Have you ever been walking down the street or sitting at home and found yourself wondering, “why am I so stressed?” Yes? Well, you are in good company. Thousands of people just like you have found themselves wondering this very question.
I want to talk about what this anxious, on edge feeling is and how something called somatic quieting can help you cope with it. I know it sounds pretty intimidating. By the end of the article, I hope it won’t be as nerve-wracking for you.
When we experience anxiety in situations that we wouldn’t normally expect, it is a clue that our body is attempting to protect us. That “anxiety” is actually our body identifying a threat or “danger.” When we sense danger, our nervous systems are on fire or on high alert. By using somatic quieting, we can train our bodies to use coping skills to reconnect our brains and bodies. These skills can help you refind your calm body and help you live a life that isn’t controlled by anxiety.
So you notice you are feeling more anxious than you think you should be. Now what? What do we do with that? Well, the answer may surprise you. But first, we need to take a closer look at what this anxiety is and why we are feeling it.
What Is Happening In the Body When We Feel Anxiety?
With somatic quieting, there is a specific mentality we take. Instead of just accepting feelings of anxiety, we need to pay attention to why our body is feeling this way. One of the reasons it can feel this way is because our body is trying to tell us it thinks we are in danger.
For those of us that experience anxiety daily, you probably just raised your eyebrow. Yes, when we are experiencing anxiety, it is actually our body reacting because it believes we are in danger. It is trying to get you to do something different.
If we aren’t aware that our body is doing this, it can feel really fricken overwhelming, right? It can lead to us feeling uncomfortable, uneasy, or that the situation feels eerily familiar. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like to feel these ways.
How Does Our Body React To This Anxiety?
Our bodies will react to this anxiety almost subconsciously. Think of a time in the recent past where you’ve felt more anxious than you thought the situation warranted.
What did you feel? The way I often describe it is feeling like our body’s nervous system is on fire. If we have had a traumatic event in our past, the effects of that experience often remain in our bodies. For most, this can lead to feelings of “not being safe” or feelings of “impending doom.” A trauma reaction. This sounding familiar?
When you noticed this, what did you feel your body doing? My guess is you felt your body attempting to cope with these feelings in the best way it knows how.
To feel better, our bodies will subconsciously use the strategies they’ve developed throughout our lives. This looks different for every single person. If we have had a traumatic event in our past, the effects of that experience often remain in our bodies. For some, their bodies will subconsciously use productive coping mechanisms like deep breathing, meditation, or just good ol’ fashioned mindfulness. For others, their bodies may turn to fight, flight, freeze, avoidance, or substances (just to name a few).
However your body tries to cope with this anxiety is okay. We aren’t judging it. It is doing the best it can with the information it has, right? This is where the somatic technique comes in.
How to Use Somatic Quieting to Help Manage Anxiety
This non-judgmental attitude is the most important thing to remember when starting to use somatic quieting. It can be tempting to notice the ways our body is “helping” with anxiety and get upset. Instead, my hope is that you will be able to thank your body for doing everything it can.
You have gotten to this point because your body has taken care of you and has done the best it can. Strategies like substance use and avoidance are VERY effective at getting us through hard times. Frankly, I can’t think of another strategy that is as EFFECTIVE as substance use. Substance use is SO effective that our bodies often to default to it.
But you are here, right? So you and I both know that this way of dealing with the anxiety threat response is not helpful to you. This is where somatic techniques comes in. It helps us slow down that automatic response to “threats” and anxiety,and it gives us the opportunity to be more deliberate. I refer to this as “finding our calm body”.
With practice and consistency, the goal is to replace the ways your body automatically responds to these uncomfortable feelings with coping mechanisms that are more in-line with your long-term goals.
We can do this by learning some different skills to combat that feeling of our nervous systems being on fire. We use our brains and what we know logically to give feedback to our bodies and help them cope differently, so we can reach that calm body. A large part of somatic quieting is rebuilding this mind-body communication. Sometimes, those past traumatic experiences can disrupt this connection. All without therapeutic intervention.
Somatic Quieting Techniques That Help With Grounding
Now that you know the basic idea of somatic quieting, let’s take a quick look at some of the skills that can help you begin your journey of gaining more control over your anxiety and nervous system. I put these here so you can maybe begin to practice them and reap the benefits. You will find that each technique focuses on using our brains to identify what is happening in our body and using our focus to ease the tension in our body.
