How can Kinesiology Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety?
In today’s fast-paced world, stress and anxiety have become everyday struggles for many people. Whether it’s work pressures, family responsibilities, financial concerns, or simply the constant bombardment of information, our nervous systems are often in a state of overdrive. The expectation to always be “on” and available—through emails, social media, and digital communication adds to the growing burden on our mental and emotional well-being.
According to recent studies, stress-related disorders are on the rise, with millions of people experiencing chronic anxiety, sleep disturbances, and physical tension. While short-term stress is a natural response that helps us navigate challenges, long-term or unmanaged stress can lead to serious health issues such as digestive problems, weakened immunity, hormonal imbalances, and even burnout.
As more people seek holistic and natural approaches to managing stress, kinesiology has emerged as a powerful tool for restoring balance to both the mind and body. By working with the body’s energy systems and uncovering subconscious stress patterns, kinesiology offers a gentle yet effective way to calm the nervous system, release emotional blockages, and promote a deep sense of relaxation.
How Does Kinesiology Support Stress & Anxiety?
Balancing the nervous system, by bringing your nervous system naturally back to the parasympathetic state you are able to respond to life’s stressors from a place of neutrality rather than the usual fight/flight response you are used to
Releasing emotional triggers, unblocking emotions aids in gaining a better understanding of what is happening subconsciously in the mind driving the behaviour or stress response. For example; your aim for the session is to be ‘heard & understood by your family’ but subconsciously you perceive that your father is embarrassed by you, the emotional block limits you in connecting with your family.
Supporting the mind & body connection, kinesiology aims to bring a state of ‘homeostasis’ to the mind & body, the body is always talking, but are you listening? physical symptoms can often have a mental or emotional symptom behind them. For example; lower back problems for some can indicate you feel burdened by keeping the peace and balance in a household. Until you unpack why you feel the need to keep the peace, your lower back pain will continue.
Practical Kinesiology Techniques For Everyday Life
There are many practical techniques that can be integrated into everyday life to bring your nervous system naturally towards the parasympathetic state. Managing the nervous system is like training for a marathon; you need to train your system to not automatically respond with the stress response. By sprinkling your days with different techniques when you’re not in a stressed state you are teaching your nervous system to respond differently. How can you do this? Here are a few options:
Exercise, movement is a key part of any wellness routine.
Cold exposure, cold showers or for the last 30 seconds at the end of his shower, ice baths, cold water swims, face ice bathing - Just get a big bowl of water and put a whole ice tray or two in it. Leave it for a few minutes then immerse your face into this several times. This all works through vagus nerve activation.
Gargling, handy to do when brushing teeth.
Breath work, all types can be so helpful for nervous system regulation. Inhale a full breath in through the nose, then another shorter sniff in through the nose. Exhale slowly through slightly pursed lips (known as the physiological sigh which dumps a huge amount of carbon dioxide). Even a few rounds of these breathing phases makes an immediate difference
Massage / Touch, the kinaesthetic sensation of massaging or rolling on the face, hands, ears or stroking down the carotid sinus on the neck (on both sides concurrently) are all vagus nerve tonifying actions. Als, lightly touching lips, essentially gently rubbing lips also activates the parasympathetic.
Viparita Karani, lying on your back with your legs up with wall for 5-10 mins.
Humming or chanting, whenever possible hum yourself a little tune while you do daily tasks or hum along in the car. Or just sing!
Nature / grounding / earthing, all activate parasympathetic function. Spending time outside, barefoot in the earth daily.
Aromatherapy, certain scents, such as lavender, chamomile, clary sage, lemon and rose, have been shown to have calming effects and can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
Start small, try one for a period of time and see the impact in hindsight it has on your stress response.
Need any help to understand what is right for you? Contact me or make a booking today.