A tight chest before a meeting. Shallow sleep at 4am. Shoulders that never quite come down. People often see a GP two or three times about the body before anyone mentions anxiety.

The body is not lying, and it is not overreacting for no reason — it is responding to a threat it has learned to expect. That is why “just relax” is useless advice: the alarm system, not the reasoning, needs the attention.

In practice we work on both ends. Something that settles the body in the moment, and something that loosens the prediction underneath it. Most people notice the first change in their sleep.