4 Ways to Calm Your Body as You Calm Your Mind
Here are some simple strategies for recalibrating your nervous system.
I was once in a drugstore that had vintage postcards gathering dust in the corner. One of the postcards, yellow and frayed with the years, simply read, “I’m so tense, now when I’m calm, I get nervous.” The copyright was 1945.
Anxiety and tension have dogged humanity forever, each generation positive that things are more stressful now than ever before. Current research blames our ancient biology. The primitive startle reflex and the body’s fight/flight/freeze response were designed to protect our species from danger, predators, and life-threatening situations. Now, instead of needing to battle wild animals, or flee from destructive forces, we engage these same primitive instincts while navigating traffic, dealing with a toxic work environment, negotiating family strife and more.
Anxiety is not just an uneasy feeling crawling through your thoughts. It’s a visceral, somatic, bodily sensation that is the result of the nervous system’s interpretation of your inner and outer world. You can talk to yourself till you’re blue in the face, but you won’t convince your senses that everything is OK, because, as intelligent as your body is, it doesn’t understand…
