Your Body’s Perspective on Anxiety
Anxiety doesn’t always begin with a thought you can easily identify.
Sometimes, you notice it in your body first.
Your shoulders are tense. Your jaw is clenched. Your stomach feels unsettled. You can’t seem to take a full breath. Maybe you feel restless, like you need to move, or exhausted even though you haven’t done much physically. You might know that you’re anxious, but when someone asks what’s wrong, you genuinely don’t know what to say.
For some people, anxiety can feel like carrying around emotions that never quite get released. You keep functioning, keep showing up, and keep telling yourself that everything is fine. Meanwhile, your body may be telling a different story.
Looking at anxiety through a body-mind-spirit perspective can help us pay attention to that story.
When Anxiety Shows Up in the Body
We often think of anxiety as something that happens in our minds: racing thoughts, overthinking, worrying about the future, or imagining everything that could go wrong.
But anxiety is also a physical experience.
When we perceive a threat or feel overwhelmed, our nervous system responds. Your heart may beat faster, your muscles may tighten, your breathing may change, and your digestive system may feel different. This is why anxiety can sometimes come with nausea, stomach discomfort, headaches, shakiness, sweating, or a feeling of tightness throughout the body.
You may even become so accustomed to carrying tension that you stop noticing it.
That tension can become your normal.
What Most People Do With Uncomfortable Feelings
Many of us learn, directly or indirectly, to keep difficult emotions under control.
Don’t get angry.
Don’t make a scene.
Don’t let people know you’re upset.
Just move on.
Be grateful.
Stay positive.
Sometimes, these messages are helpful. We certainly don’t want to react to every uncomfortable emotion impulsively. But there is a difference between regulating an emotion and pretending it isn’t there.
If you’ve spent years trying to be agreeable, responsible, productive, or “the strong one,” you may have become very good at pushing frustration aside.
You might say, “It’s fine,” even when something bothers you.
You might immediately try to understand someone else’s perspective before acknowledging that they hurt you.
You might feel guilty for being angry.
Or you may not consciously experience yourself as frustrated at all. Instead, you notice tension, irritability, exhaustion, stomach discomfort, or anxiety.
A Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers another framework for thinking about the connection between emotional and physical experiences.
Within TCM, different emotional states have traditionally been associated with different organ systems, and emotional balance is viewed as interconnected with physical well-being. From this perspective, prolonged stress, worry, and frustration may be understood as affecting the body as well as the mind.
These ideas come from a traditional healing framework and are different from the way Western medicine explains anxiety. However, both perspectives can draw our attention to something important: our emotional experiences and physical experiences are deeply connected.
Think about what happens when you’re nervous before an important conversation.
Your stomach turns.
Your chest tightens.
Your muscles tense.
Your breathing changes.
The body participates in anxiety.
So instead of only asking, “What am I thinking?” it can also be useful to ask, “What am I holding in my body?”
The Problem With Pushing Everything Down
Avoiding uncomfortable emotions can work temporarily.
You can distract yourself. Stay busy. Scroll through your phone. Work longer hours. Tell yourself that something doesn’t matter. Focus on everyone else’s needs instead of your own.
The feeling may disappear for a while.
But avoidance doesn’t necessarily resolve what created the feeling.
In fact, trying very hard not to experience certain thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations can sometimes make us more preoccupied with them. You may become anxious about feeling anxious, frustrated that you’re frustrated, or ashamed that something is affecting you at all.
This creates another layer of tension.
The goal, then, isn’t to eliminate every uncomfortable emotion. It is to develop a different relationship with those emotions.
Suppressing vs. Expressing
Expression does not mean directing your anger at another person, yelling at someone, breaking things, or acting impulsively.
Healthy expression means giving yourself permission to recognize an emotion and finding a safe way to process it.
That might look different for everyone.
For one person, it may mean taking a kickboxing class and noticing the physical release that comes from movement. For someone else, it could mean going for a brisk walk, dancing, exercising, journaling, making music, talking with someone they trust, or simply sitting quietly and noticing where tension is living in the body.
Some traditional practices even encourage forms of physical or vocal release, such as yelling into a pillow. While there is no single technique that everyone needs to use, the broader question can still be valuable:
Am I giving myself space to experience what I feel, or am I constantly trying to make it disappear?
The answer may tell you something about how you’ve learned to cope with anxiety.
Start by Listening to Your Body
If you’re used to suppressing emotions, identifying what you feel may be surprisingly difficult.
You don’t have to force an answer.
Start with your body.
Take a moment and notice:
Where am I tense right now?
Are my shoulders raised?
Am I clenching my jaw?
Is my stomach tight?
Am I holding my breath?
Do I feel restless or like I need to move?
Then, without immediately trying to change the sensation, become curious about it.
If this tension could communicate something to me, what might it be saying?
Maybe you’re frustrated.
Maybe you’re scared.
Maybe you’ve taken on too much.
