Anxiety Isn’t Always Mental — Sometimes It’s Energy That Has Nowhere To Go
What if your ‘anxiety’ is actually suppressed movement or emotion?
You’re sitting at your desk or lying in bed, and suddenly your chest tightens. Your stomach flips. Your brain starts racing for something to solve, control, or escape. You label it “anxiety.” But what if it’s something else?
What if that restless, buzzy feeling isn’t in your mind… but in your body?
Your Body is Holding What You’ve Suppressed
Most of us were never taught how to move energy—especially emotional energy. We were taught to suppress it:
“Calm down.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Keep your cool.”
So we learned to think instead of feel. To manage instead of express.
But energy doesn’t disappear. It just finds a new way to live in your system—often as anxiety.
That tight chest? That buzzing in your hands or jaw? That urge to do something, anything?
That’s often trapped energy, trying to get out.
Anxiety Isn’t Always a Thought Loop
Yes, anxiety can start in the mind—catastrophizing, worrying, forecasting—but it’s just as often a byproduct of unexpressed energy in the body.
Think of it like pressure building in a sealed container. Without movement or release, it has to go somewhere—and your nervous system responds with panic, unease, or a chronic sense of tension.
When Energy Has Nowhere to Go
That unspoken conversation.
That anger you swallowed.
That grief you didn’t have time to process.
That creative impulse you keep shoving to the bottom of the list.
All of it builds. And your system holds it. Until it doesn’t.
— SAVE THIS WISDOM TO YOUR PINTEREST BOARD —
So What Do You Do?
Try this:
Instead of asking, “What am I anxious about?”
Try asking, “What energy hasn’t had a chance to move today?”
Maybe it’s grief that wants to cry.
Maybe it’s joy that wants to dance.
Maybe it’s frustration that needs to stomp, shake, or scream into a pillow.
Movement isn’t just physical—it’s energetic.
Your system doesn’t always need to talk it out. Sometimes, it just needs you to let it move.
Quick Ways to Let the Energy Move
Shake your hands, body, or feet for 60 seconds. Yes, like an animal. Your nervous system will thank you.
Put on music that matches the feeling—then move until it shifts. Don’t think, just move.
Try the ‘sigh and sound’ technique: Inhale through your nose, then let out a big, vocalized sigh (bonus: try different tones and pitches—this moves energy through the throat).
Walk, bounce, or pace—while breathing slowly. Get back into rhythm.
Scribble. Punch a pillow. Cry. Laugh. Yell in your car. All forms of release.
The Shift
You don’t have to fix your anxiety.
You just have to move your energy.
Because what we call “anxiety” is often your body trying to complete a cycle it never got to finish.
Let it.
