84. Can Anxiety Cause Weird Sensations in the Body? Part 1 (Gut and Chest)
11 Nov 2025 · 44 min
Dr. Nicole Cain and Ayurveda expert Hadley explain how anxiety creates strange physical sensations in the gut and chest. They map symptoms like stomach heaviness and chest tightness to Ayurvedic body types, then offer specific fixes: self-massage, gentian bitters for digestion, DGL licorice for reflux, and taurine for heart palpitations.
Questions this episode answers
January 31, 2023.
Eight primary types of anxiety.
Approximately 1.5 grams taken with a little bit of water.
DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice).
Chapters
Welcome to the holistic Inner Balance podcast with Dr. Nicole Cain and happy healthy.
Hadley, your go to resource for natural mental health and wellness strategies so that you can become the expert of your own emotional and physical well being.
Merging modern science with ancient wisdom.
We're going to be talking about a very commonly asked question on Google of can anxiety cause weird bodily sensitivity sensations today?
Amazing. I'm so excited for this.
And so I was curious if you have any sort of like a memory or a recollection of the most intense, peculiar, annoying, unexpected, surprising, disconcerting, all of the words of like, how anxiety showed up for you.
Okay. Well, it's happened in a number of different ways. The thing that, that shows up for me that like, is like the most glaringly obvious was. So there was this one time and that Todd, my husband, and I, we were climbing up this. It was, it was a long hike. It wasn't like, you know, a mountain mountain, but it was up to a peak of a mountain range. And we. There was this scramble at the top. And so a scramble is essentially like, it's not. You're not like climbing like with like, you know, you're not like climbing up the mountain, but you do have to use your hands and feet. It's like, not quite steep enough for it to count as like climbing, but it's a scramble. So you, you're like scrambling along with your hands and feet. Right. And so this scramble was definitely a little bit over comfort zone. And I was not that happy about it. And so, you know, we got to the top and I was like, oh, my gosh. I'm always more nervous about going down than going up because going down is like, you know, it feels a little. You're like, less in control as when you're going up and then you kind of have to like, go down a little bit, like awkwardly. You sometimes have to turn around to go back down, all of that stuff. So I don't like going down as much as I like going up. And so we were at the top, we brought like our food and stuff for the top of this, this hike. And it was amazing. Like, the views were incredible. But I was so nervous about the way back down. I had so much fear and anxiety about it. So we ate our food and I have never had such a bad stomach ache after eating. And so it was like, you know, like, tightness and, you know, it felt like kind of a, like a hard rock that was super painful at the same time in my, in my stomach. And I know that so many people have experienced this as well. So that's like the. The one that stands out to me the most, I would say.
And we've actually talked about that before, and Ayurveda has an explanation for that. And so what I would love to talk about in this conversation is the strange sensations that we can experience when we're anxious. Because I get a lot of questions like, can anxiety cause this? Or can anxiety cause that? And generally speaking, the answer is, yes, anxiety can cause that. And so I love having you as a part of these sorts of conversations because Ayurveda adds this depth and richness to. To distilling out how to create solutions that will work. And so the way that your body was telling you was like this. You had no appetite. You were feeling really worried. You're feeling really anxious. You're feeling really ungrounded and insecure. You're not feeling, like, solid in your body. You're having to, like, scale this mountain and then go back down. You put food in your body, and it's like a rock in your gut, and it's just really, really painful and uncomfortable, right?
Yep, exactly.
