Somatic Techniques for Anxiety: How Learning to Work With Your Body Can Help You Feel Calm Again
Online anxiety therapy in Hermosa BEach and Throughout california
If you struggle with anxiety, you have probably tried to think your way out of it. You may have analyzed your triggers, read the books, practiced positive thinking, and told yourself over and over that you are safe. And yet, your body may still feel tense, restless, wired, or on edge.
That is because anxiety does not only live in your thoughts. It lives in your nervous system and in your body. This is where somatic therapy and somatic techniques become so powerful.
In my online therapy practice serving Hermosa Beach and clients throughout California, I work with many thoughtful, high-functioning people who understand their anxiety intellectually but still feel stuck in it physically. Somatic therapy helps you gently shift anxiety where it actually lives, in your body, not just in your mind.
What Somatic Therapy Means for Anxiety
Somatic therapy simply means that we pay attention to what is happening in your body as part of the healing process. Instead of only talking about your anxiety, we also notice how anxiety shows up physically.
You might feel anxiety as:
Tightness in your chest
A knot in your stomach
Shallow breathing
Restlessness in your legs
A clenched jaw or shoulders
A racing heart
These are not just symptoms to get rid of. They are signals from your nervous system that it is sensing threat or pressure. Somatic techniques help your body learn that it is safe to settle.
You do not have to force calm. Your body can be guided into it.
Why Anxiety Does Not Respond Fully to Logic Alone
Many people I work with are very self-aware. You might know exactly why your anxiety developed. You may understand your childhood, your stressors, your attachment patterns, and your perfectionism. Still, your anxiety shows up automatically.
That is because anxiety is a survival response. It happens faster than conscious thought. By the time you tell yourself to calm down, your nervous system is already activated.
This is why somatic work is so effective. It works with the part of you that is reacting before your thoughts even catch up.
How Somatic Techniques Help Anxiety at the Nervous System Level
When your nervous system senses danger, it shifts into fight or flight. Your heart rate increases. Your muscles tense. Your breathing changes. Your focus narrows. Somatic techniques help interrupt this loop in a gentle, supportive way.
Over time, your body learns through experience that it does not have to stay in constant alert mode. It learns how to move from anxiety into regulation more naturally.
This is not about suppressing anxiety. It is about teaching your system that safety is possible in the present moment.
Common Somatic Techniques I Use for Anxiety in Therapy
In my work with clients in Hermosa Beach and across California, I tailor somatic techniques to your unique nervous system and capacity. Everything is paced gently and collaboratively. Here are some of the core ways we work with anxiety somatically.
Grounding Through the Senses
Grounding helps your nervous system orient to the present moment. Anxiety often pulls you into future worries or past fears. Using the senses brings your attention back to what is happening right now.
This might include noticing:
The feeling of your feet on the floor
The temperature of the air on your skin
The sounds in the room
The support of the chair beneath you
These small moments of orientation send powerful signals of safety to your nervous system.
Working With the Breath
Your breath is one of the fastest ways to influence your nervous system. We work with breathing in a way that feels natural and non-forced. Slow, gentle breathing helps your body shift out of panic and into regulation.
This is not about controlling your breath perfectly. It is about allowing your body to remember how to breathe when it is not under threat.
Tracking Sensations With Curiosity
Instead of fighting anxious sensations, we learn how to notice them with curiosity and choice. For example, you might gently track where anxiety lives in your body and observe how it shifts when you give it attention without judgment.
This teaches your nervous system that sensation does not equal danger.
Gentle Movement and Release
Anxiety often creates held tension. Through subtle movements, stretching, or grounding postures, your body can release what it has been carrying. This helps restore a sense of internal flow and ease.
Building Capacity for Regulation
We do not try to eliminate anxiety instantly. We build your capacity to stay present with small amounts of activation and then return to calm. This back-and-forth teaches your nervous system flexibility and resilience.
What Anxiety Begins to Feel Like When Your Body Learns Safety
As your nervous system begins to regulate more easily, many clients notice changes such as:
Fewer intense anxiety spikes
A quicker return to calm after stress
Less physical tension
Improved sleep
More emotional steadiness
A stronger sense of trust in their body
Less fear of anxiety itself
You may still feel anxiety at times. But it no longer runs your life or feels as terrifying when it shows up.
Why Somatic Therapy Is Especially Helpful for High-Functioning, Analytical People
If you are an overthinker, a perfectionist, or a highly analytical person, somatic therapy can feel very different from what you are used to. You may be more comfortable thinking than feeling at first. That is completely okay.
We move at a pace that respects your nervous system. You never have to dive into overwhelming emotional territory. You get to stay in choice and collaboration the entire time.
Many analytical clients find somatic work to be the missing piece after years of insight without lasting relief.
Online Somatic Therapy in Hermosa Beach and California
You do not have to be in a physical office for somatic therapy to be effective. I offer online therapy for anxiety to clients in Hermosa Beach and throughout California. Somatic techniques translate beautifully to the virtual space because you are already in your own environment, where your nervous system often feels most familiar.
In our online sessions, I guide you through somatic practices in a way that feels grounded, supportive, and accessible. We integrate these techniques into your real life so the work continues between sessions in gentle, meaningful ways.
You Do Not Have to Fight Your Anxiety to Heal It
Contact me today to schedule a free 20 minute discovery call!
Anxiety is not a personal failing. It is a nervous system response that developed for a reason. Your body learned how to survive. Now it can learn how to rest.
You do not have to force calm.
You do not have to push through.
You do not have to battle your own body.
In therapy, we work with your anxiety, not against it. We help your system feel safe enough to soften, one small step at a time.
If you are looking for online therapy in Hermosa Beach or anywhere in California and you want support with anxiety that goes beyond just talking and thinking, I would love to support you.
You deserve to feel at ease in your body again.