Skip to main content

The human brain’s first priority is to survive, and will do so at the cost of your long-term health
if it feels the need. In most cases, it would only activate its fight/flight (anxious) mode if it
had enough data from experience to justify it. Your anxiety is proportional to some real
experience, but probably not your current life circumstances (or you wouldn’t think it was
problematic).

The middle brain processes all the data and triggers the fight/flight mechanism,
stimulating anxious thoughts in the upper brain, and defensive responses in the body.
Fortunately, the messaging highway of our nervous system runs both ways–we can convince
our middle brain to calm down. If we do it right, that is… Maybe you’ve tried to tell yourself to
stop feeling angry or anxious in a stressful moment, and likely had little success. The upper
brain and middle brain aren’t on speaking terms under stress. However, the upper brain CAN
talk to the lower brain, where body functions are controlled, and the lower brain can talk to the
middle brain. Once the middle brain has cooled off, Logic can regain control. We speak this
“body language” by reversing the physical signs of the fight/flight response, which are:

  • increased heart rate
  • muscle tension
  • tightening diaphragm (trouble breathing)
  • restricting digestion (pit-in-the-stomach, butterflies, sick feelings); or in extreme anxiety,
    voiding (vomiting, emptying of bladder or colon)
  • dry mouth
  • protective posturing (fetal position, crossing arms or legs)

If we can stop any or all of these signals, we can send the reverse signal to the brain to reduce or shut down the anxiety response to get through tough moments. So, if you find that just talking back to the anxiety isn’t working, let’s get physical:

  • Sit in a vulnerable position: lying with spread arms and legs is best. This sends the signal that there is no threat and you do not need protection.
  • Breathe slowly, more out than in. This brings the heart rate down. If the heart and lungs are going slow, we must not be in danger.
  • Use breathing to stretch out the diaphragm and belly. You can reduce the tension in your gut and chest by filling up your lungs to stretch them out. Let the body know these don’t need constriction.
  • Relax the muscles. Stretch, massage, hot water, cold compress. Unflexing the muscle tells the brain to demobilize our defenses.
  • Activate Saliva! Doing something to get your spit glands pumping can actually reduce anxiety. Try something salty, or other strong flavor: sour candy, black licorice, ginger chews, wasabi peas…

Try any one or all of these to see if they help you get through an anxious moment. I find they
won’t often take away your chronic anxiety, but sometimes we just need to cope through some
stressful situations. Once the edge is taken off the anxiety, it becomes easier to use cognitive
skills to change perception. But remember, the activity that combines nearly all of these
physical counters to anxiety is….. YOGA. A regular yoga regimen has been shown to reduce
symptoms in various mental illnesses with as much effectiveness as medication and therapy. So do it.

Musings

Eucalyptus Leaves

Chris MaglebyChris MaglebyAugust 1, 20244 min
Education

Depression, The Natural Process

Boone ChristiansonBoone ChristiansonJuly 31, 20244 min
Practices

From Chaos to Calm

Madelyn BirchallMadelyn BirchallJuly 31, 20242 min

Leave a Comment