5 Body-Based Techniques to Calm Anxiety and Stress in Difficult Times

Ayala Garbi-Shafman, a clinical social worker and expert in emotional and physical pain, depression, and anxiety explains that the best way to calm the mind, is through the body. She shares five simple yet powerful techniques to help reduce stress and anxiety especially during challenging times.

1. Movement

Don’t stay frozen.
When we’re overwhelmed, our instinct is to shut down, to curl up and do nothing. But when the body stays still, so do our thoughts, and emotions get stuck in endless internal loops.

Movement gets things flowing.
When we start moving, even just a little, our mind and emotions begin to shift as well.

Try this:

• Jumping in place

• Stretching

• Pushing against a wall

• Partnered stretches

• Lifting your legs while lying down

• Shaking out your arms or legs

• Walking

2. Tension and Release

Sometimes we try to relax, but our body is already clenched tight, and when someone tells us to relax, it can make us even more tense.

Instead of fighting the tension, intensify it. Tighten your body intentionally. Clench every muscle as hard as you can and then release it at once. You can do this with individual body parts, or clench your entire body at once, and then release. Repeat this exercise a few times and you’ll be surprised how much calmer you feel.

3. Breathing

Unlike thoughts that rush into the past or worry about the future, breath only happens in the present and therefore grounds us.

Try this:

• Inhale and expand your belly like a balloon

• Exhale slowly, emptying your belly completely, like a wrung-out towel

• Place a hand on your stomach to feel the motion

• Let the oxygen help your body release tension on a cellular level

The more carbon dioxide you release, the more your body relaxes.

4. Shaking It Off

Shake your body as if you're freezing or soaked in a sudden downpour. Literally shake your arms, your head, and your legs. This type of intentional shaking for just two minutes helps release stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol and lowers tension immediately.

5. The Warm Hand Technique

Place your hand gently on your body, wherever it feels soothing such as over your belly, your heart, on your face, or one hand holding the other. Breathe into the spot under your hand. Notice how your hand feels: Is it warm? Cool? What does your skin feel like beneath it?

Just 2–3 minutes of this calming touch can activate the brain’s soothing system and deactivate the “survival mode” we tend to fall into when overwhelmed. In general, gentle touch in times of stress is deeply healing.

Our nervous system needs more than just calming words- it needs signals from the body that it’s safe again. These small, mindful practices aren’t only calming, but are also regulating. They gently guide the mind back to center, through the language it understands best: the body.