So we're going to put a pin in that, and we're going to come back to it. And so I want to read a couple of other examples of how anxiety can show up for people, because as you're listening to this recording, as you're listening to this podcast, I want you to pay attention to the way that anxiety can show up. And then I'll tell you guys how my anxiety shows up when it's at its worst. And there's one really peculiar symptom that I get when I get really panicky, when I get symptom, we know it's like shoes off, like, mayhem is about to begin. And so this is. I call her Lucy. And Lucy also gets a lot of anxiety in her stomach, but it's a little different than what Hadley said. So anxiety starts with a jolt in her stomach. So that's one of the first symptoms, is jolt in her stomach. And then she gets a flush of heat. And so this fleshy heat, it starts in her chest, and it rises to her face. And she just needs to be, like, held and rocked and comforted. And she's, like, really hot, really sweaty. But being comforted is, like, the main thing that helps her. She refuses to drink any water. She just doesn't want to eat anything. And then she starts crying, and then she gets yellow discharge from her nose. And so with anxiety, we have all of these unique symptoms, right? We have the heat we have the not thirsty, we have no appetite, we have the need for consolation with yellow mucus. So that's Lucy's panic attack. And then we have Hadley's anxiety with the rock in the stomach and the not wanting to eat and it being really painful. Right. And so then when I get anxious, here's a third example, is when I get anxious, the first thing I feel is like this electricity that's, like shooting through my nervous system. And when it's really bad, it will actually zap into my teeth. And so I have this electric shooting pain in my teeth, like the upper left molars. If you're listening to the recording, I'm pointing. If you see the video, yeah, I'm pointing to my upper left molars. And I remember asking my dentist and saying, when I get anxious, is there any explanation or any reason why I might feel it in the nerves feeding, innervating my teeth? And they were just scratching their heads and puzzled by it. But what that is, it's a form of one of the eight types of anxiety, and we're going to talk about that today. And by knowing what type of anxiety you have, then you're equipped at the mercy of your body, sharing its symptoms with you with tools that really work. What I really want to emphasize at the beginning of this conversation is a couple of things. One is that your anxiety is shiftable. It can change. And so had Hadley not eaten anything, she might not have gotten the rock in her stomach, but she definitely still would have been anxious until getting off of that mountain. And maybe for you, or maybe for Lucy, you don't get upset enough to get the yellow mucus from all of the crying. If you can get calm before the crying, you may never get that right. And so you also might find that one type of anxiety, like mountain climbing anxiety, shows up in your stomach. But public speaking, anxiety may show up in the nerves that go to your teeth. It could change. And then the other thing. So number one is it could be changeable. And then number two is that you may have multiple systems involved in the anxiety. So you may have nervous system pain, like shooting, burning, numbing, but you also may have indigestion, and you also may get a headache, and you may also get, like, crying, weepy and get yellow discharge from your nose. And so while there are eight primary types of anxiety, which we're going to see, how they can kind of really be more detailed and parse out depending on in what state of imbalance your dosha is in, what's going on in your life, what you're taking, what you're doing. So as a resource for you, I have a quiz@Dr.nicole cain.com and it's the eight types of anxiety quiz. And so whenever you're feeling anxious, like, go in there, take the quiz, see what type of anxiety is, and start to develop a relationship with like, oh, these are these types of anxiety symptoms for me. These are those types of anxiety symptoms for you. And then start listening to this podcast. We have tons of resources for you. We have a whole ayurvedic course that you can take and learn about balancing your doshas. We have exercise, we have habits, we have supplements, we have herbs, we have self massage, Massage and how to get back in your body. Like, we have so many resources for you. And so today we're going to help you figure out, can anxiety cause weird bodily sensations, what type of anxiety that is, and then we're going to get you started on some hacks to start calming your anxiety and getting you back in your calm, feeling, happy, balanced self right away. So you ready for it? Let's do it.
I'm so excited. This is so fun.
Let's do it. All right, so thank you for being on this podcast podcast, everybody. Thanks for listening. I am Dr. Nicole.
And I'm Hadley. And we are so excited to be back with you. We are the holistic Inner Balance podcast. And it's such a pleasure. Thanks for, for continuing to show up and listen and share with your friends. And it's been so fun and continues to be fun.
It's so much fun. And if you're listening to this conversation and then if anybody pops into your head as you're listening, hit the pause button and then just quickly share it with them. Because I can guarantee you that if you're resonating with anything on this podcast, then there's probably at least one other person in your life that is also. And we just want to get the word out. That's why we do this podcast, is it's just to help you help your loved ones and to share the hope that you can become your own holistic health expert, that you can get your life back. So please, like. And share. Share the love.
Yes. And that's the way that we can reach more people. And so we really, really appreciate when you, when you do that. So thank you. Yes.
