Heal Anxious Attachment: Embody Security, Confidence & Self-Love (Part 1)

Have you researched endlessly about Anxious Attachment? Do you understand why you have an intense fear of abandonment in romantic relationships? Do you continue to repeat the same unhealthy patterns anyway? This is common. You may be deeply aware of why you have an Anxious Attachment style and how you’re “supposed to” change it. But in practice, you just can’t seem to shift it. Since attachment is formed in the first 2 years of life, our styles are set PRE-VERBALLY through touch, smell, posture, gestures, and other body movements. The way we remember a caregiver being aggressive may be through their accelerated advancement towards us, or the way they forcefully picked us up when we refused to listen. We do not remember WHAT they said when they made us feel unsafe. We do not know the exact words they used. We remember, non-verbally, the visual picture and bodily sensation that we experienced when they walked away while we were crying and begging for attention. Our bodies remember. This is why so many people struggle to heal their anxious attachment patterns. Because they are trying to change it with words or verbal information; but as preverbal children, we did not form our anxious attachment style in words. We formed them with our bodies. It may be helpful to talk about your anxiety in therapy, repeat affirmations for feeling secure, or journal about your thoughts. However, these cognitive-based techniques are not enough to shift anxious attachment into secure attachment. The body must adopt a new way. Neural pathways must be rewired in the non-verbal brain, so we can stay present and respond instead of react. We must learn how to literally move in ways that lead to more security (i.e., keeping eye contact and leaning in for a hug even while we have debilitating anxiety about getting hurt). Movement is where true change begins. If you truly want to heal the wounds that feed your anxious attachment patterns, then you must engage your body in a process that allows your entire physical being to feel secure in all types of relationships and interactions. In this course, you’ll be introduced to this movement-based process and start to feel some of the embodied shifts that are necessary to truly heal anxious attachment.