Turn Anxiety Into Confidence: A Somatic Exercise

11:34

Turn Anxiety Into Confidence: A Somatic Exercise

by Emily Winter

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

How do you create new options for how your body responds to anxiety? In this talk I use a forest trail picture, along with some stones, shells, and string, to show how a well-worn response can be joined by a new path over time. Then I guide you through a short exercise: bring to mind something that brings mild anxiety, notice how it shows up in your body, and let your body take the shape of confidence and ease, with your feet on the floor, chest open, and shoulders dropped. The key is repetition, since the more you practice that shape, the more available it becomes. This content is educational and is not a substitute for one to one professional care.

Capacity Building Practice Anxiety Confidence Visualization Repetition Public Speaking Anxiety Somatic Practice Confidence Building Visualization Technique

Meet your Teacher

Geneva, NY 14456, USA

Meet your Teacher

Geneva, NY 14456, USA

Transcript

So first let's. Dive into understanding how neuroplasticity actually works. We've probably all heard that term, But what does that mean? On a practical level and how do we actually create new neural pathways. In the brain. So to understand this, I really like to use the metaphor of a trail carved through the forest floor. So when we have an experience that we associate with another experience. That creates a neural pathway in the brain between different neural networks. So for example, We'll use this. Example of public speaking and anxiety around public speaking. If you've always felt some anxiety around public speaking, Then there's a neural connection in your brain between the idea of speaking publicly, Giving a presentation of some kind. And a neural network of anxiety in the brain. Everything you associate with anxiety, Whether it's fuzzy brain or tight shoulders, Tight jaw, Shaky voice, Things like that. So the more experiences you have where there's been a public speaking opportunity and you've been anxious. That creates. A really strong connection between those two neural pathways that you just kind of go automatically over and over again. It's like walking the same trail through the forest over and over again. The more times you walk that trail, The deeper the groove through the earth becomes. The more the. . . Grasses flatten and it becomes this well-worn pathway. That's familiar, That's easily recognizable by your brain. So there's no wonder you choose that pathway over and over again, Because it may be the only one that's available, The only one that's visible within. So when we want to create a new experience, A new possibility, And some new wiring in the brain, We have to start carving a new path through the forest. Which is hard to do because if you think about walking through a forest and you're on the trail, What happens if you start to go off the trail? At first, There's no real path there. You're picking your way through the shrubs and the trees. The grass is high and it's harder to step through and create that path. But the more times you start to go off trail in that same place, And walk that same path over and over again. A new pathway starts to form and become more visible and more available until suddenly you get to that fork in the trail and you have a sense of choice, You have options. You can walk the same familiar trail between public speaking and everything that happens in your body with anxiety. Or you can walk this new trail that you've really begun to forge. In this video, We'll work with the idea of public speaking. And the sense of openness and confidence and relaxation in the body. So let's use some tools here to bring a visual demonstration of how this works. And I have some little stones and shells here that I'll use and some pieces of string. Let this stone represent the neural network in your brain associated with public speaking. And this stone represents. Anxiety in your body. Just knowing you have to give a presentation, You suddenly feel anxious. These two neural pathways are connected. This is a little long, But we'll double it up. So these two neural pathways are connected in your brain. There's neurons firing between them, Rapid fire, Very, Very fast. So when that's the only neural pathway available, You don't really have time to consider another option. You just go, I have to give a presentation. Now I'm anxious all of a sudden. What we are doing with rewiring. Is, I wish I had three hands for this, But imagine this is that well-worn pathway through the woods between public speaking and anxiety. We're going to create a new possibility in the brain. Just thinking of it, Imagining it, Starts to form that new neural pathway. This is the amazing thing about our brains is all we have to do is imagine another outcome. There's the new neural pathway that starts to form. The new neural network starts to light up. We'll have this stone represent being relaxed and confident with public speaking. So you've got this well-worn pathway between your anxiety and your public speaking and what you're going to do is some gentle somatic practices that are very quick and imperceptible to start to bring your body into a greater