So eight types of anxiety. As you're listening, I want you to see if you resonate with this. And so there are eight types of anxiety. Hadley, did you know that? You did.
I only Knew it from you though.
Hadley knows it.
I knew it. But Dr. Kane.
There are eight primary types. And so when your body is out of balance, when your mind is in need of support, when your emotions are asking for care and attention, your body tells you symptoms. Your symptoms are your saving grace. Your symptoms are opportunities for deeper healing. Your symptoms are here to help you truly transform so that you can be more happy, healthy and successful, full. And we're here to help you get the data that you need to do that. And so when it comes to anxiety, there are eight types of anxiety. And so we're going to go through each of these today. And so when I go through each of the types, we're going to enrich it because Ayurveda has something to say about each of these types. And just to add some density and some history, 2000 plus years of knowledge to these eight types of anxiety. And so let's start with Lucy's anxiety, Hadley's anxiety, that anxiety that lives in your gut. And so can anxiety cause weird bodily sensations in your gut? Yes, here are some examples. So do you get gassy? Do you get bloated? Do you have a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome where you have irregular digestion? Maybe one day you're constipated, the next day you have diarrhea? Do you get reflux or heartburn? Do you feel like you are really full one second and then incredibly hungry the next? Do you belch a lot? We call that stomach chi rebellion in traditional Chinese medicine. But anything funny that happens in your gut as a manifestation of stress is gut anxiety. So as you're listening, do you check any of those boxes? And so in Ayurveda, Hadley, I'm super curious if you could expand on how vaja Pittakapha imbalances could show up in your gut.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
So in Ayurveda, if you were to go online and you were to type in like Ayurveda anxiety, you would find that most like articles, most things on the Internet are going to be like, oh, anxiety comes from vata, vata dosha, because vata is the, you know, the fear. Fear is like the, is a vata emotion. But there are, there's a lot more nuance to it than that. And so like when we think about, obviously there are eight types of anxiety. So that's a lot of nuance.
Right.
There's not just one type of anxiety. So if we're thinking about gut anxiety, we're going to bring in all three of the different doshas so vata, the vata dosha, this one is going to be like the gas, bloating, constipation. Anything that you think of vata is governed by, by the air and space elements. You can kind of think of like wind. If there's like air and wind and stuff stuck in your body, that's going to be like you're going to burp, right? You're going to get the air out or you're going to have gas, you're going to get that air out or you have, you can have constipation because that is, the air is like blocking your, you know, the food that you've eaten to come out the other side. It's going to block that, right? So these are all, these are all signs of vata in the body as well as in the nervous system and affecting your anxiety. And so that's going to be, that's probably the most common, the most. When we think of anxiety, that's going to be like probably the most common thing that we think of. But we can also have anxiety that results in, you know, more pizza and kapha symptoms as well. And so a lot of times what happens with pizza is pizza is all about, is the element of fire. And, and if you're curious about, more about the doshas, I'm not going to go into them but like we have lots of resources for that. So you can go back to those podcasts or you can take the Dosha quiz. We'll have a link to the, to that in the, in the notes. But pitta is the fire element and pitta is when you have a lot of pitta, you, you usually want to have control over things. It's like more of a, like a type a perfectionist sort of mindset on things. And so that can us, it can affect our anxiety. And then what's going to show up for the symptoms is more like hyperacidity. So like reflux anything that feels like burning sensations in the, in the gut, right? All, anything that's like really painful, that's all going to be pitta stuff. And so, you know, when I was on the top of that mountain, I was experiencing some vata stuff for sure because basically my digestion like was non existent. And so when I put food into it, my body was like, we're not going to digest that food. But then also I was like experiencing a lot of like fear because I didn't have control over the situation as much as I wanted to. And so that's where that pain, that pain Came in. Right. And so that was like, a tight pain. And. And so they can have. You can have both. Then kapha is going to be more. More of like a dullness. It's going to be a dullness. It's going to be a heavy feeling. And what can happen with gut. Gut anxiety then is you're. You're going to. A lot of times what happens is emotional eating. And so when we have more of that kapha tendency, it's like, oh, I don't like this feeling of anxiety, so I'm going to ground it down with food. And it's actually a really adaptive response because food does ground it down temporarily, and it's also not helpful in the long term. But, you know, for the first moment of that, it's like, oh, yeah, food pacifies. Food, like, brings us down. But then we start to have that feeling of, like, heaviness. And, you know, whereas vata is more of the bloating, kapha is more of the, like, stagnant energy.
