1251: Listen To This When You Can't Relax Or Let Go
The Anxiety Coaches Podcast
Gina Ryan
4.6 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today's episode, Gina shares a discussion and meditation designed to help you get calm and relax during the most anxious and upsetting moments. This is one of the shows you have been looking for! Use this podcast episode to release tension during those times when you are all wound up! A soothing guided meditation to help guide you out of your most anxious moments is included!
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Free Guided Meditation for Calming Your Anxious Mind 10-Minute Body-Scan Meditation for Anxiety
Chapters
0:26 Relaxing Feels Unsafe
2:41 Why Calm Feels Hard
7:24 Gentle Nervous System Safety
10:36 Guided Meditation Begins
12:47 Soften the Body Slowly
16:14 Set the Weight Down
20:24 Coming Home to Calm
Summary
In this episode we explore why relaxing can feel difficult for people with anxiety, even when they want relief. We discuss how chronic stress, overwhelm, trauma, caregiving, burnout, perfectionism, and long-term anxiety can train the nervous system to stay alert and treat slowing down as unsafe.
We look at common responses that can show up when someone tries to rest, meditate, or take a break. These include racing thoughts, restlessness, irritability, shallow breathing, muscle tension, urges to stay busy, and guilt around resting. We emphasize that these reactions do not mean a person is failing at relaxation.
We then focus on the idea of functional survival mode, where a person keeps managing life but does not fully shift into restoration. The episode explains that relaxation cannot be forced through pressure, shame, or overthinking, and that calmer states develop through safety, repetition, compassion, and small physical shifts like softening the jaw, shoulders, and breath.
The second half of the episode offers a guided meditation for moments when it feels hard to let go. We practice noticing the body, breathing gently, acknowledging tension without judgment, and treating the nervous system as a tired protector rather than an enemy. We also repeat supportive reminders about resting, setting down mental weight, and allowing softness without needing to earn calm.
#Anxiety #AnxietyRelief #NervousSystem #NervousSystemRegulation #MentalHealth #Mindfulness #Meditation #GuidedMeditation #StressManagement #ChronicStress #BurnoutRecovery #TraumaHealing #Hypervigilance #Relaxation #SelfCompassion #InnerPeace #EmotionalWellBeing #TraumaInformed #FightOrFlight #VagusNerve #Calming #MentalWellness #HolisticHealth #SelfCare #BreathingExercises #PanicAttacks #Overwhelm #SomaticHealing #DeepRest #PermissionToRest #EmotionalSafety #Overthinking #Perfectionism #PeoplePleasing #MentalExhaustion #MindfulnessPodcast #AnxietyPodcast #GinaRyan #AnxietyCoachesPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #CopingMechanisms #PsychologicalSafety #GroundingTechniques #BodyAwareness #SomaticExperiencing #StressRelief #SpiritualGrowth #HealingJourney #ACP
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the anxiety coaches podcast, a relaxing and informative show where we explore anxiety, panic, and PTSD, sharing how you can overcome them for life. |
| 0:23.1 | Aloha. |
| 0:24.2 | Welcome back to the Anxiety Coaches podcast. |
| 0:27.5 | I'm your host and coach, Gina Ryan, and I am so happy to be with you again today |
| 0:34.1 | as together we can consider the many ways to bring your mind and body back to its |
| 0:40.5 | natural peace and calm. In today's episode, we're exploring something that came up during one of our |
| 0:48.8 | recent group coaching membership calls. And I know it's something so many anxious, overwhelmed, and highly |
| 0:57.4 | stressed people struggle with. That frustrating experience of wanting to relax, wanting relief so |
| 1:06.1 | badly, but feeling unable to truly let go. You know the feeling. You sit down at the end of the day. |
| 1:15.4 | The house is quiet and nothing really urgent is happening. Your home safe and sound. Maybe you |
| 1:22.1 | even put on calming music or try a meditation, but inside you, your nervous system is still running. |
| 1:30.3 | Your mind keeps scanning. Your body stays tight. You feel kind of restless, uneasy, |
| 1:37.9 | or emotionally on. And sometimes that can create another layer of anxiety because you start wondering, |
| 1:48.5 | what's wrong with me? Why can't I calm down? Why does relaxing feel so hard? If this happens to you, |
| 1:58.9 | you are definitely not alone. Like I said, we were talking about this in our |
| 2:04.5 | group call not long ago. And today, I want to help you understand why this happens, because |
| 2:12.1 | understanding it can remove so much shame and self-judgment. |
| 2:23.2 | And then I'll guide you through a meditation specifically for those moments when your nervous system simply does not want to soften. |
| 2:27.3 | Because sometimes healing is not about forcing yourself to relax. |
| 2:33.3 | Sometimes healing begins when we stop fighting the fact that we're |
| 2:39.0 | struggling to relax. And that changes everything. First off, let's talk about why relaxing can |
| 2:47.6 | feel unsafe. Did you ever think about that? One of the biggest misunderstandings about |
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