How to Contain Anxiety to Make it More Manageable
You may know the feeling of unease in your body, when it feels like anxiety is taking up more space. You might notice your chest feeling tight, or a hot burning sensation in your sternum, a pit in your stomach, a tight jaw, or a tangle of something at your throat. You might notice ruminative thoughts, or a difficulty focusing your mind one something other than the source of your unease.
Anxiety can really take over.
Often in my work with clients dealing with anxiety, I’m curious first to know if it’s tolerable or not. Anxiety is sometimes there for a good and valid reason. But once we veer into territory where anxiety feels a little more outsize, out of control, or intolerable for you, then we need to start to exploring a way to contain it, so that it is more manageable and we can understand more deeply the cause or source.
Let’s explore the steps for containing the unease of an anxious mind-body system.
Identify: First, let’s check out what you’re feeling. What do your anxious thoughts sound like? Where do you feel the anxiety in your body? Can you locate it? If so, what’s the sensation like? Is it hot or cool? Tight or sharp? Does it feel deep or shallow in your body? Does it have any edges? Are there any images that come to mind with this feeling?
Explore: Sometimes anxiety comes with other emotional companions. So take a second to check out if there are any other emotions present that might be getting drowned out by the anxiety. There may be sadness, disappointment, fear, excitement, nervousness, insecurity. Take a moment to name anything else that’s there and make space for emotions that might be present but less loud (or more vulnerable to feel).
Contain: Now let’s return to the anxious feeling and wherever or however you located it in your body. See if you can start to find the edges of the sensation. Where do you sense it stops and starts? Now imagine that you have a sharpie or a magic marker and you’re going to outline the sensation. Take your time to go around each edge and side. And if it seems like it feels an entire area of your body, outline that whole area.
Shift: We’re going to take a break from the anxious part of your experience for a moment. We’ll return to it, but for now, shift your awareness to the lower part of your body. Notice your legs and feet. Zoom in on your right foot. Can you feel it in contact with the ground beneath it? If you like, wiggle your toes or press your foot into the floor to bring more sensation and awareness. Now imagine taking up your trusty magic marker again and outline your right foot. Around the side, heel, opposite side, each toe. Take your time.
Check-in: Making another shift, let’s check back with the anxious part of you. See if you can bring your awareness back to the outlined anxious area. Can you find the outlined edges of it? Take a moment to check it out. Does it feel the same or different? Does it feel smaller or bigger? More manageable or less so? Take note of anything that seems different, no matter how small.
That completes the loop of naming, containing, and supporting your anxiety. Oftentimes, it starts to feel more tolerable when we can hem it in a little, or when we can find a different, less uneasy feeling. By shifting our awareness between these two states of experience, we can expand internal capacity and the unpleasant experience of anxiety may not go away, but it may feel more manageable.
You can repeat this exercise however much you’re able and interested. Repetition is likely to support more of a reset to your nervous system state. But if you find yourself needing more support with this and any other emotions that feel overwhelming or at the edge of what you can tolerate, I hope you’ll consider seeking more support. Reach out about how somatic therapy can help support a healthy and balanced nervous system.