The Anxiety-Stress-Tension Triangle

Where it starts isn’t the issue, it’s what you do to break the cycle that is important. Once you get locked into the Anxiety-Stress-Tension Triangle, each side of the triangle adds strength to the other two sides.

For me, it started with anxiety, which created stress as I worried endlessly about my health, this stress led me to become sedentary, lock my muscle tight as I held onto myself, and my shoulders begin to creep their way up to my ears.

My body was in gridlock.

Picture yourself in a stressful situation, you may find that your brow furrows, you clinch your teeth, your neck becomes tight and rigid as a rock, and your raise your shoulders towards your ears.

For the anxious person, this is a daily routine and overtime, I found that my muscles began to shorten and the tension began to accumulate and build upon itself day after day. I believe that this tension is a large barrier that I need to cross in order to feel empowered over my anxiety.

This tension is also a daily mental battle. “Is that stiff neck and foggy head because of years of built up tension constricting blood flow to the brain and muscles, putting undo pressure on the nerves that run through the neck, this pressure that is screaming to be release? Or does it mean that the cancer floating through my body has now made its way into my spinal column?”

Right now I’m trying to release this tension with yoga but admittedly I’m not very dedicated to this practice and doing it here and there is not going to fix the problem. I also know that in addition to releasing tension I must stop adding more tension to the equation. This means, stop holding onto myself so tightly, just let go — I surrender, I can fight no more.