We’re not taught how to sit with our body and feel where emotions show up. The majority of my clients initially don’t know how to feel their emotions inside their body. They can cognitively tell me that they are anxious…but do everything in their power to try to avoid feeling any distress associated with it. So they try to distract themselves from feeling by working harder, staying productive, and basically doing anything to keep them from sitting quietly…because then they would be left with their thoughts and emotions..
What does anxiety feel like in your body? Did you know that your body actually communicates with you and sends you a message prior to you having the thought that you are anxious? Can you feel it in your gut…that queasy sense or tightness that feels like a pit in your stomach? What about that bubble that shows up in your throat when you so desperately are trying not to cry and want to push the emotions back down. These are some of the most common sensations that clients experience prior to identifying that they are anxious or distressed.
It’s uncomfortable to sit with the feelings, so we try to push them aside, however our body is screaming out to us and saying “pay attention to me.” Our body keeps score and if we ignore its cries long enough it might shut us down physically and emotionally.
But what if you really feel disconnected and unable to connect with your breath. What if trying to focus on your body only increases your anxiety? This seems to be all too familiar for some of my clients.
The best solution I have found for these clients is the use of Yoga. Yoga offers the opportunity to learn to connect with your breath and feel the discomfort in your body while placing yourself in physical positions that challenge your body and mind. In order to stay in the poses you need to learn to breathe through the pain. It causes you to focus on all the discomfort that you are experiencing in specific areas of your body. For individuals who find sitting and breathing or meditating to be annoying, yoga can serve as a means for helping you learn to notice your body and work through the feels, while strengthening your physical and mental state.
I have found that implementing yoga in my own life has greatly improved my awareness of my own body’s needs. The benefits of learning to practice mindfulness are widely known. But we can’t practice mindfulness if we don’t allow ourselves to sit with stillness. So if you are not someone who can practice meditation by itself, give yoga a try. There are so many great opportunities for online yoga via YouTube that there’s really no excuse for not trying it. If you commit to the process, like anything else it will become a habit. You will become more attuned to your body’s communication with you and this wisdom is profound in learning to regulate your nervous system.