Feel It in Your Body: How Awareness Helps You Tame Anxiety

You know that old song that goes, “I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Anxiety’s all around me, and so the feeling grows.” Okay, okay, I know it’s “love,” not anxiety, but as a human with eyes, ears, and a brain living in the USA in 2025, emotions aren’t exactly running at full capacity. So what’s a girl to do?

Fortunately for me, I’ve built an arsenal of tools to help myself because anxiety has been my lifelong companion. And like any tools, knowing when and how to use them is key. But before you can do that, you need to understand what you’re actually experiencing. (Don’t roll your eyes — I promise this will be helpful!)

Body + Mind = You

Think back to the last time you felt anxious. Describe it. Write it down if you can. How detailed is your description? More than a couple of short sentences?

Now, pretend you have zero context for what you wrote. Read it out loud. How many different things could those words describe? If you wrote “tightness in my chest,” that could also be fear, excitement, a heart attack, acid reflux, or grief — not just anxiety.

In coach or counselor training, there’s a concept called “Hands, Heart, Head” (or “Sensations, Emotions, Thoughts”). It’s a check-in exercise to help you fully understand what you’re experiencing. Let’s break it down in the context of anxiety.

Understanding Your Baseline

When anxiety hits, pausing to analyze your thoughts, emotions, and sensations isn’t exactly instinctive. That’s why it’s essential to know your baseline — what you feel like when you’re calm — so you can spot when anxiety creeps in and choose the right tool to manage it.

What Are You Experiencing Right Now?

Let’s assume you’re not anxious at the moment. (If you are, that’s okay — just repeat this when you’re calm.)

Emotions (Heart) — What emotions are you feeling? When you’re not anxious, you might feel calm, content, or neutral. For me, neutral feels like autopilot — the emotion of doing dishes or vacuuming. It’s not exactly chill, but it’s steady.

Thoughts (Head) — What’s running through your mind? When I’m neutral, my brain still hums along. I’m curious, so I rarely experience true mental quiet. But during certain activities — sewing, gardening, walking — my mind finally stills. Knowing this helps me recognize when my thoughts start spiraling.

Sensations (Hands) — What’s happening in your body? This is the most crucial part. We often dismiss physical sensations, which makes it easy to miss anxiety’s early signals until it’s overwhelming.

For example, I used to get the classic chest tightness and throat lump. Now, thanks to the state of the world (looking at you, Trump and Musk), my anxiety manifests as a bizarre tingling in my limbs — worst in my toes, but also in my biceps and around my mouth. It feels like my skin and flesh are buzzing separately, in conflict with each other. I hate it.

To map your baseline, try this exercise:

1. Find a quiet space: Silence your phone, get comfortable, and either lie down or sit with your feet grounded.
2. Close your eyes: Start at the top of your head and mentally scan down to your toes.
3. Name the sensations: Are you feeling pressure, warmth, coolness, tingling, or tension? Get as detailed as possible. It might feel silly to “check in with your ribcage,” but the more specific you get, the better you’ll know what “neutral” feels like.

Doing this regularly builds awareness, making it easier to spot shifts when anxiety shows up. Humans are incredibly adaptable — we get used to things, even discomfort. I could’ve brushed off my tingling feet as being cold, but by recognizing the pattern, I knew it was anxiety and took steps to address it.

Awareness Is Power

The goal is to understand your neutral state so you can recognize when things shift. A simple journaling practice helps: Every few days, write down answers to these questions:

• How are you feeling?
• How do you know?

After a few entries, look back. Are your descriptions getting more detailed? Has your language changed? Noticing these shifts is powerful.

When I realized my tingling feet weren’t just from cold, I reached out to my doctor. I already practice box breathing when anxiety builds, which helps, but this sensation lingered. My doctor prescribed medication to support me for now — fingers crossed it helps.

The silver lining? This anxiety pushed me to write again, and for that, I’m grateful.

So, what are you feeling right now? And how do you know?

Let me know — I’d love to hear from you.