A simple way to reduce anxiety

We live in a world that’s anxious and stressed out, and it’s not something that just happened during Covid, although a global pandemic certainly doesn’t help. 

In a recent podcast, Leslie Booker, a dharma teacher who offers mindfulness and cognitive-based therapy, talked about dealing with anxiety and stress and how we often ignore what’s inside ourselves when we're in these states.

“Everything that we need to know can be found in the body and breath. And a lot of times we sort of bypass that very loud message that’s coming from us. But when we pause for a moment and check in to the felt sense of the body, to the expression of breath, and that can be a holding of the breath or a lot of deep breathing, it gives us information into what’s happening inside of us.”

The mind-body connection is a critical element in reducing and eliminating harmful stress and anxiety. When our brain, our mind, identifies a threat -- doesn’t matter if it’s real or perceived -- our body also responds. The body moves into different posture patterns designed to protect us and from that, muscles become tight causing headaches, clenched jaws, back pain and many other physical issues. What makes it even more challenging is those tight muscles can become chronic, a habit that may continue for decades. 

In somatic movement, we directly work with the brain to become aware of tightness in the body. Through gentle, slow movements that almost anyone can do, the brain wakes up and starts to discover that those muscles we’ve been holding onto for a long time are actually designed to release and relax when we don’t need them. Somatic movement is based on neuroscience. The science is pretty conclusive now that tight muscles in the body are often the result of our mental state, our brain. 

Anxiety is something none of us can escape -- it’s a part of life. But what we can do is gain a greater sense of our own bodies and feel what’s going on inside ourselves. So, when tough stuff happens, we’re better prepared to take it on and move through it.

If you’d like more information about somatic movement, contact us at balancesomatics@gmail.com and you can also check out our website, balancesomatics.com for list a list of classes. 

(To listen to the entire podcast that I mention here, check out the Dan Harrirs, Ten Percent Happier podcast episode, “Buddhist Lessons On Anxiety | Leslie Booker”)