Anxiety and Depression: A Holistic Perspective - What If Your Symptoms Are Deeper Signals?
Anxiety and depression are often viewed through a specific medical lens—perhaps as mental challenges requiring therapy or chemical imbalances needing medication. But what if our perspective needs to expand? What if we recognized these common experiences as whole-body communications, inviting us to explore multiple pathways to well-being?
As I prepared to speak to a business group for Mental Health Awareness Month, I reflected on my own entrepreneurial journey and its profound intersection with my health. When I moved to Honolulu in 2010 to open my practice, the immense stress of building a business from the ground up manifested not just as worry, but physically. Finances were stressful, decisions felt overwhelming, and my body responded with food sensitivities, migraines, and even respiratory issues I'd never encountered before.
This personal health crisis wasn't just a setback; it became a catalyst for deeper learning. It fundamentally shaped my integrated approach to wellness, an approach that acknowledges the intricate, responsive dance between our nervous system, our emotions, the physical symptoms we feel, and the very circumstances of our lives. Might your own challenges be similar catalysts in disguise?
Understanding Your Nervous System: The Amygdala's Role in Our Emotional Landscape
At the core of our emotional experience lies the amygdala—a small but powerful structure in our brain, serving as our primary emotional processing center. Think of this almond-shaped area as a rapid evaluator, constantly assessing for safety and threat. It creates emotional memories and can trigger temporary stress responses like flight, fright, freeze, or even collapse.
When we experience chronic stress, inflammation, or have inherited generational trauma, our prefrontal cortex (the part of our brain responsible for rational thought and decision-making) can find its influence weakened. This allows the amygdala to become overactive, potentially triggering intense fear and anxiety responses even to stimuli that aren't genuinely threatening. It can, in essence, override our more rational cognitive functions, leading to feelings of panic or persistent anxiety.
The often-seen connection between anxiety and depression isn't coincidental. A dysregulated amygdala can sustain our body’s stress response, paving the way for a more negative outlook and, potentially, maladaptive coping strategies such as addiction, catastrophizing, hypervigilance, dissociation, fawning, or self-betrayal. This happens as our brain prioritizes immediate perceived safety over long-term well-being.
For entrepreneurs, leaders, and dedicated professionals, this dynamic is especially relevant. The constant pressure to perform, innovate, and succeed can fuel this cycle, impacting not only mental and emotional health but also physical wellness and the clarity of business decisions. Are you noticing this interplay in your own life?
Your Vagus Nerve: The Healing Highway Within
Now for some empowering news: we are inherently equipped with systems designed for healing this dysregulation. The vagus nerve, a central and extensive component of our parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous system, plays a crucial role in regulating our emotional states and stress responses. It does this by directly influencing both the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.
Increasing what’s known as "vagal tone"—essentially strengthening the functional capacity of this nerve—can help normalize amygdala activity. This, in turn, supports better emotional regulation and builds our resilience to stress.
For those navigating the pressures of business or demanding careers, cultivating good vagal tone is like developing an internal stress management system that operates with increasing autonomy. The more consciously you support it, the more robustly it supports you during challenging times. What if this internal system holds a key to your well-being?
Practical Tools for Thriving Busy Professionals
Let me share some evidence-based interventions. These are not just coping mechanisms; they are practices that can help regulate your nervous system, even amidst the whirlwind of a demanding professional life:
- The 90-Degree Leg Rest: A simple yet profound practice. Lie on your back with your legs up against a wall or comfortably elevated on a chair for 10-15 minutes. This gentle inversion offers a rapid calming effect on your nervous system.
- Deep, Intentional Breathing: The 4-7-8 technique (inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold the breath for a count of 7, and exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of 8) is a portable tool you can use anywhere, even discreetly during stressful meetings or calls.
- Earthing/Grounding: The simple act of connecting your bare feet to the natural ground (grass, sand, earth) for just 10-15 minutes has been shown in research to reduce cortisol levels and inflammation.
- Mindful Movement: Ancient practices such as yoga, tai chi, and qigong, along with other approaches that beautifully combine body and sensory awareness with breathwork, mindful movement, and spiritual insight, are powerful tools for nervous system healing and regulation.
- The Power of Sound Healing: Specific musical frequencies (particularly 432Hz or 528Hz) can beneficially influence and help reorganize brain function. Even simpler, the act of humming or singing directly activates your vagus nerve through your vocal cords.
- Tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique - EFT): Gently tapping on specific acupressure points, such as over the thymus gland/upper sternum, while acknowledging your emotions, combines the wisdom of ancient healing traditions with modern psychology to rapidly shift emotional states.
These tools, though they may take only minutes, can create significant and positive shifts in your nervous system's state, empowering you to navigate the inevitable stresses of business ownership and professional life with greater ease and presence.
Beyond Quick Fixes: Cultivating Lasting Change & Integration
While these tools are wonderfully effective, integration is the process through which our nervous system creates real, lasting change. Your nervous system needs experiences of safety and adequate capacity to integrate new information and experiences. Without sufficient integration time or support, new experiences or insights could potentially overwhelm your system, triggering states of shutdown, dissociation, or the re-emergence of old protective patterns.
