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Health

  • Written by MISS.com.au

We’re living through an anxiety epidemic. More than 300 million people worldwide are dealing with clinical levels of stress and anxiety and judging by the sleepless nights, racing thoughts, and endless doomscrolling, most of us are not coping as well as we’d like.
For decades, the go-to advice has been to think our way out of it: change your thoughts, meditate, reframe, be more mindful. But what if we’ve been missing the most important piece of the puzzle all along?
According to clinical psychologist, researcher and senior yoga teacher Dr Kaitlin Harkess, the solution isn’t just in our heads, it’s in our bodies.
“Your issues are in your tissues”
That’s the central idea behind Dr Harkess’ new book, The Somatic Workbook for Nervous System Regulation and Anxiety Management (out now, PESI Publishing). It’s a practical, science-backed guide packed with more than 85 body-based strategies to help you manage anxiety, process stress, and actually feel better.
“This isn’t another ‘just think positive’ book,” says Dr Harkess. 
“If cognitive reframing, meditation or talk therapy were enough on their own, we’d all be sleeping soundly by now. The truth, as neuroscience shows, is that our bodies and nervous systems need as much attention as our minds.”
“If cognitive reframing, meditation practice, or traditional talk therapy were sufficient on their own, we’d all be sleeping soundly by now. The truth, as neuroscience increasingly shows, is that our nervous systems and our bodies need as much attention as our minds.”
We’re used to living life in our heads and on our phones. We chase the next thought, the next answer, the next dopamine hit. But our bodies, says Dr Harkess, have been left out of the conversation for far too long.
“What if the key to healing wasn’t about thinking harder,” she asks, “but about finally listening to the body that’s been speaking to us all along? The very thing designed to help us release stress in the first place?”
Why your body is the missing piece of the puzzle
“Your mind literally extends throughout your body,” says Dr Harkess. “As the saying goes, your issues are in your tissues. But that’s not the end of the story because your body also holds your wisdom. Real anxiety relief means tuning into that wisdom, getting out of your head, and back into your body.”
And that means learning to work with our physical selves, not against them.
“We’ve never really been taught what to do with our emotions,” Dr Harkess explains. 
“As a society, we’ve never really been taught what to do with our emotions, how to discharge them, how to let them move through us. Instead, we bottle them up or try to outthink them. But emotions carry energy, and that energy needs somewhere to go.” 
“Sometimes the kindest thing we can do is let go of our analysing and find a gentle release. Through movement, breath, music, or anything safe that helps the nervous system reset. Until we start teaching these skills as part of everyday life, we’ll keep seeing the cost of holding it all in.”
This isn’t just a book for therapists or yoga teachers. It’s designed for real life: the mum lying awake running through her to-do list at 3am, the burnt-out employee doomscrolling on the couch, the young woman paralysed by exam stress, and the professional whose heart races before every meeting.
Timed to coincide with Mental Health Month in Australia, The Somatic Workbook for Nervous System Regulation and Anxiety Management offers a refreshing and much-needed reframe of how we think about anxiety. Because sometimes, the most powerful way to feel better isn’t to change our thoughts, it’s to finally listen to our bodies.