Maybe someone crossed a boundary that you haven’t acknowledged.
Maybe you’re tired of having to hold everything together.
Or maybe you simply don’t know yet.
Not knowing is okay. The goal is not to perfectly interpret every sensation in your body. The goal is to begin paying attention.
Releasing Tension Doesn’t Mean Losing Control
People who have spent a long time suppressing emotions can sometimes fear what will happen if they finally allow themselves to feel them.
What if I get too angry?
What if I start crying and can’t stop?
What if acknowledging how I feel makes everything worse?
But experiencing an emotion and acting on an emotion are two different things.
You can notice anger without attacking someone.
You can experience fear without letting fear make every decision.
You can acknowledge frustration without allowing it to control your behavior.
Learning to tolerate emotions can actually give you more choice in how you respond to them.
Instead of automatically pushing a feeling away or reacting impulsively, you can notice it, understand it, and decide what you want to do next.
Bringing the Body, Mind, and Spirit Back Together
Anxiety treatment doesn’t have to focus only on changing your thoughts.
For many people, healing also involves reconnecting with the body, understanding emotional patterns, and making room for parts of themselves they have spent years trying to silence.
Your body is not necessarily something you need to fight against when anxiety appears.
Sometimes, it is providing information.
Therapy can help you become more aware of how anxiety shows up physically and emotionally, identify patterns of avoidance or suppression, and develop healthier ways of responding to stress. Approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based therapies, acceptance-based approaches, and other mind-body strategies can help you build a greater sense of awareness and choice.
At Madison Park Psychological Services, our therapists work with individuals experiencing anxiety, chronic stress, and difficult emotions that can feel overwhelming or hard to express. Together, therapy can provide a space to understand what you have been carrying, how you learned to cope with it, and what it might look like to respond differently.
You don’t have to force yourself to “just relax.”
Sometimes, the first step is simply learning to listen to what your mind and body have been trying to tell you.
Author:
MPPS Team (Reviewed By Dr. Yasmine Saad)
Hello! I’m Dr. Yasmine Saad, an award-winning psychologist based in New York City and a two-time international best-selling author. You might know me as “The Wise Psychologist,” a title given to me by my clients for my work. I’m honored to have been recognized by Forbes alongside inspirational figures like Tony Robbins.
My work is centered around my Inner Message Approach®, a transformative method I developed to help individuals decode their thoughts and emotions. This approach is designed to empower people to overcome negative patterns and unlock their true potential. USA Today has called me a “visionary,” highlighting how I’m redefining our understanding of the human mind by combining deep wisdom with revolutionary techniques.
As the founder of Madison Park Psychological Services, I lead a team of exceptional psychologists, representing the top 5% in our field. We specialize in providing holistic care to our diverse clientele, integrating ancient Eastern wisdom with modern Western therapeutic techniques. Through my Inner Message Approach®, my team and I have successfully guided countless adults, couples, and children toward wellness in a remarkably short time.
In addition to my clinical practice, I’m an internationally acclaimed speaker, often sharing the stage with icons like Deepak Chopra, Dr. Shefali, Les Brown, and many others. I’m passionate about educating the public on the Inner Message Approach®, and my insights have been featured in over 100 media outlets, including ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox.
This exposure has solidified my reputation as a leading authority in psychology and personal development. I’m proud to have my expertise recognized both nationally and internationally, not only as a seasoned practitioner but also as an educator in this fascinating and ever-evolving field.
MPPS Team (Reviewed By Dr. Yasmine Saad)
Hello! I’m Dr. Yasmine Saad, an award-winning psychologist based in New York City and a two-time international best-selling author. You might know me as “The Wise Psychologist,” a title given to me by my clients for my work. I’m honored to have been recognized by Forbes alongside inspirational figures like Tony Robbins.
My work is centered around my Inner Message Approach®, a transformative method I developed to help individuals decode their thoughts and emotions. This approach is designed to empower people to overcome negative patterns and unlock their true potential. USA Today has called me a “visionary,” highlighting how I’m redefining our understanding of the human mind by combining deep wisdom with revolutionary techniques.
As the founder of Madison Park Psychological Services, I lead a team of exceptional psychologists, representing the top 5% in our field. We specialize in providing holistic care to our diverse clientele, integrating ancient Eastern wisdom with modern Western therapeutic techniques. Through my Inner Message Approach®, my team and I have successfully guided countless adults, couples, and children toward wellness in a remarkably short time.
In addition to my clinical practice, I’m an internationally acclaimed speaker, often sharing the stage with icons like Deepak Chopra, Dr. Shefali, Les Brown, and many others. I’m passionate about educating the public on the Inner Message Approach®, and my insights have been featured in over 100 media outlets, including ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox.
This exposure has solidified my reputation as a leading authority in psychology and personal development. I’m proud to have my expertise recognized both nationally and internationally, not only as a seasoned practitioner but also as an educator in this fascinating and ever-evolving field.
