Calm Your Mind From Overthinking (Somatic Practice to Stop Overthinking Everything)
Why Do We Overthink? Understanding the Connection Between Thoughts and Feelings
Are you caught in the endless loop of overthinking everything? Are you consumed by incessant mental chatter or worries, looping in cycles of doubt and stress, struggling to make decisions, repeating old stories again and again, and feeling stuck in your head?
Overthinking is incredibly common, but also incredibly misunderstood.
Most mindset and self-help advice around overthinking encourages us to change or control our thoughts without addressing the deeper, underlying reasons that we’re overthinking in the first place.
But our thoughts aren’t isolated; they’re actually responses to our emotions and body sensations.
The truth is that overthinking isn't just a mental habit—it's a signal from your body and emotions, calling for your attention.
When we experience emotions such as anxiety, fear, or sadness, they manifest as physical sensations. For example, a knot in the stomach or tightness in the chest. Often, we might not even be consciously aware of these feelings. Instead, our mind kicks into overdrive, trying to make sense of or escape from these uncomfortable feelings. This leads to incessant mental chatter and looping thoughts, as the mind attempts to regain a sense of control and safety.
However, overthinking doesn't effectively address the underlying discomfort. Instead, it keeps us stuck in a cycle of rumination, preventing us from fully processing and releasing these emotions. This disconnection from our body hinders our healing journey, as true healing requires us to feel and process our emotions rather than merely think about them.
What Causes Overthinking?
At its core, overthinking is an attempt at self-regulation (though it’s not an effective one). When we experience anxiety, emotional discomfort, or uncertainty, our mind steps in and begins analyzing every detail and imagining countless scenarios.
One reason for this is that the mind wants to bring a sense of control and safety to our experience, so it tries to think about every possible outcome and analyze every tiny detail. Part of us believes that if we can just think enough, we’ll think our way out of the unease or discomfort we feel within.
Unfortunately, this often results in more anxiety and does nothing to shift the uncomfortable feelings happening in our bodies. Looping thoughts get us more stuck, more dysregulated, and more disconnected from the wisdom of our bodies that could actually support us when we’re struggling.
Avoidance of Feelings
Another reason we overthink is that it’s a way to avoid or dissociate from our feelings. Understandably, no one wants to feel emotional discomfort, uncertainty, or anxiety, and escaping into our heads disconnects us from our bodies and feelings to an extent.
However, feeling our feelings is the only way to help them move through us and release. Avoidance only prolongs our discomfort and keeps us stuck.
Breaking the Cycle of Overthinking
Because overthinking is an ineffective attempt at self-regulation, one way to work with it is to learn how to effectively regulate yourself. When our nervous systems are regulated, our minds naturally become calmer and more quiet.
Another effective method is to consciously direct our minds toward our body sensations. Instead of telling our minds to stop thinking, we give them another specific task, such as focusing on the sensations in our bodies. This helps break the momentum of overthinking and redirects our thoughts, creating more peace, calm, and regulation within.
Incorporating somatic practices regularly can help rewire the neural pathways that cause overthinking in the first place. These practices support us in dropping out of our heads and into our bodies, facilitating deeper healing and inner connection.
Today’s Somatic Practice to Stop Overthinking Everything is a powerful practice designed to interrupt your looping thoughts and gently shift your focus from your mind to your body, fostering a sense of peace, calm, and deeper regulation.
*Note: This is Part 1 in a 2-part series on how to stop overthinking everything! In the next episode, I walk you through a body-centered meditation to effectively process the emotions that are at the root of your overthinking tendencies. Check that out here: Somatic Meditation to Stop Being an Overthinker.
Try the Somatic Practice to Stop Overthinking Everything now!
Episode timing:
00:00 - What causes overthinking?
06:03 - Somatic Practice to Stop Overthinking Everything: Havening® to regulate your nervous system
16:53 - Somatic Practice to Stop Overthinking Everything: Body scan to drop into your body
27:20 - Conclusion
Learn more about Havening Techniques and the science behind them
Check out Part 2 of this series: Somatic Meditation to Stop Being an Overthinker
READY TO GO DEEPER ON YOUR EMBODIED HEALING JOURNEY?
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Connect with your body and emotions in a deep and supportive way.
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Learn a powerful mind-body technique to soothe your distressing emotions so you can increase your comfort with your emotions.
Use your deepening body awareness as a tool for healing and authentic living.
How did that Somatic Practice to Stop Overthinking Everything go for you?
What feels different to you now? Have your thoughts quieted or shifted?
Please let me know in the comments!
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Enjoy more like this: Regulation Exercises, Havening Exercises
About me
Hi there, I’m Karena!
I’m a trauma-informed emotional healing coach here to help you quickly identify and heal the subconscious blocks, old emotional wounds, and self-sabotaging core beliefs that are holding you back!
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Are you ready to find your center, quiet your mind and step off the roller coaster of stress, anxiety and overwhelm?