I'm wondering about mucus in the stool, too, because with bowel syndrome, we often see mucus in the stool. And so people.
Kapha.
That's kapha.
Yep.
And so if you look at your stool and it looks like you have, like, shiny, clear worms in there. They're not worms. It's mucus.
Hopefully they're not worms.
Hopefully. I've had so many people send me pictures of poop, and they. They see worms, but it's really just cough a mucus.
I love it. We are big poop talkers.
We love poop here. I think a whole podcast on poop, don't we? Somebody was laughing about that. Yeah. So depending on what type of gut anxiety you're dealing with, because now. So we have the eight types of anxiety, but now, you see, we have three kinds of gut anxiety, and we could break those down even more. And so again, this is like learning archery. It's like, okay, we're going to be aiming for this bullseye. And now we've got the whole bullseye board. This is the gut anxiety bullseye board. And now we want to figure out, are we hitting the vata circle, the pitch a circle, or the kapha circle? And so then once you know what that is, then you can have solutions to pacify that and balance that. And so in terms of. For vata, what would be. If you had one solution to help with stomach upset that's related to vata? Hadley, what would you suggest?
Good question.
There's three. Her father.
I mean, there are Just so many things.
Like, how do I pick?
Well, I would, I. I mean, I would probably first focus on the actual, like, grounding the nervous system for vata, because the thing about a lot of vata, especially if we have anxiety from it, is that our nervous system is just like, like, you know, way out of whack. It's not regulated. And so what we want to do. The thing that I would think of first is going to be like, okay, put my hand on my body, actually feel my physiology. I'm here in this place. I'm not. I am not my mind, I'm not all of the racing thoughts. I'm actually here in my body. That immediately brings your nervous system into at least a little bit more regulation. Maybe not, you know, fully, but. But immediately if you, you know, if you place your hand on your heart or if you place your hand on your shoulder or your arm and just give it a little squeeze, like a little bit of pressure, you can start to feel like, oh, yeah, I'm here, I'm in my body. And that. So Ayurveda knew this way back in the day. It was like, oh, how we eat and in what type of setting we eat is as important, if not more important than what we are eating. So having a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, a lot of vodka is like, you don't want to eat in that type of situation because you're not going to be able to digest it. You're not going to be able to assimilate the nutrients. And there's going to. It's going to cause all sorts of havoc. But, yeah, so I would say just like, bring yourself into your body with your hands on your body. That's. That's going to be my, my first thing.
I love that. And I'm thinking about when we did our course on pacifying some of these. So I don't want to give all of that away, but there are a couple of interesting things you can take to try to balance these and pacify these. And so for vata, you have a really good hack of just like anything you could do to ground. Go and listen to our podcast episode on therapeutic self massage. And then Hadley really walks us through that. And you can use oils to actually amplify that effect. And so that can be really cool. And then for Pitta, you were describing that there's a lot of fire, there's a lot of heat. And so we want to think about things that are cooling and carminative because this is gut anxiety. So we want Carminative action. Carminative is something that supports digestion, supports gut. And so what about if we do like a little bit of peppermint? I'm thinking like a peppermint essential oil. You can mix it with a little bit of a carrier oil and apply it to the tummy, the lower abdomen, to the gut. That's very cooling and it's great, it's safe for kids and adults. And I'm also wondering about gentian. Gentian is a bitter plant and it's cooling and drying and so that's good. If you have like a swampy pitta. I think a swampy is like what you were talking about, Hadley, with like humid heat. So like you're maybe you're getting like burning ulcer, acrid stool, but you're like sweating and moist. There's like a lot of signs with your anxiety that you're really moist and humid. So you might do something good like gentian versus maybe scutellaria, which is also cooling and it's bitter. And so bitter can be really good at helping relieve indigestion. So do those sound good to you?
