The Mind-Body Connection: Personalized Self-Care
The Mind-Body Connection
As a trained yoga teacher, I have an appreciation for the mind-body connection.
It’s an important aspect of healing work because it promotes a more holistic and sustainable approach to positive change.
When we try to create change only on one level, we can find ourselves easily frustrated and slow to see progress.
One of the main criticisms of traditional talk therapy is that it fails to consider the role that the body plays in common mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.
What I want to convey is the importance of generating self-awareness and healing of these two vital parts, mind and body, that influence our mental and emotional well-being.
The mind-body connection emphasizes the influence that our mental and physical state has on our emotional health and overall wellness.
When it comes to some of our most common mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, many of us don’t consider how we can be in two different emotional states at once.
For example, we may be experiencing anxiety in our minds and depression in our bodies or the opposite.
Learning about the four emotional types can support you in better gauging what practices are most suitable for you.
Therapists often encourage clients to practice forms of self-care like yoga, breath work, meditation, exercise, healthy eating, etc., however, they may not always clarify or support you in considering what kind of self-care is best for you based on what emotional type you are in that season of your life.
These are not fixed prototypes but rather can change and heal over time when we put our focus on what we actually need for self-care that honors the nuances that our mind-body connection conveys and teaches you.
Emotional Types
Anxious Mind/Anxious Body
Consider this type to be illustrated by a mix of racing thoughts and a busy mind coupled with an urge to always be on the move and restlessness in your body.
This type responds to stress with worrisome and anxiety-driven thoughts as well as physical symptoms of anxiety.
This body speaks through nervous tapping of hands or legs, fidgeting, and a general sense of needing to do rather than be still.
Depressed Mind/Depressed Body
Consider this type as someone who is often tired, fatigued, forgetful, and low energy.
This person experiences low motivation and presents with low self-confidence in their body language, for example, shrugged shoulders and a weak core.
The mind is often pessimistic but not necessarily overactive in response to stress.
There’s a general sense of mental and physical sluggishness. The body presents with an overall heaviness and low drive to move or do despite what it needs most.
Anxious Mind/Depressed Body
Consider this type to be a combination of anxiety and depression that requires attuning to your mind and body appropriately.
Mentally, the mind is racing and overactive in response to stress.
A sense of mental agitation persists as a reflection of overwhelm, anxiety, and fear-based thinking.
Physically, there’s an overall lethargy and listlessness. The body presents with crossed arms and slouched shoulders and feels tired and unmotivated.
Depressed Mind/Anxious Body
Consider this type to be another combination of anxiety and depression in different parts to once again illuminate the importance of being self-aware to truly understand what you need.
Please note this type is the rarest of the 4 types described.
This is a combination of mental depression where a person speaks slower and might be a bit flatter in speech and mood while presenting on the physical level as energetic and restless.
Anxiety in the body leads to fidgeting, nervous tics, and struggling to sit still whereas the depressed mind leads to forgetfulness, delayed speech, and a flat or low confidence in their expression.
Your Mind-Body Connection Compass: Self-Awareness and Self-Observation
Distinguishing what emotional type you are can change depending on what season you are going through in life.
It’s not a fixed typology but rather one to be continuously evaluated based on your self-awareness cues on a mental and physical level.
Being able to identify yourself at a certain point in life can help you learn and recognize what you need most in that moment as a personalized self-care regimen to help self-regulate and restore a sense of balance.
Lastly, you can always best discern what emotional type through the support of working with a mental health professional like myself :)
The ability to gauge where you’re operating from on a mental and physical level requires a consistent practice of introspection and heightening your relationship with yourself.
It’s not about being “right” or “perfect” in how you might assess yourself because you can always modify along the way based on the types of breathwork and movement you might elect based on what is happening internally on these two important levels.
Building self-awareness means observing yourself or taking inventory of your experience.
Some things to consider to help you detect your mental type include: Is your mind racing or are you finding it hard to think? Is your mind going faster than you can speak or do you draw a blank when trying to speak?
Do you have a million thoughts or struggle to remember what you wanted to share?
Some things to consider to help you detect your mental type include: Is your breathing in this moment slow or fast?
Is your body language inward or outward? Do you feel excess energy and jitters or lethargy and listlessness?
Personalized Self-Care for Your Emotional Type
Self-care is often a major piece of advice or prescription when it comes to restoring health and well-being, especially on a mental and emotional level.
Self-care can take many forms too.
Self-care can look like a lengthy daily routine, prayer or ritual, meditation, walks, exercise, reading, time alone, cooking, taking a bath, listening to your favorite song, etc…the list can go on and on.
With my clients, I’m a big proponent of promoting how the whole point of self-care is to make it realistic and work for you.
