Most of us think of stress and anxiety as problems of the mind, racing thoughts, tension, and overwhelm. But in truth, stress often begins in the body.

When the body senses threat, real or imagined, it activates a biological chain reaction that prepares us to fight, flee, or freeze. Over time, these stress responses can become habitual, keeping the nervous system on high alert and making it difficult to feel calm, connected, or in control.

Learning to regulate your nervous system is not about forcing yourself to “be calm.” It’s about understanding your body’s stress responses and giving it what it needs to return to safety.

Understanding the Polyvagal Theory

The Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, helps us understand how our nervous system constantly scans for cues of safety or danger — a process called neuroception.

Our vagus nerve, the body’s longest cranial nerve, plays a central role. It connects the brain to the heart, lungs, and gut, and helps regulate our stress response.

• When we feel safe, the ventral vagal system is active — we feel connected, creative, and open.

• When we sense danger, we move into sympathetic activation — the fight-or-flight state.

• When things feel hopeless or overwhelming, we drop into dorsal vagal shutdown — numbness, disconnection, or exhaustion.

By learning to recognise which state you’re in and practising gentle somatic tools, you can begin to move out of survival mode and back into balance.

The Science of Emotional Addiction

When stress becomes chronic, our body can become addicted to the chemical cocktail of cortisol and adrenaline.
This “emotional addiction” means that even when life calms down, our body might unconsciously recreate stressful scenarios — because it has become used to those familiar, high-alert feelings.

The good news? You can rewire this pattern.
Through awareness, breathwork, and body-based regulation, you can retrain your nervous system to feel safe in calm, stability, and joy — not just chaos.

The Vagus Nerve & Psoas: Your Pathways to Safety

The vagus nerve and the psoas muscle are deeply intertwined with your emotional and physical wellbeing.

The psoas, often called “the muscle of the soul,” runs from the spine through the pelvis to the thighs. It tightens when we experience fear or stress, creating tension in the lower back, hips, and gut — areas also rich with vagal nerve connections.

When the psoas is chronically tight, it keeps the body in a subtle state of fight-or-flight. Releasing and lengthening it through breath, movement, and somatic awareness helps restore a sense of grounded safety.

Bottom-Up Healing

Traditional stress management often focuses on the mind — changing thoughts, applying willpower, or using logic to calm anxiety. But when your body is dysregulated, the mind can’t override it.

Bottom-up healing starts with the body, using gentle, science-based tools like breathwork, vagus nerve stimulation, somatic release, and EFT to send signals of safety to the brain. When the body feels safe, the mind naturally begins to quieten.