While your anxiety could definitely stem from trauma or childhood, you can’t go wrong with learning somatic healing. Talk therapy can help with the rest. Combating anxious thoughts is a huge part of it, but it’s not complete without tuning into your body. It can be helpful to dig into why those specific people are making you feel anxious, and target those underlying thoughts and feelings. There’s a possibility they just suck and your body is alerting you of that 🤷♀️
Anxiety is our amygdala alerting us of danger. In the modern world, that can get trigged by things that aren’t actually dangerous. Deep breaths work because in actual danger we naturally do not breathe deeply. It signals to our brain to be calm. Everyone’s why for anxiety is going to be personal to them, although not always different.
Finding ways to activate your vagus nerve can help you enter into a relaxed state more often. I’m a put an ice pack on my chest, deep breathe with my legs up the wall, and maybe throw on a guided mediation gal myself. You’ll find what works, try things out.
Jan 23, 2025
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If aint nobody got me i know the vagus nerve got me can i get an amen 🙌🏻
Jan 23, 2025
Thank you so much angel <3 I was not expecting such an amazing and informative response! This is such great advice <3<3
Jan 23, 2025
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But as someone who is emotionally distant and whose emotions are basically perpetually trapped beneath an ocean 1000 leagues under the sea of my mind and heart here are some other suggestions:
* chakra yoga… starting at the root to help you feel safe enough to even explore and embody your emotions, sacral chakra to feel those emotions, solar plexus to feel empowered and confident, heart chakra to feel strong compassion for yourself and others, throat chakra to EXPRESS these emotions. Honestly I haven’t gone beyond throat chakra I’m getting there
* also just regular yin yoga for the hips because stuck emotions generally are stored there
* meditation… body scans and Tara Brach’s RAIN method. Becoming aware of where these emotions sit in the body and learning to process them is key
* reading emotional awareness educational materials for parents of toddlers.. actually very helpful at the most basic level
* watch movies that relate to the emotions you feel distant from so that you can experience those emotions through the conduit of a fictional story. i call this an emotional enema
Jun 24, 2024
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deep breaths, paying attention to how your body feels, who knew it would make you feel better?
11h ago
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I think that the dread is held inside of you and it's not something that can simply be let go of, and you have to sit with the dread because it is the terrible reality of what it means to be living as you are where you are. And it goes without saying that that specific experience is above and beyond what any human being should have to endure, let alone be expected to continue going through the world with. And so I don't have anything but solidarity from another country and:
- Somatic movement literally changed my life. You are forced to embody yourself without over-intellectualising exactly what your body is, you just have to be in it, and it makes you connect with this very internal part of yourself that is not defined by sociopolitical structure and it's lowkey emotional asf and I am a very cynical person who was made to change my mind
so, if you can find/afford/have capacity to pay for classes that work for you, I would recommend yoga, tai chi, or any form of movement class like biomechanics or something along those lines (I would also argue climbing counts as somatic movement)
if not, I think there is something to be said for a YouTube video that you listen to instead of watching, in the privacy of your own space, just moving your body
- If this is too slow and difficult, my other favourite somatic exercise is just to put in AirPods and lock the door and dance and dance and dance. This eased my clinical dread when antidepressants were not working. they do not want you dancing. therefore it is very important to do so
Mar 14, 2025
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For some reason this brings me into my parasympathetic nervous system
Mar 28, 2025
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Humans have always danced. It is part of who we are, yet we have been conditioned to be self conscious, to think that we do not move our bodies good enough. Dancing is beyond judgement. Dancing is not a skill, it is our soul moving through our bodies, expressed in movement. Dancing is healing. Dancing is bodily autonomy. Dancing is FUN! Any feeling you are feeling can be moved through with dance yet even alone, you fear looking foolish. Kill the judge in your mind, shut the fuck up, and MOVE 🌊
2d ago
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FINDING SOMEONE ANNOYING AND IMMEDIATELY REALIZING IT’S BECAUSE THEY REMIND YOU OF YOUR YOUNGER SELF
OH BROTHER THIS GUY actually needs a lot of empathy and understanding
Apr 2, 2025