Consistency is going to be vital while practicing these skills. If you notice that you need extra support or are noticing those past events keep popping into your head, it can be helpful to seek the help and support of a mental health professional in your area. You might find that they have their own techniques that aren’t listed here, which you might find helpful.
Another important piece to starting somatic quieting work is making sure you have mastered square breathing. It will help these exercises be more effective. If you need more information, check this article out where I go in-depth on square breathing, and here is another article on other grounding techniques.
The Rag Doll Somatic Quieting Technique
The first skill we will go over is often the easiest for people to get the hang of. What you are going to do is, first, find a comfortable position to sit in.
After you do that, you can close your eyes and just pay attention to the tension that is going on in your body. Whatever you end up finding is okay. No judgment here, remember? Note where the tension is in your body. For me personally, I carry a lot of tension in my shoulders, chest, and eyebrows (yeah, I don’t know what is up with that either).
Now that you have identified the tension in your body, I want you to imagine (with your mind’s eye) that all of your muscles are attached to one big switch. When you are ready, go ahead and flip that switch off. When you do that, imagine all of your muscles completely relaxing and releasing all the tension they hold.
You may find that your body slumps forward a little bit. Mine sure does. All I want you to do is sit there with that switch flipped off and recognize what is happening in your body. Did you notice a difference or a release of tension? Is there any place where you needed to “flip that switch off” again? Did you notice any odd sensations?
This technique will take some practice. But at the end of the day, if you noticed even a tiny improvement, that validates your ability to make progress towards the life you want for yourself.
The Scanner Somatic Quieting Technique
The next skill that people find helpful is called “scanner”. Have you ever gone to the grocery store and used the self-checkout? Do you know that little laser-scanner-light thing? We are going to borrow that for this exercise.
Like the Rag Doll, you are going to want to find a comfortable position to sit in. Also, like the previous one, the goal for this activity is to progressively go through our bodies, recognize how tense our muscles are, and relax them as much as possible.
Now close your eyes and use your mind’s eye to imagine that scanner/laser up above your head. You control this scanner.
Go ahead and allow that scanner to slowly move down your body. Any muscle that this scanner touches releases all tension from it. Start up above your forehead and work it down to your feet at whatever pace you need. Like I said earlier, you are in control of this laser. You may find certain spots need more attention. For those spots, you can go as slowly as you would like, or you can return to that muscle.
This technique is a popular one because you can use it anywhere. Actually, that is one of the best things about all of these techniques. No one needs to know that you are doing these things. Any time you notice you are in a tight, anxious body, you can use these skills to find your calm body.
Living the Life You Want With the Help Of Somatic Quieting
At first, it will take a lot of focus and concentration to know when you need to start using these somatic quieting skills to reach your calm body. That is totally okay. Like anything in mental health, consistency and repetition are what will lead to noticeable day-to-day improvement.
After a while of using these skills when you notice you need to, you will start to notice that your body almost starts using these skills automatically. That is an exciting thing when you first notice that it is happening. That means that you are well on your way to reconnecting your mind and body in a way that is going to help you start living the life you want for yourself.
As you start to use these skills automatically, you will notice your body subconsciously attempting to reach your calm body when you used to feel on edge. To some, this may not be that important. For those who constantly feel on edge and reactive to your environment, this is how you take back control over your nervous system. This is you taking your life back. Sometimes going to therapy can be helpful. Especially if you think your bodies response may be PTSD, a therapist may be really important to make sure you are getting the most out of your time.
Final Thoughts
After we live through hard things, something happens in our nervous systems. It is almost like they are on fire. Because of past events, our nervous systems can feel like they are on fire in situations that are, honestly, really confusing. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I so anxious? There is no reason for that!”
This is where somatic technique can be helpful. These techniques can help you retrain your body and how you want it to respond. You are here now because the way your body used to try and protect you (anxiety, substance use, avoidance) isn’t working anymore. Somatic quieting techniques like a ragdoll and the laser scan can help you get that control back over your nervous system and help you start living the life you want for yourself.
If you would like more support on your journey towards achieving the life you want for yourself, a mental health professional in your area would be a great idea. If you are in the state of Maine, we would be honored to hear from you.
