Understanding Anxiety: You're Not Broken, Your Body is Protecting You

Anxiety. That familiar tightness in your chest. The racing thoughts. The sweaty palms. For millions of people worldwide, anxiety is an unwelcome companion that can appear without warning, transforming ordinary moments into overwhelming experiences.

But what if everything you've been told about anxiety is incomplete? What if your anxiety isn't a flaw in your character or evidence that something is fundamentally wrong with you?

What Is Anxiety, Really?

Anxiety is more than just worry or stress. It's a complex physiological response designed to protect you from perceived threats. As pioneering neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Porges explains through his Polyvagal Theory, anxiety is deeply connected to our nervous system's survival mechanisms.

When we feel anxious, our body isn't malfunctioning—it's responding exactly as it was designed to. Our internal alarm system has been activated, preparing us to face danger, whether that danger is real or imagined.

How Anxiety Shows Up in Your Body

Anxiety manifests in numerous physical ways, often before we're even consciously aware of feeling anxious:

• Rapid heartbeat and shallow breathing
• Muscle tension, particularly in the shoulders, neck, and jaw
• Digestive issues like stomach aches or nausea
• Sleep disturbances
• Restlessness or inability to sit still
• Excessive sweating
• Dizziness or lightheadedness

As Deb Dana, renowned trauma specialist and author, explains, these sensations aren't random. They're your autonomic nervous system shifting into a "sympathetic state" or "fight-or-flight" response. Your body is mobilizing resources to keep you safe.

Why It's Not Your Fault

Jessica Maguire, trauma-informed therapist, emphasizes a crucial truth: you didn't choose your nervous system's sensitivity. Various factors influence how readily your internal alarm system activates:

• Childhood experiences that taught your nervous system to remain vigilant
• Genetic predispositions that affect how your body processes stress
• Past traumatic events that reset your baseline for detecting threats
• Cultural and environmental stressors that keep your system on high alert

Your anxiety isn't a character flaw or moral failing. It's your body doing exactly what it learned to do to protect you. As Porges would say, your nervous system is prioritizing survival over comfort.

Moving Through Anxiety: Practical Strategies

When anxiety begins creeping in, here are evidence-based approaches drawn from the work of Dana, Porges, and Maguire:

1. Connect with your breath: Slow, deep breathing signals safety to your nervous system. Try breathing in for four counts, holding for two, and exhaling for six.
   
   
2. Engage your senses: Dana recommends "orienting" to your environment. Name five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste.
   
   
3. Move your body: Physical movement helps discharge the energy of anxiety. Gentle walking, stretching, or even dancing can help shift your state.
   
   
4. Practice self-compassion: As Maguire emphasizes, speak to yourself with kindness. "This is my nervous system trying to protect me" is more helpful than "What's wrong with me?"
   
   
5. Seek connection: Porges's research shows that social engagement is a powerful regulator of our nervous system. Reach out to a trusted friend or family member.
   
   
6. Map your nervous system: Dana teaches "anchoring," where you identify what safety feels like in your body, creating a reference point to return to when anxious.
   
   
7. Small, achievable steps: Break overwhelming tasks into manageable portions. Each small success helps retrain your nervous system.
   
   

The Path Forward

Understanding anxiety through the lens of Polyvagal Theory and nervous system regulation offers not just relief but transformation. As you practice these strategies and develop a compassionate relationship with your body's protective responses, anxiety may not disappear completely, but its grip will loosen.

Remember, anxiety is not a sign that you're broken. It's a signal that your body is working hard to keep you safe in the ways it knows how. With patience and practice, you can help your nervous system learn new patterns—ones that allow for both safety and connection, protection and joy.

Your journey with anxiety isn't about eliminating a defect. It's about befriending a part of yourself that has always been trying to help, even if its methods need updating.

Ready to Transform Your Relationship with Anxiety?

I know this journey intimately. For years, anxiety controlled my life—dictating where I could go, what I could do, and how I felt in my own skin. The constant vigilance, the panic attacks that came without warning, the exhaustion of always being on high alert... I lived it all.

But everything changed when I discovered nervous system-informed approaches to healing. Learning to work with my body instead of fighting against it didn't just reduce my symptoms—it transformed my entire life. Today, I move through the world with a sense of safety and possibility that once seemed unimaginable.

And I truly believe this is possible for you too.

If you're tired of quick fixes that don't last, if you're ready to address anxiety at its roots rather than just managing symptoms, I invite you to book a Nervous System-Informed Care call with me. Together, we'll explore your unique nervous system patterns, identify your personal pathways to regulation, and create a roadmap for lasting change.

This isn't about adding another coping strategy to your toolbox—it's about fundamentally changing your relationship with your body and reclaiming the life anxiety has taken from you.

Book Your Nervous System-Informed Care Call Today

Take this first step toward the freedom, peace, and connection you deserve. Your nervous system has been protecting you the best way it knows how—now let me show you how to teach it there are other ways to feel safe in this world.