← Building Resilience
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What if I told you that anxiety isn't just in your mind, but actually in your body? And no matter how hard you try to think your way out of it, your nervous system is the one running the show. If you've ever felt stuck in an endless cycle of overthinking, stress and self doubt, like you're fighting against your own brain, then you're not alone. And you might have just something in common with the character. Anxiety from inside out too. Today we're going to break down the real root of anxiety. Why it happens, why traditional approaches don't always work, and how shifting your focus from your mind to your body can actually change everything. Welcome to the Building resilience podcast. Episode 222, the Root Cause of anxiety. Why it's more than just a mind problem. Welcome to Building Resilience, a podcast where theory, practical strategies and inspiring stories show you how to unlock your best life. I'm your host, Leah Davidson. As a certified life coach, coach, speech language pathologist, and nervous system resilience expert, it is my mission to teach you how to be more resilient to life's adversities. I will show you how to manage your mind, befriend your nervous system, process your emotions, and even eliminate stress. It's time to do more than just survive. It's time to thrive. Let's get started. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Building Resilience podcast. Now, a few weeks ago, my family and I were at Disney Disneyland in California and we got to visit inside out, I guess what you call it, the area or playground. And of course I had to go pick up some merch. I love the movie, including this T shirt featuring none other than Anxiety from inside out too. So if you're listening on the podcast, head over to YouTube. You can actually see the T shirt. Super cute. I absolutely love the movie. I especially love the character of Anxiety. So she's new to Riley's mind as she enters her teenage years. As Riley becomes a teenager, anxiety comes along with some other emotions and she tries really hard to keep Riley safe. But in doing so, she ends up taking over and sidelining all of the other emotions like joy and sadness and anger and fear and disgust. And Anxiety's goal is is to protect Riley, to make sure that she fits in and doesn't get hurt. But instead what happens is she floods Riley with self doubt and overthinking and pressure and intensity. Does this sound familiar? Because I think a lot of us can relate to Riley in this movie. So anxiety isn't the Bad guy. It's not the villain anxiety. She's just trying to help. But when she runs the show, when she's driving your car, things can get out of balance and suddenly what can happen is we can feel overwhelmed and stuck and really like we're losing a sense of who we really are when anxiety completely takes over. So that's why I wanted to create this episode and one other episode airing next week, all about unpacking anxiety. Why anxiety isn't just in your mind, it's actually in your body. That's what we're going to talk about today. And then next week, the second part, we're going to talk about some practical body based strategies to help you break free from this anxiety thought alarm cycle. If you have ever felt like anxiety is in charge of you running your headquarters, driving your car, this is the episode that you're going to want to pay attention to. And I want to offer that along with this episode. Make sure that you go get my guided journal. It is available on Amazon.com&.cmaster. You won't find it under my name though. It is under my brand Resilient Brilliance. And what I want to offer is scroll down to read some of the reviews on Amazon. You will see that people with anxiety are sharing how helpful the journal is. And that's because the journal, the main focus is on nervous system care, your nervous system main communication, how the brain and the body communicate. And so it incorporates a lot of body based strategies in the journal. And of course, if you find the journal has been helpful or you do like it, please make sure that you too leave a review or feedback on Amazon. The link to purchase a journal is in the show notes, both Amazon.com and CA. All right, so let's get back to feeling stuck in an endless loop of overthinking or catastrophizing or worrying or really kind of feeling like everything is against you. And again, you're not alone. If you've ever tried therapy or thoughtwork, mindset work or even medication and still feel anxious, I really want you to know it's not because you're broken. It's because anxiety isn't just a mind problem, it is actually a body problem. So the real root, the real cause of anxiety, traditional approaches often fall short. Anxiety, we're going to talk about how it's stored in the body, not just in the brain. How your nervous system, it actually plays a huge role in whether you feel safe or anxious. And we're also going to talk about why you can't think your way out of anxiety, no matter how much effort you put in, no matter how hard you try. And then next week, I'm going to be talking about the practical tools that you can use to help heal and befriend anxiety from the body up. Let's start with shifting the way we think about anxiety. Now, for decades, we've been told that anxiety is caused by genetics or a chemical imbalance. We've been told some people believe they were just born anxious. Other people think their brain is wired wrong and they need medication to fix it. Or they assume that anxiety is just part of their personality, something they're just always going to have to manage. Now, there is some truth in all of this. Genetics can play a role. Our brain chemistry does shift when we're anxious. And yes, some people are born and are more naturally sensitive or more prone to fear. But here's the problem. These explanations don't account for why anxiety can get worse over time or why some people can fully recover while others stay stuck. So let's talk a bit about neuroplasticity. We've talked a lot about it before on the podcast. Your brain nervous system constantly rewiring itself based on your experiences. So if anxiety were purely genetic, we wouldn't see people overcoming it. But we do, every day. And if anxiety was just a chemical imbalance, then we'd expect that medication would always work for everybody. But we know that's not the case. In fact, some studies have shown that placebos often are working just as well as medication. And you can go back and re listen to my episode on the placebo and nocebo effect to learn a little bit more about that. So if anxiety isn't just about our genes, it's not just about our chemicals, what is it really about? Well, let's talk about what's really happening when you feel anxious. Now, most people think anxiety