Sometimes, the most powerfully productive action you can take is to REST, rather than do more—a concept that can be particularly challenging for ambitious entrepreneurs and high-achievers! But this conscious rest is profoundly productive, allowing your system the space and resources it needs to process, integrate, and consolidate changes.
Receiving Reiki sessions can be particularly powerful for fostering this integration. The gentle, intelligent flow of universal life force energy creates a deeply safe and nurturing energetic container for your nervous system. This allows it to process and release stored tension and stress patterns without becoming overwhelmed. As a Reiki practitioner, when I guide this energy, I witness how it supports a client's system in reorganizing at a deeper level, allowing integration to occur more efficiently, completely, and gracefully. Similarly, research indicates that chiropractic care also positively influences amygdala activity and vagal tone, contributing to this integrated healing.
Self-Attunement: The Foundation for True Resilience & Inner Knowing
Ultimately, the cornerstone of profound and lasting resilience lies in developing a safe, consistent, and responsive relationship with yourself through self-attunement. This means consciously learning to recognize and respond to your own emotional and physical signals as they arise, with the same care and attention a secure caregiver would offer a child.
When you regularly practice tuning into your inner landscape by noticing your needs, respecting your limits, and offering yourself comfort and understanding, you are essentially re-parenting your inner self. This consistent internal care creates a robust foundation of inner safety and trust.
Self-Reiki is a potent and accessible tool for this self-attunement process. By placing your hands on different areas of your body and allowing healing energy to flow, you cultivate a conscious, embodied relationship with yourself. Even dedicating 5-10 minutes daily to hand placements on your heart, solar plexus, or abdomen can help you develop greater awareness of subtle sensations while simultaneously balancing your energy system. This practice evolves into a deeply personal form of energetic self-care that sharpens your ability to listen to and honor your body's innate wisdom.
The true nature of resilience isn't about avoiding stress—which is impossible, particularly for entrepreneurs and those in demanding roles—but about knowing you possess the inner resources to navigate it effectively. When you consistently show up for yourself with compassion and responsiveness, especially during difficult moments, your nervous system learns and internalizes that you are a safe, steady, and reliable presence for yourself.
Over time, this dedicated self-attunement builds remarkable emotional flexibility and agility. You become increasingly capable of self-soothing, adapting, and staying grounded, regardless of what challenges life or your business may present. This is what cultivates a truly healthy, emotionally strong, and resilient human being—one who is adaptable not because they are invincible or superhuman, but because they are deeply and authentically in tune with their own needs, responses, and inner landscape.
Honoring Cultural Wisdom in Our Healing Paths
As Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, and indeed for many with rich cultural heritages, we have access to profound cultural wisdom that inherently supports healing. The Filipino concept of "kapwa"—a sense of shared identity or interconnected self—powerfully reminds us that we are not meant to navigate our struggles in isolation. Authentic community connection is potent medicine for the nervous system.
Our traditional healing practice of Hilot inherently recognizes that emotional imbalances often manifest within the body's physical structure and energy system. By consciously honoring and integrating these traditional perspectives alongside modern scientific understanding, we access a rich and multifaceted heritage of healing wisdom. This wisdom can guide and sustain us through life's most challenging times. How might your own cultural heritage inform your path to well-being?
A Simple Daily Practice for a More Centered You
I invite you to experiment with this simple 5-minute daily practice, designed to fit into even the most demanding schedule:
- One minute of conscious breathing: Focus on your breath to center and ground yourself.
- One minute for a quick body scan: Gently check in with the physical sensations present in your body.
- One minute to acknowledge three things you’re grateful for: Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
- One minute of gentle movement or stretching: Release physical tension and invite flow.
- One final minute to set a positive intention for your day: Align your energy with your desired state.
This brief practice, when engaged in consistently, can create profound and positive shifts in your nervous system regulation over time. This supports not only your personal well-being but also contributes to your clarity, resilience, and success in your professional endeavors.
Remember, true and lasting wellness isn't found in perpetually pushing harder or doing more. It blossoms from creating sustainable balance—honoring both your innate drive to achieve and contribute, and your fundamental human need for restoration, integration, and self-compassion. Your business, your body, and your spirit will thank you for it.
Dr. Chris Teaño Lipat is a chiropractor licensed in Hawaiʻi and Guåhan/Guam, functional medicine certified, a reiki master teacher, and certified magaanito/pangatauhan (‘diviner’ in Filipino) from the Hilot Academy of Binabaylan.
Dr. Lipat has been a practicing chiropractor for 15 years, a reiki teacher for 20 years, and has completed 300 hrs of training towards a clinical nutrition certification.
Supporting you through the challenges and witnessing your success is the reason Dr. Lipat does this work. If you are interested in working with them, in person in Honolulu, or virtually, sign up at https://drchrislipat.com.
Remember: this post is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.