From Surviving to Thriving: Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Our nervous systems are brilliantly wired, molded over millennia, guiding us through life's ups and downs, keeping us safe, and increasing our chances of survival. In our modern era, our nervous systems use these smart and effective survival strategies to keep us safe, but when we get stuck in one mode of operating, that may be just the thing that’s preventing us from thriving.
Introduction to Neuroception
Neuroception: The subconscious system (neural circuits) responsible for discerning and detecting whether situations or individuals feel safe, engaging, risky, dangerous, threatening, or otherwise.
Dr. Stephen Porges introduced the concept of neuroception to describe the body's innate ability to detect safety and danger cues. Neuroception operates largely outside of conscious awareness, allowing our bodies to automatically respond to perceived threats in ways that promote our survival.
Here are a couple examples of neuroception that you may recognize: consider the feeling of relief and relaxation that washes over you when you arrive at a safe place after a long and stressful day, or see a loved one, signaling to your nervous system that you are now in a supportive environment. Conversely, imagine the sudden surge of adrenaline and heightened alertness you experience when encountering a loud and unexpected noise or feel spooked in the dark.
The autonomic nervous system plays a crucial role in regulating our responses to perceived threats, guiding us through states of alertness, mobilization, and immobilization. Understanding the interplay between our nervous system and our perception of safety is essential for developing resilience, promoting well-being, and thriving.
Our nervous system is adept at shifting between defensive, protective, and contracted states, to open, welcoming, socially-engaged states, depending on our perception of danger. This continuous adaptation occurs mostly unconsciously and without detection, a product of evolution that contributes to our survival.
Neuroception for Thriving
A well-functioning nervous system can navigate fluidly between appropriate responses and states of being according to perceived threats. A healthy nervous system, when there are no signs of danger, will return to homeostasis (a balanced state), promoting health, growth, and restoration.
Neuroception for Surviving
Conversely, a dysregulated nervous system lacks resilience and is a sign of being stuck in one or more survival states, often due to unresolved stress or trauma. This dysregulation may manifest as disproportionate responses to perceived danger, such as fears/phobias or panic/anxiety disorders. Alternatively, it may lead to exaggerated perceptions of safety, such as remaining in abusive relationships or engaging in risky and dangerous behavior. We will explore other manifestations of chronically dysregulated nervous systems in future blogs, but here we will dive into one end of the spectrum that we see often in our private sessions and within The Process.
Understanding Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Anxiety is something we have experienced first-hand or have seen arise in those around us. At its core, its purpose is to keep us alive and safe from perceived danger. It’s the anticipation, perception, or handling of a stressful situation or experience in very real, physical, mental, and emotional ways. A racing heart, sweaty palms, rapid thoughts, intestinal distress, and worry, are all symptoms of anxiety’s attempt to protect us. In acute situations, this may benefit us and truly keep us safe as our body is preparing for mobilization to get us out of harm’s way, but, when anxiety becomes our chronic state, it shifts from being helpful to harmful.
Panic attacks are intense bursts of anxiety, and often feels like an internal alarm system has been triggered. They can be frightening and overwhelming, and can be experienced as a racing heart, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, shaking/trembling, feeling faint, and/or a sense of losing control. These attacks may happen unexpectedly or come as a reaction to specific situations, thoughts, or memories.
Stuck in Survival Mode
If you’ve experienced anxiety or a panic attack, you know that they are whole-being experiences. They show up to keep us safe, alerting us that we’re in danger or may be, but they can absolutely limit our ability to thrive in everyday life, and at worst can be debilitating.
Anxiety isn’t inherently bad as it does serve to support us, however, staying in this heightened state for too long means that our nervous system is locked in survival mode which can cause a whole slew of issues. When we’re simply surviving, we limit our ability to connect to ourselves, others, and the world around us. When we are in survival mode our worldviews and perspectives become rigid and skewed and we build walls around ourselves to keep away from perceived dangers, which in turn keeps us away from a lot of what life has to offer. Being stuck in survival states costs us so much.