Yeah, those sound great to me. Bitters before you eat is super, super helpful for, you know, getting your body ready, like especially your liver, supporting your liver before you eat. And it's. Yeah, it's super, super helpful. Cooling and cooling and drying if, if you have a lot of that humidity in your body, if you got a lot of water retention or whatever and then anything that's going to be more like cooling and you know, more like unctuous if you have more of that like hot and dry. So like sometimes like rashes will show up as like hot and dry or different things like that. Then you want to do more like something like licorice or something that's going to be more like wet.
Licorice. The other. No, the name for that for you guys who are listening is glycyrrhiza. And by far DGL is a processed form of licorice that doesn't cause high blood pressure. And that is the best hack for reflux. Like if I have a patient and they come in and they have reflux, I will just like automatically give them a bottle of DGL, send them on their way, and 90% of the time at the end of finishing that 30 day bottle, their reflux is so much better. I was going to say 90 better, but some people are totally better. Other people are better enough for now. They can taper down on their ppi, like Prilosec or Their heartburn medication.
Okay, that is so cool. I didn't even know that we did not plan this. Like.
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that.
Yeah. And so cool that. Because I was gonna say you have to just be careful if you have high blood pressure. But so cool that there's something that you can take that you won't have that. That problem. So awesome.
You know so many things. So great.
You know so many things.
Big thing.
And now you all know so many things listening to us.
And so kapha, what about. So kapha you were talking about? It's like heavy, mucusy, stagnated, emotional eating. What about if we did like something topical, like an essential oil, like cinnamon bark oil? Can we do that?
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, yeah.
Tolerable to kids and safe. Like you don't have to worry about it interacting with anything you're taking. So create an apothecary with some oils and you can. They're very. They're very effective externally. And then, you know, take the ayurvedic course that it's on our. It's in the link in the bio and you take that course and become an expert at that.
Yeah, that's going to be like the most helpful thing to just go in there and really immerse yourself. That'll be like, you will become your own, your own expert.
Yeah, it's going to be incredible. And so there are eight types of anxiety and we just spent a lot of time just going over one of them. And so I'm proposing that we actually do a two part series and keep going with like the long deliciousness of this conversation. Does that sound okay to you?
Yes. I really was thinking the exact same thing. So let's definitely do that. Oh my gosh.
Yeah, like not get all the goodness. So all y'.
All.
So this is going to be a two part interview conversation because there are eight and I don't want to spend like 15 minutes on gut anxiety and then like eight seconds on thought anxiety.
Right.
So this is going to be good. So make sure that you download this one and then download the companion one. That will come out with that or later. Depends on when we record it.
Or the third because we might do three.
This is going to end up being like a year of conversation.
There's a lot to talk about.
There is. Okay, so just anxiety. So chest anxiety. So let's talk about that. So can anxiety cause weird bodily sensations in the chest? And the answer is absolutely yes. Yes. And the really important thing is to just notice what is in your chest? And so in your chest, you have your heart, you have your lungs. You also have your esophagus goes up your chest. And so your esophagus is what comes up from your stomach. It goes up through your chest. And so some people with heartburn think that they're having a heart attack. Some people with a heart attack think they're having reflux.
So there's the.
The esophagus that lives there, but you also have a lot of musculoskeletal tissue there, and you have the ribs there, and you have intercostal muscles there. So there's a lot of stuff happening in the chest. And so if at any point that your body is sending stress to this area, you may feel a myriad of different symptoms. So some people, when they're stressed, as an example, they clench all of the muscles in their back, and as a result of the muscles spasming in their back, their spine goes out of alignment, and then the nerves come out of the spine that go to the area of the chest, like the muscles in the ribs or your heart or your lungs or your esophagus, any of that. You can get pains that feel like nerve pains. When my anxiety was at its worst, I felt like there were hot coals in my chest. Like, literal, awful, terrible burning pains in my chest. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It was awful. So much burning and so much cramping and so much stiffness and tightness. Right. So that can be from stress and anxiety. You could also have heart palpitations. I have a dear friend that every time that she gets upset about something, she calls them palps. She gets the palps. And you may feel your heart going really fast. You may feel your heart beat a couple times and then stop.
