How Anxiety Shows Up in Your Body (Not Just Your Mind)

Anxiety isn't just in your head—it's a physical experience happening throughout your body, communicating through your vagus nerve and nervous system. By understanding how anxiety manifests physically, we can respond with effective tools that calm the body and, in turn, soothe the anxious mind.

Chapters

• 0:00 Anxiety Lives in Your Body
• 1:24 The Vagus Nerve: Body's Security System
• 2:31 Physical Signs of Anxiety
• 3:56 Humming Practice for Vagal Tone
• 5:09 Key Takeaways and Closing

Transcript

Emily Feist: 0:00

What if I told you that your anxiety isn't all in your head. It's actually living in your body, speaking through your nerves, your muscles, your heartbeat. And that changes everything, doesn't it? Because instead of fighting your thoughts, you can start listening to what your body has been trying to say all along.

Emily Feist: 0:18

Welcome back to 'It Starts at Vagus' Vegas. The podcast where we stop chasing calm and start creating it, one small shift at a time. I'm your host, Emily emily, and I'm your guide to rewiring stress, restoring peace and giving your nervous system the attention it deserves.

Emily Feist: 0:34

Today, we're going to talk about how anxiety shows up in the body. We'll look at the real physical signs, like your racing heartbeat, your tight shoulders or that sudden stomach flip, and how they're connected to the vagus nerve. We'll also explore why your body is doing this and, most importantly, I'll guide you through a short practice to help calm those anxious signals. By the end of this episode, you'll walk away knowing anxiety isn't your mind betraying you. It's your body trying to protect you.

Emily Feist: 1:04

Let's start with this. You're not broken. If you've ever thought why can't I just stop overthinking? Why do I get so worked up when nothing is wrong? I want you to know that that is a common thought. But you also need to know that anxiety is not a character flaw. It's your nervous system doing its best to keep you safe.

Emily Feist: 1:23

Your vagus nerve, the body's information superhighway, carries signals between your brain and your body. But here's the kicker Most of the traffic goes one way, from your body to your brain, which means your thoughts often reflect what your body is already experiencing. If your heart is racing, your brain thinks something must be wrong, and if your gut is upset, your brain says Danger ahead, pay attention. The vagus nerve is like your body's built-in security system. When it's calm, it tells your body All is well, carry on.

Emily Feist: 1:58

When it's dysregulated, it keeps tripping the alarm, even if you're just standing in line at the grocery store. Think about it this way your body is the orchestra and your vagus nerve is the conductor. When the conductor is calm and steady, the music flows beautifully. When the conductor is panicked, the violins screech, the drums pound and suddenly you've got chaos. That chaos is what we feel as anxiety.

Emily Feist: 2:24

So let's talk about the ways that you can recognize if anxiety is staying within your body and how it shows up. Let's start with the heartbeat, that racing pulse, the tight chest it's like your car alarm keeps going off even though no one's near the car. Another one to look at is your breathing. Is it shallow or are you holding your breath? When breath gets short, your brain interprets it as danger because you don't have the time to take a good, deep breath in.

Emily Feist: 2:55

Let's look at digestion. Next, it's the nausea, the bloating or the sudden urgency. Your gut is your second brain and anxiety can flip your stomach faster than a roller coaster. It's your gut sending the red alert email straight to headquarters. Next up are your muscles. They have the tension, the clenching, the tightness, and muscles are all over your body and they can get tense anywhere. So that jaw that you clench at night, those stiff shoulders that's your body putting on armor, preparing for battle that you never asked for it to fight. Last but not least, your sleep, those restless nights, the wired but tired. Your body thinks it needs to pay attention and be on guard. It's sending out those let's stay awake alert signals, even when all you want is your pillow.

Emily Feist: 3:45

Here's the hopeful part when you calm your vagus nerve, you calm these body signals and you can calm them all at once, not individually, which is so amazing. The body is so cool.

Emily Feist: 3:58

Instead of trying to force your thoughts to stop racing. You can give your body safety cues and your body listens and then tells your brain hey, we're okay now. So let's take a little practice and do this together. We're going to do a silly little one and that is to hum the happy birthday song, because humming is an easy way to calm the vagus nerve and it can lift up our spirits. So let's do it together, shall we? Notice

Emily Feist: 4:41

how your mood shifts and your thoughts change direction? Easy peasy,. See, You you don't have to think your way out of anxiety. You just shift your body. And your body told your brain we're safe. So

Emily Feist: 4:56

the next time anxiety shows up, don't beat yourself up for not controlling your thoughts. Instead, get curious when is it showing up in my body and how can I use the tools to calm them down? Because once you notice it, you can respond with tools like breath work or humming or grounding that can give your nervous system the calm it's craving.

Emily Feist: 5:19

Today we explored how anxiety isn't just in your mind, it's in your body. We talked about how it shows up as a racing heartbeat, the shallow breath, upset digestion, those tense muscles and the restless sleep. We learned that these signals all trace back to the vagus nerve and that, by calming the body, you can send a message of safety back to the mind.

Emily Feist: 5:41

All right, friends, thanks for hanging out with me today. Remember to soothe your nervous system and reclaim who you are. If this episode helped you today, share it with a friend or leave a quick review. I'll be back next Tuesday for another episode of it Starts at Vagus. Until next time, remember, wellness starts at Vagus.