What We Resist, Persists
Of course, no one wants to feel anxious or acknowledge all that anxiety is costing them– that’s natural! However, the more we try to avoid or push away anxiety, the bigger and bolder it becomes over time. You might have heard the saying, "what we resist, persists" and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to anxiety.
Trying to ignore or suppress physical cues and impulses, stressors, emotions, events, experiences, memories, sensations, etc… only brings them into focus, shedding a spotlight on the exact thing we are working to ignore. This pushing away can lead to anxiety and/or panic attacks or disorders.
Imagine anxiety as a pile of paper soaked in gasoline. All it takes is a single spark—a stressful situation, a memory, or even a stimulant like caffeine—and suddenly, you're engulfed in the flames of anxiety and you may not have even seen it coming.
If you can relate, there’s hope, keep reading!
How Do We Move Through Anxiety?
Supporting anxiety, as opposed to fighting it, looks like learning to be with it, work with it, and meet it with presence, acceptance, compassion and curiosity–after all, it is a part of you!
Here are some somatic tools that we utilize within our personalized sessions and The Process that can help you navigate stress, anxiety and panic over time:
Tap into Your Awareness
The first step is to understand your own experiences of anxiety:What does anxiety feel like in your body?
What are the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations you notice when anxiety shows up?
Sense Your Surroundings
Anxiety often pulls us out of the present and into a state of fear. Reconnecting to your sensory systems can help ground you and bring your nervous system back to a place of safety:Interoception: Pay attention to what’s happening inside your body—your breath, posture, or any sensations. Where do you feel tension, and where do you feel neutral? This is your inner landscape.
Proprioception: Notice your body's position in space. Feel the ground beneath your feet, press your hands against a wall, or engage with something tactile to anchor yourself.
Exteroception: Tune in to the world around you. What do you hear, see, taste, or smell? Engaging your external senses can help shift your focus away from the anxious thoughts. Try the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise!
Build Your List of Resources
Nervous system-regulating practices, like deep breathing, safety anchors, or movement, help shift the body out of survival modes. Writing down a list of things big or small that nourish you and feel supportive is a great practice and reminder of what to call upon when you feel anxiety coming on.Guided Processing with Support
Working with a guide or therapist who specializes in body-centered therapy can help you get to the root of your anxiety. Together, you can explore the deeper causes, whether they may be related to trauma including developmental, emotional, generational, or collective, etc., that may be at play and prevent you from embodying your wholeness. For more on the different types of trauma, learn more from our recent blog.
Thriving With Anxiety
As Paulo Coelho beautifully states: "Anxiety was born at the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it—just as we have learned to live with [nature’s] storms."
Though we may never fully eliminate our anxiety, we certainly can learn to live alongside it in a way that supports our well-being and encourages us to thrive. Through nervous system-regulating practices and somatic healing like the offerings here at The Messina Movement, we become equipped to transform anxiety from something that holds us back into something that’s integral to our wholeness.
Ways The Messina Movement Can Support You
Our personalized offerings are completely tailored to your needs and can include movement, meditation, nervous system regulation, and somatic therapy to support your anxiety and beyond. Engaging in the process of healing requires safety, and compassionate support and we ensure that these needs are met, every step of the way.
Healing is a non-linear exploration and the process unfolds organically for each individual and healing is a life-long journey that requires patience, presence, consistency, and trust - it cannot be rushed, but with dedication, it leads to profound transformation.
With our new payment plans for individual sessions, we aim to make this work as accessible as possible to anyone that’s suffering from anxiety or is ready to turn toward the barriers that may be holding them back from a whole and embodied life.
Book your complimentary 30-minute consultation, and learn more about our personalized sessions on our Work With Me Page.
The Process is our group program designed to nurture your needs in a safe and supportive environment of others ready to live in authentic alignment alongside you. For more about The Process and to check on upcoming cohorts, click here.
Looking to learn more about me?
Check out the About Me page if you’re interested!
Looking for more ways to connect and get support with this work?
1:1 Sessions with Me
Join The Process, our online 8-week group program
Practice with our On Demand Library
Design your Private Retreat