Stop.
Some people may feel like their heart is suspended by a thread and it's spinning. Like it could be a matter of whatever your body uniquely is wanting to share with you is how you're going to experience it. You may have difficulty breathing. So some people may have asthma with anxiety, or they may find that they have air hunger, which is where you feel like you keep breathing, but you're not getting a delicious, satisfying breath. And that can be a form of just anxiety. So any of these sensations, yes, they could be related to anxiety. And of course, you want to see a doctor and get an appropriate exam. If you have a history of heart disease, go to a cardiologist and make sure that they rule out that that's what's going on for you. I have a blog on some hacks for differentiating between a heart attack and a panic attack. And of course you need to always go to see your doctor and once you get there, the clear use that data for you. But knowing that your anxiety can show up in your chest, knowing what's happening in your body can be really good data about what to do about it. And so chest anxiety, and I feel like in terms of asking you, Hadley, to explain a little bit more about this is we might need to zero in a little bit more on like an organ system, whether it's like the heart or the lungs or the muscles. But can you maybe give us a little bit of insight into what Ayurveda would have to say about symptoms in your chest that may be related to stress?
Yeah, absolutely. So I think, I think we can kind of keep it, we can keep it high level with chest because Ayurveda is really, all of the, the parts of the chest are very interconnected in Ayurveda. So, you know, like the heart and the lungs and the ribs and all of the things are just like, yeah, they're very connected. So what I want everyone to, to be able to kind of come away from all of these conversations that we have when we talk about the doshas. I want them to be able to do this for themselves. I want them to be able to be like, oh, this sensation in my body or in my mind or whatever, that's probably a pitta sensation because it's very fiery. And so what that might mean is like pain, heat, inflammation, things that are going to be like, you know, of the fire element, whereas things, you know, that are more vata are going to be things that are, have a lot of the air and space qualities. So a lot of movement, like wind, inconsistencies, dryness, all of that kind of thing, coldness, all of that is going to be more vata. Whereas for Kapha, we're going to think water and earth. So what kinds of sensations, physical sensations and as well as mental are going to come up for kapha? So, so when we're thinking about, let's start with pitta, so let's go back to fire. Pitta is fire. A little bit of water as well. But, but pitta is going to. So when you talk about like the heartburn, right, and the, the heat, the coals that you were talking about, so there's probably a lot of feeling of loss of control and really intense like desire for control even though you didn't have it. And so. So that probably was like driving the pitta. And it's really cool because these symptoms, like you said, they come up to tell you something. They come up to tell you that there's something going on. And they're actually really, really helpful because when you can identify which dosha they are, it's like, oh, I must feel a loss of control. Or maybe you're, like, repressing some sort of anger or like a, like, very intense emotion. And that's what's coming up. And that's more. So all the intensity stuff is like, well, pitta, right? And then. And so then vata is going to be things that are more like the fluttery heart, right, though, like, just lots of movement. And so that's going to be more of that fluttery heart sensation. And. And so, you know, that's. That's really common for anxiety. And then kapha is going to be more of. So when you think of, like, earth, the earth element, it's very heavy. The quality is very heavy. And so when you're thinking about, like, having that heavy quality on your chest and it feels very constricted, all of that is going to be more of the kapha. And so there might be some deep, like, grief or other, more like sadness, things like that that are. That feel more like crushing, right? They feel more just dull. It's not like an intense sharpness, but it's intense, like, dullness. And that's going to be more of the. The kapha sensations that kind of go along with the anxiety.
