How to Heal Your Nervous System From Anxiety: A Somatic Guide
Anxiety doesn’t just live in your mind—it resides deep within your nervous system. That racing heart, shallow breathing, and persistent unease you feel? These are your body’s signals that your nervous system needs support and healing.
As a somatic experiencing (SE) practitioner, I’ve witnessed countless individuals transform their relationship with anxiety through nervous system healing. The key isn’t fighting against your body’s responses but learning to work with them compassionately.
The Science Behind Anxiety and Your Nervous System
Your autonomic nervous system operates like a sophisticated alarm system, constantly scanning for safety or danger. When functioning optimally, it flows seamlessly between three distinct states:
The Safe Connection State (Ventral Vagal)
• Deep relaxation and social engagement
• Clear thinking and emotional balance
• Physical ease and natural breathing
The Fight-or-Flight Response (Sympathetic Activation)
• Heightened alertness and mobilized energy
• Increased heart rate and muscle tension
• Designed for short-term survival responses
The Shutdown Response (Dorsal Vagal)
• Energy conservation during overwhelming situations
• Disconnection and numbing sensations
• The body’s last-resort protective mechanism
Chronic anxiety typically indicates your nervous system has become stuck in fight-or-flight mode, unable to return to the natural state of calm and connection.
Healing Your Nervous System: The Somatic Approach
Somatic experiencing offers a gentle, body-based path to nervous system regulation. Rather than trying to think your way out of anxiety, this approach honors your body’s innate wisdom and capacity for healing anxiety and overthinking.
1. Sensation Tracking: Building Body Awareness
Learning how to heal your nervous system begins with developing a relationship with your body’s language. Anxiety often feels overwhelming because it remains vague and undefined. When you learn to track specific sensations, you create space for natural healing to occur.
Guided Practice:
• Find a comfortable seated position
• Take three slow, deep breaths
• Gently ask yourself: “What sensations am I noticing right now?”
• Name what you discover: “I feel warmth in my chest” or “There’s tightness behind my eyes”
• Simply observe without trying to change anything
• Notice what happens to the sensations as you pay attention to them
This foundational skill teaches your nervous system that it’s safe to feel and process stored emotions.
2. Pendulation: Creating Safety Through Movement
One of the most powerful techniques for nervous system healing is pendulation—the gentle movement between activation and calm. This practice teaches your system that it can return to safety after stress.
Step-by-Step Guide:
• Recall a specific memory of feeling completely safe and supported
• Notice how this memory lives in your body—perhaps warmth, expansion, or softness
• Hold this pleasant sensation for 30-60 seconds
• Gently bring awareness to your current anxiety or stress
• Observe where tension or activation shows up physically
• Return your attention to the safety and pleasant sensations
• Repeat this process 3-5 times, spending more time with the pleasant experiences
3. Present-Moment Orientation
Anxiety pulls your attention into future worries and “what-if” scenarios. Orientation practices anchor you firmly in the present moment, where safety actually exists.
Environmental Awareness Exercise:
• Look around your current space slowly and mindfully
• Name five specific things you can see in detail
• Notice textures, colors, and the quality of light
• Listen for three different sounds in your environment
• Feel your body’s contact with the chair or floor
• Take several conscious breaths while maintaining this awareness
This simple practice reminds your nervous system that you are safe right now, in this moment.
4. Supporting Natural Discharge
Your body holds incredible wisdom for releasing trapped stress and trauma. Sometimes healing your nervous system involves allowing natural discharge processes like trembling, deep sighs, or spontaneous movements.
Creating Space for Release:
• If you notice your body wants to shake or tremble, allow it
• Stay present with the sensations while breathing slowly
• Remind yourself: “This is my body completing a natural healing process”
• Trust what your body needs—whether that’s movement, stillness, or rest
• Notice how you feel after any discharge—often lighter, calmer, or more settled
To learn more about somatic experiencing, what happens in a session, and to sense into if this is the right approach for you, you can read more here.
Is trauma Holding you back?
Perhaps you experienced a specific event that left you feeling different, disconnected, or stuck. Or maybe you carry a sense of unease in your body, struggling with anxiety or a feeling that something isn’t quite right.
As a somatic experiencing practitioner I specialize in helping people process and release stored trauma through gentle yet effective methods.
Download my FREE guide “Get Unstuck! The Truth About Body Trauma and How to Break Free’ and learn how to create the future you deserve.
Signs Your Nervous System Is Healing
Recovery is a gradual journey, but you can recognize progress through subtle yet meaningful changes:
Physical Indicators:
• Deeper, more natural breathing patterns
• Improved sleep quality and easier transitions into rest
• Quicker recovery from stressful situations
• Reduced muscle tension and chronic pain
• More energy and vitality throughout the day
Emotional and Mental Shifts:
• Greater emotional stability and resilience
• Reduced intensity of anxiety triggers
• Improved ability to stay present during challenges
• Increased capacity for joy, playfulness, and connection
• Clearer thinking and decision-making abilities
Relational Changes:
• Enhanced sense of safety in relationships
• Better boundaries and communication skills
• Increased empathy and emotional availability
• Greater tolerance for conflict and difficult conversations
Healing Anxiety and Overthinking: A Compassionate Approach
Remember that your nervous system isn’t broken—it’s simply stuck in protective patterns that once served you. With patience, consistency, and the right tools, you can guide it back to balance and resilience.
Key Principles for Sustainable Healing:
• Progress isn’t linear—expect ups and downs
• Small, consistent practices create lasting change
• Your body’s wisdom knows how to heal when given support
• Compassion accelerates the healing process more than force ever could
Beginning Your Healing Journey
If anxiety has been your constant companion, know that transformation is possible. Nervous system healing through somatic experiencing offers a gentle, effective path forward.
Many of my clients describe their healing journey as learning to befriend their body rather than fighting against it. They discover that beneath the anxiety lies their body’s profound capacity for regulation, connection, and joy.
Your nervous system wants to return to balance. When you learn to work with its natural rhythms and responses, incredible healing becomes possible.
Ready to begin your journey toward nervous system healing? I would love to support you in discovering how somatic experiencing can help you find lasting relief and rediscover your natural state of balance and ease.
Brianna Anderson, SEP
If you’re ready to begin your healing journey I’m here to help so you can begin to live the life of your dreams
My private practice specializes in helping people who have endured trauma, resolve the symptoms out of their body, mind & spirit so they can feel comfortable in their skin, find inner peace and live the desires of their heart.
I am based out of South Orange County, Ca and offer online therapy sessions. Whether you are just starting your healing journey or ready to try something new, I am here to help.