anything in this post, have questions or your own thoughts about the relationship between embodiment and anxiety, please leave a comment.
To all subscribers—but especially new ones—if you’re finding value in my words, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. My birthday month promotion is running for just 2 more days, until August 11. You can read more about my ideas on money here.
In my next post, I will discuss lifestyle considerations and outer-world strategies to reduce anxiety. Some may be obvious but I hope to include a few gems that you may not have thought of. See you there.
One of my wishes for the world is for more people to become aware of how to make public environments more pleasurable to be in. Particularly gyms, but also shopping malls, housing estates, commercial buildings, schools, public transport, hospitals… An awareness of how the human senses work and perceive the world would be so valuable in these spaces.
With thanks to my breathwork coach, Georgie Lawlor, for this idea.
I believe it was Andrew Huberman who mentioned in his podcast that some elite athletes do a savasana-style relaxation protocol at the end of training sessions, for this very reason.
Another beautiful essay. Thank you for this wisdom!
I really like your posts about anxiety. It's very hard to explain how you feel when you're anxious.
We have a Spanish saying: "vuela el viento pero más el pensamiento". It can be translated as "the wind blows, the mind still more". I repeated this saying to me in the worst moments of my anxiety, trying to counterattack those dark journeys of my mind into an unlikely future.