sense of ease and confidence. Over time, This starts to create that new pathway through the forest between public speaking, The starting point, And the new outcome, The new possibility for the ending, Which is public speaking, Suddenly connects to the sense of ease within your mind and your body. How do we do this using somatic practices? When we have anxiety, There is a somatic signature that lives in the body with it. And I'm going to invite you to just imagine something that brings you some mild anxiety or fear in your own world and your own life. Maybe it's public speaking, Maybe it's something else that comes to mind. So as you imagine this thing that brings you some anxiety, Take a moment here and start to feel what happens in your body with that. Now, Very commonly, There'll be a shortness of breath. There'll be a tightening of the chest or the shoulders might start to brace and this might be very subtle, But it's still happening in the whole body. You're going into this. Biochemical and bioenergetic responses. That represents what you call anxiety and that's connected to the thing, Whatever it is that brings that anxiety on. So you're feeling that pathway right now between the thing that brings anxiety and the feelings of anxiety in the body. It might be tension, It might be a fluttering heart, Knot in the stomach. Maybe parts of your body go offline and it's hard to feel at all. These are all various ways anxiety can manifest itself in the body. So take a moment to feel that and even exaggerate it a little bit if you feel yourself shrinking and constricting in your shoulders. Bracing, Increase that a little bit so you can really feel it in your body, Feel the somatic effect of what anxiety is, How does it live within you. So it doesn't feel very pleasant but we're just touching in for a moment. Now we're going to create this new possibility, Which is what happens in the body when we feel confidence, Ease, Relax. So this may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar at first, Even a little weird, Just like stepping off trail and going this whole new direction that you've never really been before. But we'll use our body to get there. So you're gonna let your body go into what you imagine the shape of confidence and ease might be. I want to invite you to feel your feet on the floor. Let your chest. Open, Your shoulders drop. Maybe your chin lifts, Your spine lengthens ever so slightly. This is a somatic signature in the body of confidence, Openness. Connection. Take a deeper breath or two here just to feel the difference of what it's like in you to sit up taller, To be a little brighter. And to feel even just a little bit of relaxation in those areas that were previously tense. So your jaw might. Relax. Your shoulders might spread across the back. Maybe take a moment feeling the gravity on your arms and your legs, Just that weightedness that comes naturally with being here on earth. And just like that, You've started to create this new connection. We're going to increase this again. Just think about the thing that brings you some anxiety, Public speaking or whatever else it is. And then exaggerate this posture a little bit so you can really feel it in your body. Exaggerate the opposite shape of anxiety within, Whatever that looks like. Take a moment or two there. I'll do this with you. And just like that, You've created. A little new path through the forest. How do we actually rewire the brain and have this become more of an option the next time you're faced with the thing that brings you anxiety? The brain learns through repetition, So it takes a little bit of effort at first. We have to train the brain. That there is another option available. It's like walking down that path in the forest, And even though it's a really obvious, Wide, Well-grooved path, You come to that fork and you remember, Oh. There's another option here. Maybe I can step off the trail again and forge this path a little bit more. So the practice here is every time you have to speak publicly. Or do the thing that creates anxiety in your body. Let your body come into the new shape that you're teaching it. Let your body come into that posture. Of safety. Confidence, Ease, Or relaxation. Even if it feels weird or foreign or even challenging to get into it, Because that's not what your brain is used to. Your brain's used to having your body just kind of go into that tense anxiety shape. So let yourself work with it a little bit and practice it so that you have this sense of repetition. Over time and with practice and repetition, That new trail starts to really become well-formed and you have another option all of a sudden. When you're faced with the thing that brings you anxiety, You get to step into that room your body more easily goes into the shape of confidence and ease. And just the shape in the body sends new signals up to the brain that say, It's all good. I can do this. This is survivable. This is even something that maybe I could enjoy one day as I continue forging this new trail. So I hope this analogy and little experience is supportive for you as you work through the things that bring you anxiety in life. This is how we begin to rewire the brain and form new neural pathways, New possibilities for how we show up in the world.