The Physical & Emotional Sides of Anxiety

There are 2 sides to the experience of anxiety: the physical sensation of it and the emotional feeling of it. Today, we're going to explore the differences between sensations and feelings and play with how anxiety fits into all of this by using 2 *other* experiences that have strong physical and emotional characteristics...

Sometimes we experience the physical side of anxiety, the fight-or-flight stress response part. We feel the sensations of our heart pounding, our palms sweating, and our breath becoming shallow.

And other times we experience the emotional side of anxiety, the feeling part. We feel the vibration of anxiety move through our body as a low hum of discomfort.

But have you really considered these two parts before? Why is it sometimes more physical…and sometimes more emotional? If anxiety is a feeling, how is this physical part so strong?

We’re going to talk about that today and we’re going to bring in a couple other common experiences that are known for having both a physical and emotional aspect: hunger and fatigue.

What do these three sensations and emotions have in common? How can you use your strengths from one of those arenas to help support you in the others? Let’s talk about it…

And, I made a worksheet for you! This one is called…you’re gonna love this…The Worst That Can Happen. As we start integrating the tools I’m sharing with you on the podcast, and bring this new understanding of both the physical and emotional sides of anxiety to the table, we are going to practice experiencing anxiety…and challenging the idea that it’s the worst thing. C’mon along, I promise it won’t bite. This is a safe place to practice.

And let me hear from you! Comment below, send me an email, or connect with me on social media. I’d love to keep the conversation going with you, yes YOU, between episodes.

Don’t forget to join me on Facebook live every Wednesday morning at 11am CST and come say “hi” over on Instagram…

Here are the podcast links so you can listen in to this week’s show. See you there!

For iTunes, just click here.

If Stitcher is your thing, then click here.

And Spotify? Click here!

To find out more about Jesse Blake, who is responsible for the wonderful music on the podcast, click here. He’s got loads of great stuff and all of you yogis, meditators, and yoga teachers will find his stuff especially wonderful for your practices and classes.