Does your body ever shake with anxiety? Do your knees knock, your teeth chatter or your hands shake? If so good. Keep it up. Most people dont allow themselves to shake when anxious. When they feel the heightened nervous arousal of anxiety, they quickly try to suppress all shaking. The problem is that when we do not release the energy of an aroused nervous system it gets stored in our muscles as tension. This tension then results in more unusual bodily sensations and hence more anxiety, -a vicious cycle. Contrary to what most people think, shaking is actually a sign that your body is releasing anxiety. It happens when the fight or flight response is winding down -not up. When we allow ourselves to express our nervous energy through shaking, we discharge it much faster. Shaking is mother natures way of de-stressing. In the wild when an animal (e.g a gazelle) has just avoided an attack, it will shake intensely for several minutes and then return to eating grass as if nothing has happened This shaking allows it to release the build up of stress hormones that occurred during the attack. Animals dont need therapy, they just need to have a good shake to adjust back to life. But we are not wild animals and our culture frowns upon anxious shaking. Shaking is seen as a sign of weakness so we suppress it. We tense up. Many of us also have the false idea that shaking means the anxiety is getting worse. Instead we need to understand that shaking is part of the discharge process. Its a discharge of nervous arousal and a swift clearing of stress hormones from the body. So the next time you are anxious and feel your body shake, -allow it. Its perfectly OK. In fact, if you want to release your anxious feelings even faster (e.g. after a panic attack), then encourage the shaking. Exaggerate it. So if you are sitting, tap your feet and bounce your knees more than you normally would. If you are alone then stand up and shake your body out. Shake your hands and arms. Shake each leg, then bounce on your toes like you see sprinters do before a race. All of this helps to discharge nervous energy and lets your body return to a rested state quicker. Shake it out, shake it out Barry panicaway
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 18:30:48 +0000
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