Let's give you all an example of a panic attack. And let's see if we can figure out which dosha this might fit into. This is real case. And so this is. We'll call her Lucy number 2Z. So we had Lucy number 1Z. This is Lucy number 2Z. Because I have no creativity for apparently. And so Lucy is getting really anxious before doing a public speaking event. And when she gets really anxious, she feels this, like, heaviness in her head, heaviness in her eyelids. Her eyelids want to drop and she just wants to shut down and dissociate. She wants to just, like, become horizontal and just not be in the world. And she can end up actually getting some gut anxiety with her chest anxiety. But the most bothersome thing is this, like, heaviness in her head, heaviness in her eyes, and this, like, elephant sitting on her chest and everything making her want to just plank and lay down. She may get some diarrhea, but, like, really it's this oppressive exhaustion. That she gets with her just straight up panic. And so I know what I think that would be, and we'll see if I'm correct, according to the expert. But as you're listening to this, what does this sound like? Does this sound like vata with that air space movement, hollow, dry, fluttery cold? Does this sound like pitta pain, he fiery inflammation, or does this sound more like kapha, that water earth elephant on the chest, fullness, the deep grief, the crushing.
Yeah. So ding, ding, ding, Kapha.
I feel like, yeah, this is a really great example of kapha. And as a homeopathic doctor, I would have given her gelsemium, but now we're equipped with an additional tool. So, yeah, if you resonate with this, if you have chest anxiety and you have this like, heaviness and this fullness, especially heaviness of the eyes and the chest and the head, then, yeah, gelsemium is a good hack for this. That's G E L S e M I u m. But you also want to do pacifying strategies for that kapha imbalance, if that's the case. And again, we talked about cinnamon bark on the stomach if it's going to your gut. But you can use oils essentially anywhere, topically, as long as it's not a mucosal membrane. Like, you don't want to put it like your eye or like genitalia or anything like that, or open wounds. But oils could be just wonderful for soothing a lot of this. So that's an example chest anxiety. And I like that you talked about my chest anxiety. It's literally all about me. But the. That what you were talking about is like, that desire for control and that feeling out of control is exactly what was happening to me. And it caused this, like, burning, intense, sharp, horrible heat. And so I, I was probably in a really severe pitta imbalance, but caused by vata. And that, yes, that's a nuance. And so can you actually elaborate a little bit more on that nuance?
Yeah, absolutely. And I was thinking about that as you were speaking. It's. So all of these things, including the kapha, all of these things all have an element of vata, because vata is like fear and anxiety come from vata, but vata can start to. Can push the other doshas, and it often does. Like, vaja is the one that most easily goes out of balance. It's the dosha that is the like, because it's the lightest, right? It's air in space. And so it can easily go out of balance, can Go every which way. And so but a lot of times it will push another. Another dosha forward. So what happens is it'll push that, like, need for control. And now I'm going to try to control. Okay, that's like pitta. And. And then you'll have the pitta symptoms. Right. But we always want to keep an eye out for like. Yes, there are things that we can do to treat the, the, the doshik imbalance that vata is pushing. So in Ayurveda they call. It's called like vata pushing pitta or vata pushing kapha. Sometimes it can be kapha pushing vata or. Or pitta pushing vata. And so we can talk about that if it comes up. But going to be vata pushing pizza. And then for kapha, the. The kava one that we were talking about where there's that, that like, heaviness and stuff, the vata pushing kapha. A lot of times this will happen when. When it's like, oh, okay, we've got way too much air and ether going on. We don't have enough earth and water and like, we don't have that heavy quality. And so kapha's like, I got you. I'm going to come in and I'm going to like, ground you. Ground you down. And so then that can happen too much. And those symptoms, it's overachieving. Yes.
Down kapha. Overreaching.
Exactly. Yeah. And that's sometimes what makes us overeat too, because we're bringing in that kapha and then it's like, oh, there's. Now there's too much of that Kapha. Yeah, yeah.
We lean into it.
Yeah, right, exactly.
This is preferable.
Yeah.
And if you're not on the email list, I actually send out in the eight types of anxiety. Like if you take the quiz and you give. Have an email address that's a valid email address, you'll get on a list. And I actually send out a bunch of hacks for these. And so if it turns out that you have gut anxiety, these hacks, none of these hacks are going to have Hadley's hacks with the Auruv piece to it. But there is more like conventional naturopathic stuff. So I think you're going to definitely want both. And then a really great.