starts in the mind. Racing thoughts, worries, negative self talk. It makes sense. This is what we hear, like the ticker tape running through our brain. Well, what if I told you that these anxious thoughts are actually a symptom, not the cause? Because the real issue is your nervous system, your brain and your body constantly communicating with each other. Remember, that's essentially what the nervous system is. It's a constant communication. Our body uses something called interoception, which is the body's way of telling the brain what it's feeling. So when we interocept, we get in our body and we pay attention, we take an inventory what's going on in my body, interoception is my ability to feel my breathing, my heart rate, my dis ease. In my body, a lot of the communication that happens is through something called the vagus nerve, which is a largest cranial nerve, a collection of nerve fibers, vagus, because it wanders through the body. It is a cranial nerve that wanders, has branches to the face and the heart and all the way down to the core. Now here's something super interesting about the vagus nerve, which you probably heard me say before because it is so important to understand. It is bi directional. 80% of the communication between your brain and your body goes up from the body to the brain, and only 20% goes from the brain down to the body. That's how it's divided. So what does this mean? Well, it means that your brain is taking a lot more cues from the body than the other way around. If your body is in a state of stress, your brain is going to create anxious thoughts to match that state. So what do I mean by this? Let me break it down a little bit more. So if your nervous system is dysregulated, if it is in stuck in a survival state, which I call team hyper, hyperarouse activated state, fight or flight team, hypo shutdown state, it depends. Dysregulation can be different for all of us. But if we're stuck in one of these dysregulated states, your brain is going to assume that something is wrong because it doesn't know why you feel unsafe. It just knows that your body is sending signals of danger. And then your brain does what brains do best. It starts scanning for reasons why you feel the way you do. And this is where the anxious thoughts come in. Your brain is going to start saying, well, maybe I'm feeling this way because there is a deadline approaching and maybe it's because of that horribly embarrassing thing you did yesterday, or maybe it's because something bad is going to happen in the future. So your brain starts creating these thoughts to explain the danger signals coming from your body. This then creates a cycle. It's like a vicious cycle. The more anxious you feel in your body, the more anxious your thoughts are going to be and the more anxious your thoughts are going to be created by your brain. And this is why mindset work alone will not always work for anxiety, because you can't just think positive thoughts or reframe your beliefs. If your nervous system is stuck in a survival mode, you have to start with your body. So the cognitive approach that often we have Taken therapy, journaling, positive affirmations, they don't always work for anxiety. Now, I'm not saying that they're not good. You know, I am a huge advocate for things like journaling and coaching and therapy and positive affirmations. But in isolation, the cognitive approach is only working on the brain. We already know about the 2080 thing going on. So have you ever tried to calm down just by telling yourself everything's fine, there's nothing anxious about? Yeah, maybe it helps for a period of time, but what happens is the body is like, yeah, I hear what you're saying, but this just still doesn't feel safe. Your body is like a lie detector. You can tell it something, but your body is always going to win by telling the truth. It doesn't feel safe. So when your nervous system is dysregulated, your rational brain, your prefrontal cortex, your CEO, as I call her, where all those executive functions are, the thinking skills, that part of your brain that understands logic actually gets shut down when you're in a dysregulated state. Let's go back and talk about why that happens. Well, your nervous system constantly scanning safety, danger, safety, danger. When you're in safe mode, you're in that home base. I call it Team Resilient. This is where you can think properly. Your CEO's online, you can problem solve, process your emotions in a very healthy way, have compassion and curiosity, all those good things. But when you're dysregulated, when you're in survival mode, in Team Hyper or Team Hypo, your body is really focused on one thing, getting you to safety. It wants to help you survive. Survive. So then your CEO, which is responsible for logic and reason, it goes offline because all the resources are needed for your survival. You don't really need to have compassionate to think and to problem solve. No, it's like, sorry, all resources have to come back and have to focus on your survival. So if you have ever felt like you just can't think straight when you're anxious or when you're overwhelmed, that's not just in your head. It literally is how your brain is wired. And that's why the solution to anxiety isn't just about changing your thoughts. It is about working with your nervous system to create a sense of safety in your body. When you create that safety, when 80% of the signals are communicating back up that you are safe. And now your CEO can get involved. Now we can start looking at your thoughts and your perspectives and really start processing all those emotions. In a very healthy way. So, a quick recap. Anxiety. It's not just in your mind. It's deeply rooted in your body and your nervous system. Your brain takes the majority of its cues from your body, which is why anxious thoughts are often a reaction to a dysregulated nervous system. And trying to think your way out of anxiety doesn't always work. Because when you're in that survival mode, Team Hyper and Team Hypo, your CEO, she's checked out. So what do we do about all these things? That's exactly what we're going to talk about on next week's episode. I'm going to walk you through some practical body based strategies to help you regulate your nervous system and which will help you finally start shifting out of anxiety. I hope you found this helpful and I will see you next time. Thank you for listening to the Building Resilience podcast. If you're interested in learning a little bit more about managing stress, building resilience, and leading a more purposeful life, then make sure we're connected on Instagram and Facebook @leah davidsonlifecoaching. You can also send subscribe to my Weekly newsletter at www.leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com newsletter. Looking forward to connect.