It’s not about spending hours if you don’t have the time, but even a few minutes can make a massive difference.
It’s the intention and follow-through to do something that supports you and restores some balance and peace that matters most.
So, I believe it’s critical to tailor your follow-through and act of self-care in a way that optimizes restoration and balance to your mind-body connection as best as possible.
It’s wise to make the most of your “you time” by being well-informed on what practices can best support your present-moment mind-body type, especially when faced with high stress.
Therefore, I will outline some specific parameters and suggestions to consider when it comes to two of my favorite self-care practices to share with my clients in session and use myself: breathwork and movement.
Types of Breathwork
Anxiety
When it comes to regulating an overreaction mind, consider practicing a breathwork ratio of 1:2 where your exhale is twice as long as your inhale.
You’ll inhale for 1 count and exhale for 2 counts to help more quickly support the nervous system in regulation.
The extended exhale allows the body to release excessive energy through breath and sound (if desired - it feels good, I promise!). Breathing commonly takes place through the nose if comfortable.
Another useful breathwork technique is the “psychological sigh” where you exhibit a deep, prolonged exhalation with sound.
You’ll inhale and then deeply exhale from your mouth letting out all the air and sound that wants to be expressed.
Breathing commonly takes place through the nose (inhale) and mouth (exhale) if comfortable.
Depression
When it comes to energizing a slower depressed mind, consider practicing a breathwork ratio of 1:1 where your inhale and exhale are equal parts.
This helps to gently wake your body up without causing havoc on your nervous system. It can naturally welcome more clarity and energy into your body.
Breathing commonly takes place through the nose if comfortable.
Another useful breathwork technique from yoga is called kapalabhati or “breath of fire.”
This looks like forced, quick exhalations from your nose with effortless inhalations.
You’ll focus on conducting forced, sharp, and short exhales through your nose and naturally inhale in between.
Do this for 10-20-30 rounds of exhalation and 2-3 rounds, and stop if you become dizzy. Breathing must take place through the nose.
Anxiety or Depression
Consider practicing what is called: Single Nostril Breathing/Alternate Nostril Breathing/Nadi Shodhan Pranayama.
You will alternate breathing through your nose by using your fingers to close and open each nostril.
Generally, you’ll inhale through one nostril and then exhale through the other nostril. Use your fingers to close one nostril at a time.
Depending on if your exhale is prolonged (anxiety) or keeps it equal part as your inhale (depression), can help this technique be applicable to either emotional type.
Types of Yoga + Movement
This will speak to the more general tone of your movement and yoga practices rather than prescribing you specifically to only do cardio or strength training.
I believe both are important for overall health and longevity.
These recommendations are more about modifying your movement practice to embody a certain balancing and healing quality (i.e. slow versus fast, precision/stamina versus sprints/heart rate spikes) rather than specifying what your workout plans should look like and the specific workouts to incorporate for your mind-body type.
Anxiety Type
For anxiety, it’s effective to bring qualities of slowing down, focused attention, and being with the discomfort (physical or mental) to your movement practice.
This may look like slower, restorative yoga or yin yoga.
Or incorporating more stamina and endurance in your strength (i.e. focusing on weight versus reps) and cardio (i.e. longer runs) to help calm the mind on a focal point rather than pursuing intensive workouts (i.e. HIIT or sprints).
Depression
For depression, it’s effective to bring invigorating and energizing qualities to your movement practice.
This can look like a vinyasa flow or trying on more challenging postures and holds. It can also include strength training (i.e. heart race peaks from lifting heavy or lifting tone with high rep counts) and cardio (i.e. HIIT or Tabata) to help strengthen and challenge your body and your cardiovascular system.
Please note that if you’re a combination of anxiety and depression in your mind-body connection, choose a helpful combination of self-practices to soothe your anxiety and lift your depression.
Or consider which type is most predominantly out of balance in your mind-body to restore internal balance and wellness.
Mind-Body Balance: Tying it All Together
This is a practice not a perfect. Use the recommendations as guidelines to find what works for you.
Self-care is a must to sustain your mental and emotional health against the many stressors life inevitably brings.
Turn those challenges into opportunities and gifts by being disciplined with your self-care and choosing to personalize meaning to make it a meaningful and effective use of your “you time.”
Also, remember sometimes you’ve got to “fake it till you make it” along the way.
This means adopting an open and curious mind to do what you know is good for you despite not always FEELING like it.
You may just need and benefit from something you don’t enjoy in the short term to experience long-term gain. For you anxious types, learn to be still, and for you depressed types, learn to get going.
Set up a session with me to get ongoing support in your personalized self-care plan!
I’ll help you pivot and course-correct along the way as you fine-tune your internal compass of self-awareness around the fundamental aspect of your mental and emotional health — your mind-body connection.