I personally believe that anxiety isn’t an emotion, but instead what we physically experience as a result of stuck emotional energy in the body. To me, anxiety becomes a way for the body to communicate by saying: hey there, are you listening to me? I have some sadness, and/or anger, and/or fear that’s building up and needs to be expressed. You aren’t helping me to feel and release this, so you must not be able to hear me. I’m going to go ahead and turn up the dial to get your attention.

Aaaand enter anxiety, and/or – when things really get pressured in there – the dreaded PANIC.

Because the experience is so uncomfortable, the mind tries to convince us to do ANYTHING to avoid it. We may find ourselves reaching for drugs, alcohol, food, relationships, or whatever – just to not feel like we are dying or going crazy or all alone or [insert whatever fear stories your anxiety tells you here].

And, I get it! Who would ever want to feel all that scary stuff? This shit is super uncomfortable, I know from experience. But, there’s something really cool that happens when we let go of the mind’s stories and break down the experience of anxiety in the body: we discover that while our mind has some strong opinions about the experience, all our body is really feeling is sensation. It’s just energy.

Now, I know. Easier said than done, I get it. But once we have the tools to feel and move our emotional energy – and the courage to turn toward the experiences that we have historically run away from – we discover that eventually the pressure gauge decreases. In time and with practice, we find that we are no longer afraid of or running from those big feelings underneath the anxiety and instead, we are welcoming them in, wondering what wisdom they might be there to offer.