digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Calm anxiety by using two body-based tools, boxed breathing and moving your body, and then use the calmer state to identify what your anxiety is signaling and communicate about it. The speaker frames anxiety as a useful evolutionary warning system that becomes harmful when its "volume" is turned too high. She presents the two tools as a way to turn that volume down.
Key Points
- Anxiety is framed as a survival tool that is only harmful when too intense, which is why the speaker wants to lower its volume rather than eliminate it.
- Deep breathing works quickly because it directly activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the body's natural de-stressing system.
- Moving the body releases mood- and reward-boosting neurochemicals, which the speaker names as dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, and endorphins.
- Once anxiety is calmer, you can better evaluate what is causing it, such as taking on too much or feeling insecure about a skill set.
- A calmer state makes it easier to seek advice from colleagues or discuss priorities with a boss, since you are no longer in fight-or-flight mode.
- Calming your own anxiety can increase your ability to notice anxiety in others and respond with empathy.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Boxed breathing is inhaling deeply for four counts, holding for four counts, exhaling deeply for four counts, then holding at the bottom for four counts. It can be done mid-conversation without others noticing.
- Concrete instructions: When stressed at work, take a short walk around the block, or walk to the supply closet for supplies. When working from home, play two favorite songs and dance in the living room.
- Concrete instructions: Other suggested bursts of movement include a quick power-vacuuming session, jumping jacks, or skipping an elevator floor to power-walk up the final flight of stairs before a meeting.
- Concrete instructions: When an anxiety-provoking email arrives, first use movement or breathing to calm down, then ask what specifically about it is causing the anxiety.
- The speaker's NYU student experiment: students took an anxiety assessment, did a movement session combining kickboxing, dance, yoga, and martial arts movements with positive spoken affirmations, then retook the assessment. Their scores decreased to normal levels.
- The speaker notes that studies show even a short burst of activity produces these mood effects, and encourages creativity in choosing movement.
Bottom Line
Anxiety is not something to eliminate but to moderate; calming your body first makes it a usable signal for solving problems and connecting with others.