Find a sense of safety in your body so you feel safer in the world
When the world around you is spinning, the only place you can find safety is in your body. Your body is a ‘resource’ to help you feel safe again and reduce the symptoms of anxiety. Here are 3 simple techniques to find safety in your body: grounding your feet, holding and hugging yourself, and diaphragmatic breathing.
Three quick ways to find safety in your body:
1. Grounding your feet
When we get anxious, we often lose contact with our bodies. One of the quickest ways to ‘get back into your body’ is to focus on the contact with the ground.
There are approximately 200,000 sensory nerves on the soles of your feet. They sense pressure, texture, temperature, and more. Sensory nerves send chemical information to the brain on the status of the environment around you. Telling your brain whether the environment is safe or unsafe. So let’s use those nerves to tell your brain that your body is safe.
Here’s a super short video teaching you how to ground into your feet (2 min video):
If you can go outside and touch the earth with your bare feet that’s brilliant. But even letting your feet contact the carpet or tiles is enough.
Want to find out more about how Sarah works with her clients? Click here
2. Hugging and holding yourself
Sometimes when we get anxious or feel unsafe, we mentally disconnect from our bodies. Applying gentle pressure on our sensory nerves through touch, holding, and hugging is a quick way to remind your brain that you have a body beneath your neck. And tell your nervous system that you are safe again. (4 min video)
Hear Sarah’s story about how she overcame her own battle with anxiety. Click here
3. Diaphragmatic breathing
Yoga, Pilates, and Body Psychotherapy all have one thing in common – deep diaphragmatic breathing. We can override our nervous system – press the reset button if you like – with deep diaphragmatic breathing. When we breathe deeply, the long slow exhale tells our nervous system that it can switch back into the ‘rest and digest’ parasympathetic state. That it is safe. Here’s my favorite technique (8 min video)
Here are some other simple types of calming diaphragmatic breathing:
If you want to find out more about why we experience these physical symptoms in anxiety, have a look at my FREE e-book “Three Easy Ways to Reduce Your Anxiety”. It’s an instant download and there is a bonus video and audio recording to help you do the exercises.
If you would like to speak to Sarah about working with her, book a FREE 15-minute discovery call.
I hope this guide helped you find safety in your body, and feel a whole lot less anxious.
