The Anxious Brain
Anxiety is a complex experience, deeply rooted in the brain’s intricate network of responses. When we feel anxious, our brain signals our body and we react as if we are in immediate danger—we may experience a pounding heart, sweating, shallow breathing, sleepless nights, and racing thoughts. Yet, most often, the triggers of our anxiety are not life-threatening. They may be a passing thought, an upcoming event, or an overwhelming to-do list. But what if we could interrupt this cycle? What if something as simple as breathing could change the way our brain processes anxiety?
The Alarm System in your Brain
The brain’s alarm system is primarily governed by the amygdala, a small, almond-shaped structure responsible for detecting threats and triggering the body’s anxiety response. When activated, it signals the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, preparing us to respond—often in the form of fight, flight, or freeze.
While this system is essential for survival, it can sometimes misfire, especially when triggered by something that reminds us of a past experience where we felt unsafe. As a result, our brain may react to everyday stressors—like deadlines, social situations, or worries about the future—as if they were life-threatening dangers. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for rational thinking and decision-making, attempts to regulate the amygdala, but when anxiety is high, it struggles to maintain control. This is where breathing and awareness come into play.
The Power of Breathing
Breathing happens automatically—all day, every day—without us needing to think about it. But when we choose to override this automatic function and bring awareness and intention to our breath, we unlock a powerful tool for regulating our nervous system.
Breathing provides a direct link between the mind and the body, allowing us to shift from a state of stress to a state of calm. When anxiety is triggered, we may unconsciously shift into shallow, rapid breathing, which signals to the brain that we are in danger and need to be on high alert. This is why anxiety is often accompanied by tightness in the chest and a feeling of breathlessness.
By bringing awareness to our breath in these moments and intentionally slowing it down—breathing deeply through the nose and into the diaphragm—we activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and relaxation. This sends a message to the brain that we are safe, helping to quiet the amygdala and reduce the production of stress hormones.
Rewiring Your Anxious Brain
Over time, intentional breathing and mindful awareness reshape the brain. Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself, allows us to build new patterns of response. Instead of defaulting to anxiety, our brain learns to associate deep breathing with safety, creating a calmer baseline for daily life.
By practicing conscious breathing and staying present, we remind our brain that we are not in danger—we can allow ourselves to rest. And in that space, anxiety loses its grip, making room for clarity, peace, and resilience.
Next time you feel anxiety rising, pause. Take a deep breath. Bring your awareness to the present moment. Your brain is listening, and with each breath, you are teaching it a new way to respond.
Treating Health Anxiety with EMDR Therapy
What is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety is an intense and recurring fear of having or developing a serious medical condition. People with health anxiety often misinterpret normal bodily sensations or changes as signs of a serious illness. Here are some common experiences for those who struggle with health anxiety:
Constantly worrying about health or potential illnesses
Frequently checking the body for symptoms (e.g., lumps, pain, or changes)
Seeking repeated reassurance from doctors, loved ones, or online sources
Avoiding medical appointments out of fear of bad news
Feeling distressed or preoccupied with health-related thoughts
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a structured, evidence-based approach that helps people process and heal from distressing patterns or memories. Sometimes these behaviors or experiences can get “stuck” in our brains. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (like guided eye movements, tapping, or sounds) while recalling difficult experiences, which allows the brain to reprocess them in a less distressing way. The goal of EMDR is to reduce the emotional intensity and replace negative beliefs with more adaptive ones, helping indviduals move forward with greater resilience and peace.
How Can EMDR Help with Health Anxiety?
For many, health anxiety is rooted in past experiences—maybe a personal health scare, witnessing a loved one’s illness, or even a trauma or loss that disrupted a sense of safety and wellness. These experiences can create deeply ingrained fears that the body is vulnerable and that symptoms always signal the worst case scenario. EMDR helps by targeting the specific memories and beliefs that created these fears. For those that might not be able to identify the origin of their health anxiety, EMDR can still target the behavior pattern in an impactful way. Here are some key ways EMDR can treat health anxiety:
Identifying Core Memories and Beliefs – A therapist helps the client uncover past experiences that may have contributed to their health anxiety. These could include a traumatic medical event, a parent’s overprotectiveness about health, or a past illness that left a lasting emotional impact. If there is not a specific memory or event, the therapist would work directly events the routinely trigger the health anxiety.
Reprocessing Distressing Feelings – Using bilateral stimulation, EMDR helps the brain reprocess these experiences or triggers so that they no longer hold the same power. This can shift the belief from "I am vulnerable and unsafe" to "My body is resilient, and I can trust it."
Reducing Physical Sensitivity to Anxiety Triggers Many people with health anxiety experience heightened sensitivity to physical sensations, interpreting minor bodily changes as signs of serious illness. EMDR can help desensitize these reactions, making them feel less alarming.
Breaking the Cycle – Health anxiety often leads to repetitive behaviors like Googling symptoms or seeking constant reassurance. EMDR can help disrupt this cycle by addressing the underlying fear, reducing the need for these behaviors.
Strengthening Positive Beliefs – Throughout EMDR therapy, clients work to replace fear-based beliefs with more balanced, realistic perspectives. Instead of catastrophizing every bodily sensation, they learn to interpret them in a calmer, more adaptive way.