Yeah, so take the dosha quiz too, because then you can get both.
You'll get both. Yeah. You'll end up on both email lists and then create a folder and just call it like anxiety freedom in your. Or like, I'M a badass. Like, create a folder and just like have everything. When you're done reading it, like, send it to that folder because this is going to be jam packed full of resources. The hack that I give for chest anxiety, one of the six that I give for chest anxiety is taurine. And so I just wanted to share that with you. You know, we talked about Gelsemian, we've talked about pacifying the dosha, and, you know, some of these same things will work across the board because you're just thinking, is this air, Is this water, is this fire? You're trying to identify the dosha and supporting it. And then of course, there are really cool hacks to individualize it. But taurine is an amino acid that's really good for palpitations, especially if it's more of like a pitta palpitation. So it's like really intense bounding. In traditional Chinese medicine, when they feel your pulse and do pulse diagnosis, like, you can have like a fluttery, more superficial pulse. And so it's more of like, Hadley, you were saying, like a vata pulse. It's like bubbly and fluttery, but then you can have a pitta pulse, which is more like a guitar string that's like bounding. It's like thicker and more pressured and bounding. And so taurine is really good for that when.
Dun dun, dun dun. Yes. Yeah.
Like the horror movie Heart, 1.5 grams and a little bit of water is just awesome for that. And so this is. We've been talking about gut anxiety, chest anxiety, how anxiety can cause all sorts of weird bodily sensations. There are eight types that you're going to be learning about, and we're going to be going into even more detail in the next next podcast of endocrine anxiety, depressive anxiety, anger anxiety, trauma anxiety, neurological anxiety, and thought anxiety. And you're not going to want to miss it. And so be able to get this is make sure that you're subscribed and that your phone and your devices are automatically set to download, because when these come out, you're going to want to just keep on listening. And so before we finish up today, Hadley, is there any last hack that you want to share about chest anxiety or Ayurveda in general?
Yeah, I would say so when we're thinking about all of the. The doshas and stuff, remember to always bring it back to vata. So all of these herbs, all of these, you know, hacks that we're giving you for the different doshas, do those and also bring yourself into nervous system regulation with vata. Use your body in order to do that. That's going to be like the most, the most effective, like the quickest way, the most efficient way there, I would say, whether that is like placing your hands on your body, you know, rubbing your body, doing the self massage, the therapeutic self massage episode that we have has a lot more about that. But bring it back to the vata as well as the other stuff that you're doing and that's going to be the most effective way to actually balance all of these things.
That's amazing. Yeah. So always circle back and so it's not a one or the other. It's like a yes. And it's like, yeah, make sure you're grounding that vata because she might have been the ringleader for all of this. Yeah. But don't forget that you also need to pacify your pitta ness or your kapha ness, whatever that shows up. Cool. So I love this. We're going to talk more about this when we get together next time, but in the meantime, make sure to like, subscribe, share, check out the quizzes. We have tons of resources in the bio, tons of other podcast episodes, so share the love. We're so grateful for you, my friends.
Thank you all so much for listening. We will see you in the next one.
Bye.
The recording you just listened to consists of the personal opinions of doctors Dr. Nicole Cain, a naturopathic doctor with a master's in clinical psychology, and Happy Healthy Hadley, an Ayurveda expert with a master's in health behavior and health education. While these opinions are based upon literature, counseling, education, medical training and clinical experience, this content should not be viewed as the definitive opinion on these subjects.
Listening to this podcast this podcast is.
Not a substitute for any sort of medical, psychological or other form of treatment. If you are in a Crisis, please call 911-OR call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. If you are in need of counseling, don't hesitate to make an appointment with a counselor in your area. Dr. Nicole and Hadley are passionate about your you becoming the expert of your own emotional and physical well being. If this resonates with you and you think this podcast would help someone you love, please share it with them. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Holistic Inner Balance Podcast.
More from Dr.
28. What is Sanctuary Trauma and Could it be the Cause of your Anxiety? (The Secrets to Solving White Coat Syndrome)