How to break cycles of chronic anxiety and overwhelm?
Our nervous systems and bodies are really smart. At the deepest subconscious levels, they orient towards survival, safety and preparation for future threats. We need all of this wisdom that has been accumulated throughout our lives and in our family lineages and cultural history for survival-this wisdom has brought us here until now. Experiencing chronic anxiety or overwhelm are really common body responses to all of the stresses both past and current. We can learn to trust these experiences for the knowledge they hold and also to be in relationship with them in new ways. Recognizing patterns, stuckness and trauma and learning to release them can be a deeply transformative process.
How we are impacted by these chronic patterns?
These survival patterns exist and manifest in our bodies and can be felt in many ways. To name just a few: an inability to feel really ‘rested’, racing or looping thoughts, surges of adrenaline/feeling shaky, difficulty sitting still, chronic exhaustion and finding ourselves in patterns of addiction such as relationship with our phones. It can be interesting to think of these experiences as stuck ‘energies’ moving throughout our bodies. They manifest in the above named ways (and many more) and can become so familiar to us that we think they are who we are! In fact, they are energies trying to keep us safe that are on loop. Somatic healing can support being in conversation with these energies and releasing them, which can offer a sense of relief, freedom and self-empowerment. To do this we need space held to process some of these experiences of anxiety and overwhelm that have accumulated in our bodies. This releasing of stuck energies doesn’t mean we don’t respond to threats with anxiety if that is called for- anxiety is a crucial survival response. In fact, letting go of past energies can free up space in our bodies to feel more present and to respond to current stressors more effectively and with resiliency.
What else is possible?
Somatic healing practices slow us down. They make space to honor our body’s survival responses and also to notice where and how we can begin to release some of this energy. Once this energy is released, new possibilities can emerge. Different than traditional talk therapy, in this work we explore from an embodied place- learning to recognize the cues from our bodies to address anxiety and move towards feeling grounded and more at ease. People I’ve worked with report feeling a sense of choice in their day to day lives in a new way. They express trust in themselves and an understanding and newfound acceptance of who they are and their body’s adaptive survival responses. People report more capacity to feel connected to their body and feeling whole, including accessing joy and delight in new ways. Somatic healing work can be short term or long term-if you are curious about how coaching could support your journey, reach out for a free consultation. Let us explore what is possible, together.
