Start with the Body: Easing the Physical Tension of Hypervigilance
Hypervigilance is a common symptom that I see spanning accross diagnoses, although it is primarily a hallmark of trauma. When you live in a state of constant alert, scanning for danger, bracing for mistakes, trying to catch what others might miss, you may feel this is necessary for survival, even if you logically believe that it’s not that helpful.
Hypervigilance is a complex web of thoughts and beliefs, but it also lives in the physical body. The shoulders that never drop. The jaw that clenches. The bracing for impact.
Clients often come to therapy overwhelmed by the complexity of their inner world. It can feel impossible to know where to begin. You don’t have to untangle every thought or memory right away. You can begin with something simpler and more immediate—the physical tension your body is holding.
Sometimes in the therapy room, we begin with the thoughts and beliefs, mapping them out, understanding them as parts, examining their workability. But I find that clients can feel more hopeful and effective when they do a physical practice with me that can be easily repeated at home. For this I turn to somatic self care.
What Is Hypervigilance, Really?
Hypervigilance is the state of being constantly on guard. It’s the mental and physical habit of scanning for threats, problems, or signs that something is about to go wrong. This can come from trauma, chronic stress, anxiety disorders like OCD, or from growing up in environments where it felt safer to always be ready.
For some people, especially those who are autistic or highly sensitive, hypervigilance may have started as a necessary adaptation to a world that often felt overwhelming, confusing, or critical. It can look like reviewing a schedule over and over again, or mentally rehearsing what you will be saying and playing out another person’s response. As we do these mental actions, our body responds not calmly as if it is preparing well, but as if it is under stress right now, regardless of the stressor being hypothetical and in the future. Bodies naturally tense up when they feel under attack. Over time, the body begins to carry this state as a kind of default.
While tension may be supportive if you need to do some kind of immediate forceful physical attack or escape, it is not useful for the ways most of us need to respond to more subtle threats and problems in the modern era. Tension by and large reduces our flexibility of movement and does nothing for our problem-solving ability. As practitioners of yoga, martial arts, and tai chi know, even in the physical world, we need fluidity and flexibility to skillfully respond, not rigidity and fixed posture. Fixed positions are easily knocked down, worked around, and out-maneuvered.
The Physical Signature of Hypervigilance
You might not notice it until someone points it out, or until your body starts to hurt. But the signs are often there:
Muscles that stay clenched, especially in the shoulders, back, jaw, or stomach
Breath that is shallow or held without realizing it
Restlessness or fatigue, from the body staying “on”
A sense that you’re always a little braced—even when nothing is wrong
When attempting to stretch or release, a hitching or unwillingness for certain muscle groups to let go
These sensations tend to come along with a profile of heavy justification for scanning and racing thoughts and intense emotions like fear or anger, all of which can keep focus out of the posture of the body. Although the physical signs have the capacity to be obvious, people are distracted and frequently overlook them.
Tuning into the body first
Be aware that tuning into the body can be very uncomfortable and bring up feelings that surprise you. It is OK to hold off on body awareness exercises until you have support with you who can walk you through it.
When you are ready, the first practice is to move your attention from thoughts to your body, and this can be done in a number of ways. One simple and tested way to do this is with a Body Scan: Start at your feet and move upward, just noticing where you feel tight or numb. You don’t have to fix anything—just notice. There are abundant free resources online for body scans, such as this 9 minute one from Therapy in a Nutshell.
Gentle Ways to Release Tension
When you begin to soften tension or shift your breathing, even in small ways, you send new signals to your nervous system: I’m safe enough right now. Using the body to do this rather than the mind is called a bottom-up approach.
Releasing physical tension can make it easier to think clearly, to rest, to feel emotions without being flooded by them. It creates space.
You don’t need a full yoga practice or a long meditation session (though those can be great too). You can start small. Here are a few ways to check in with your body and offer it relief:
Shake it out: Wiggle your hands. Shake your shoulders. Let your jaw go slack. Even 10 seconds can interrupt a freeze response.
Stretch or curl inward: Sometimes extending helps; sometimes curling into a ball feels safer. try both of these in altneration (cat-cow is an example) Follow your own comfort cues.
Exhale with sound: A sigh, a hum, or a long “shhh” sound helps engage the part of your nervous system that calms you down.
Apply grounding pressure: Try a weighted blanket, firm pillow hug, or leaning into a wall with your back or in a modified pushup.
Pick one spot: Instead of trying to relax your whole body, choose one area—like your shoulders—and gently invite it to soften. A roller, tennis ball, or massage gun can be allies in helping muscles release.
For researched and well-presented somatic self care moves, I love recommending this free resource from Johns Hopkins: Somatic Self Care
Let it be a gentle invitation, not a demand
Demands naturally create tension for many of us. Approaching relaxation in a pressured way will often sabotage the goal of release. None of the tension work I am describing is about “fixing” yourself or pretending the mental and emotional parts don’t matter. You’re not doing something wrong if your body won’t relax. Sometimes, tension is the best your system can do in the moment.
This is simply an invitation: when the thoughts feel too tangled, the body might be the most accessible place to begin.
