How to Overcome Anxiety and Reclaim Your Peace of Mind: A Blend of Somatic Therapy and CBT
Anxiety is something we all experience — deadlines, relationship stress, or even small daily decisions can spark worry. But if you’re a high-performing professional, entrepreneur, or someone who holds yourself to impossible standards, anxiety often stops being occasional. Instead, it becomes a constant hum in the background:
Racing thoughts while trying to fall asleep.
Tension in your shoulders and jaw that never seems to ease.
A restless need to keep doing more, even when you’re exhausted.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not broken — your nervous system is doing its best to keep you safe. The problem is, it’s stuck in overdrive.
The good news? Anxiety is treatable. Two highly effective approaches — somatic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) — can help you break free from anxiety loops by addressing both the body and the mind.
Understanding Anxiety: More Than Just Thoughts
Traditional approaches to anxiety often focus only on thoughts: identifying fears, calming worry, and thinking more positively. While important, this misses half the picture.
Anxiety isn’t just mental — it’s physical.
Common physical signs of anxiety include:
Rapid heartbeat
Tight chest
Shortness of breath
Restless energy
Muscle tension
These symptoms make it harder to think clearly, regulate emotions, and stay present. That’s why addressing the body is just as important as shifting the mind.
Somatic Therapy: Releasing Anxiety Through the Body
Somatic therapy starts with one powerful idea: stress and trauma live in the body, not just the brain.
When you’ve spent years in “go mode,” your body learns to hold onto tension as if it’s necessary for survival. Over time, that constant state of alertness fuels anxiety.
In somatic therapy, the focus is on tuning into the body’s signals, learning to notice where anxiety shows up physically, and then releasing it.
Some techniques include:
Grounding exercises: Feeling your feet on the floor or connecting with your environment to remind your body it’s safe.
Body scans: Bringing awareness to areas of tightness, then intentionally softening those muscles.
Breathwork: Slowing down your breath to calm your nervous system and interrupt fight-or-flight.
Movement or shaking: Releasing stored adrenaline and resetting your body’s stress response.
For example, maybe every time you feel anxious at work, your shoulders creep toward your ears. Instead of ignoring that signal, somatic therapy teaches you to pause, notice it, and release the tension — which in turn helps quiet the anxious mind.
CBT: Changing the Thought Patterns That Fuel Anxiety
If somatic therapy addresses anxiety from the body up, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works from the mind down.
CBT is one of the most researched, evidence-based approaches for treating anxiety. It focuses on the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
In CBT, you learn to:
Identify unhelpful thoughts
“I’m not good enough.”
“If I make a mistake, everything will fall apart.”
“Something bad is going to happen.”
Challenge those thoughts
What’s the actual evidence for this fear?
Am I catastrophizing or assuming the worst?
How would I respond if a friend had this thought?
Reframe them into balanced perspectives
Instead of “I can’t handle this,” → “I’ve handled challenges before; I can take this step.”
Instead of “I’m not good enough,” → “I’m learning, growing, and doing my best — and that matters.”
Over time, CBT helps you weaken the anxious thought loops that keep your brain stuck in worry.
Why Combining Somatic Therapy + CBT Works So Well for Anxiety
Here’s the truth: anxiety doesn’t live in just one place. It shows up in your body and your mind. That’s why combining these two approaches can be so effective.
Together, they help you:
Understand your anxiety triggers — not just mentally, but physically.
Regulate your nervous system so you don’t spiral into panic.
Challenge unhelpful thoughts that feed anxiety.
Build confidence in your ability to handle stress without shutting down or overworking.
For high-achievers especially, this mind-body approach is game-changing. It helps you notice when you’re caught in the “hustle trap” (pushing harder every time anxiety shows up) and instead shift into a more sustainable rhythm.
Real-Life Example: The Racing Thoughts Cycle
Let’s say you’re lying in bed, replaying a work conversation you think you “messed up.”
Your mind (CBT lens): You’re thinking, “They probably think I’m incompetent. What if this ruins my career?”
Your body (Somatic lens): Your heart rate spikes, your chest feels tight, and sleep feels impossible.
With CBT alone, you might challenge the thought: “I don’t have evidence they think I’m incompetent — that’s just a fear.”
With somatic therapy, you might place your hand on your chest, take a slow breath, and stretch your shoulders to release tension.
When combined? You’re regulating your body and reshaping your thoughts — which makes it easier to break the cycle.
Somatic + CBT Tools You Can Try Right Now
While therapy provides a deeper, guided approach, here are a few practices you can start experimenting with today:
Box breathing: Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. Repeat until your body softens.
5–4–3–2–1 grounding: Name 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, 1 thing you taste.
Thought record journaling: Write down your anxious thought, the evidence for and against it, and a more balanced replacement.
Progressive muscle relaxation: Tense one muscle group (like fists or shoulders), hold for a few seconds, then release. Notice the difference.
Reclaiming Peace of Mind
If you’re a high-functioning professional, entrepreneur, or perfectionist, you might have gotten used to anxiety as “just part of life.” But it doesn’t have to be.
When you combine somatic therapy and CBT, you get a full-spectrum toolkit for calming your nervous system, reshaping your thoughts, and building resilience — so you can actually feel present, capable, and at peace.
Final Thoughts…
Anxiety is both a physical and mental experience.
Somatic therapy addresses how anxiety lives in the body.
CBT addresses the thought patterns that fuel anxiety.
Together, they help you regulate, reframe, and reclaim peace of mind.
Let’s Work Together on Your Anxiety
If anxiety has been running the show, you don’t have to manage it alone. I specialize in helping high-achievers, professionals, and perfectionists use somatic therapy and CBT to break free from anxiety and create sustainable calm. Schedule a consultation today .