How Yoga helps with Anxiety
When Talking About Anxiety Isn’t Enough—Why Your Body Needs to Be Involved
If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety, you know how overwhelming it can feel. The racing thoughts, the tightness in your chest, the restlessness that won’t let you relax; it’s exhausting.
For years, I tried to manage my anxiety by thinking my way through it, analyzing it, and talking about it in therapy. And while that helped to a certain extent, something was still missing.
What I didn’t realize back then was that anxiety isn’t just in the mind—it lives in the body.
I remember one particular yoga class when this truth hit me. I was lying in Savasana, and instead of feeling calm, I felt my heart racing.
My body was still stuck in a stress response, even though my mind knew I was safe. It took time, but through breathwork, slow movement, and deep presence, I started to feel something shift. Instead of fighting my anxiety, I learned to listen to it. To meet it with curiosity rather than fear.
Why Somatic Practices such as Embodiment Yoga Are Essential for Anxiety
Anxiety is your body’s way of saying, Hey, I don’t feel safe!—even if there’s no actual danger. And if the body is where anxiety shows up, then the body is also where healing happens.
Somatic practices like yoga, breathwork, and embodied movement help us:
🌿 Regulate the nervous system – Instead of staying stuck in fight-or-flight mode, these practices gently bring us back to a state of calm.
🌿 Feel safe in our bodies – Anxiety often makes us feel disconnected or on edge. Somatic work helps us feel at home within ourselves.
🌿 Release stuck emotions – Sometimes, anxiety isn’t just about the present moment. It can be old stress, emotions, or trauma stored in the body. Moving and breathing with awareness helps clear what’s been held inside.
🌿 Get out of our heads and into the present – When we tune into the sensations in our body, we shift from overthinking to simply being. And that’s where real peace begins.
If you’ve been trying to “think” your way out of anxiety, maybe it’s time to feel your way through it instead. Your body isn’t the enemy—it’s the key to your healing. 💛
With love
Claire