The Lasting Impact
By reprocessing past experiences and shifting long standing patterns of behavior, EMDR helps individuals with health anxiety move toward greater peace, confidence, and security. For those who feel stuck in the cycle of worry and fear, EMDR offers a path to healing and freedom from health anxiety.
What if You Didn’t Have to Handle it Alone?
Life is full of challenges—some expected, some that take us completely by surprise. At times, we find ourselves overwhelmed by emotions that feel too heavy to carry alone. Whether it’s anxiety, grief, unhelpful patterns, or deep-seated fears, these experiences can disrupt our daily functioning and overall happiness.
Counseling provides a safe space to process these hard things, offering both relief in the moment and long-term growth. At it’s best- counseling can reshape the way we understand our emotions, our behaviors, and ourselves.
How Can Talking Help?
Bottling up our feelings or brushing them under the rug don’t mean that they disappear. Trying to resist or ignore these feelings often result in their growing intensity. Unspoken fears and emotions tend to gain power in isolation, making them feel bigger and more overwhelming. But something powerful happens when we talk about them.
Talking about our feelings can reduce the charge and strong emotions that threaten to overwhelm us. Sometimes all we need to do is allow our feelings some space to run their course and find closure. Talking can also bring clarity and learning. Processing out loud can lead to resolving our feelings in a way that makes us more resilient and adaptive.
When Should I Consider Counseling?
Counseling isn’t just for times of crisis—it’s for anyone who wants to grow, heal, and understand themselves better. Whether you’re struggling with deep grief, relationship challenges, or the stress of daily life, talking with a counselor can help you process, reframe, and move forward with greater peace and clarity.
If you’re carrying something heavy, you don’t have to carry it alone. Counseling can help lighten the load, making space for healing, growth, and hope.
Why Your Attachment Style Matters
Have you ever wondered why you react a certain way in your most important relationships—do you crave connection, find yourself pushing others away, or maybe you feel secure and balanced in the relationships that mean the most to you? Your attachment style might have the answer.
First, What Are Attachment Styles?
Attachment theory, developed by psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, suggests that our early relationships with caregivers as well as other experiences we have in our life shape how we connect with others as adults. The four main attachment styles are:
Secure – Comfortable with intimacy and independence; able to trust and communicate openly.
Anxious – Craves closeness but often worries about rejection or abandonment.
Avoidant – Values independence and tends to withdraw when relationships feel too demanding.
Disorganized (Fearful-Avoidant) – A mix of anxious and avoidant tendencies, often due to past trauma or inconsistent caregiving.
Why Does It Matter?
Understanding your attachment style can help improve communication, set healthy boundaries, and strengthen relationships. Whether you're dating, married, or working through challenging friendships or family relationships, knowing how you connect with others is a powerful tool for growth.
Take the Free Attachment Quiz
Curious about your attachment style? Take this free quiz based on Attached by Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel Heller:
Learning about attachment can be life-changing—helping you build stronger, more fulfilling relationships. If you're navigating relationship challenges or just desiring to be the best version of yourself, counseling can provide insight and strategies to develop a more secure attachment style.
Overcoming Sports Anxiety
Overcoming Sports Anxiety
Understanding Sports Anxiety in Student-Athletes
Sports anxiety is common among student athletes, often presenting as nervousness, self-doubt, or even physical symptoms like nausea, especially before a competition. While stress and adrenaline can be motivating, excessive anxiety and negative thought patterns can impact performance and take away the joy of the sport.
For student-athletes, this anxiety can stem from:
Fear of making mistakes
Pressure to meet parental or personal expectations
College recruitment stress
Balancing academics, athletics, and social life
Overcoming injuries or underperformance
The Power of the Flow State
The flow state (first introduced in the 1970’s by psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi), also known as being “in the zone,” is when athletes are fully immersed in their sport—playing with confidence, control, and enjoyment. This state leads to peak performance and helps athletes compete at their best.
Many top athletes train their minds as much as their bodies to enter this state more consistently. That’s where counseling can help with a few key strategies:
Breathing and Relaxation Techniques
Anxiety often triggers physical symptoms like a racing heart, tense muscles, or nausea. Simple breathing exercises and relaxation techniques help calm nerves before a big game, stay composed under pressure, and manage high-stakes competition stress.
Reframing Negative Thoughts
Many student-athletes struggle with self-doubt, thinking: “What if I mess up?” or “I’m not good enough.” Research shows that negative thought patterns can have a significant impact on performance. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help reframe the inner monologue in a way that leads to a positive outcome; “I’ve trained for this—I am ready.”
Visualization
Sports research also shows us that imagining success before a game can improve athletic performance and lead to achieving the flow state. Visualization activates the same neural pathways in the brain that are used when performing an actual physical activity. Essentially, when you mentally rehearse a successful outcome, your brain interprets it as if you are physically experiencing it, thus improving your confidence, mental acuity, and performance during a real game or competition. Top athletes like Michael Jordan, Allyson Felix, and Carl Lewis have all spoken publicly about the power of visualization exercises and it’s contribution to their successful careers.
Strengthening the Mind for Athletic Success
Managing sports anxiety isn’t just about playing better—it’s about enjoying the game and feeling confident in your abilities. Developing some of these mental strategies can help athletes stay focused, handle pressure, and perform at their highest level.