Engaging the Right Brain to Ease Anxiety

In naturopathic medicine, we recognize that healing happens when the body, mind, and spirit are in balance. Anxiety often signals that part of us has moved out of alignment — usually into the realm of overthinking, striving, or trying to control what feels uncertain. True healing invites us to shift from managing anxiety through force or logic, to listening to what it's trying to tell us. This is where the right brain — the intuitive, creative, and feeling side of our mind — becomes a powerful ally in restoring balance and calm.

When anxiety arises, our minds often spin into overdrive — analyzing, problem-solving, trying to think our way to calm. But what many don't realize is that the part of the brain most active during anxious thinking is the left hemisphere — the side responsible for logic, details, language, and linear reasoning. This analytical system serves us well in many ways, but when anxiety hits, it can keep us looping in stories of what if and what next.

The antidote often lies in reconnecting with the right hemisphere — the part of the brain that sees the whole picture, feels deeply, and creates. The right brain is home to imagination, intuition, abstract thinking, and embodied awareness. As Martha Beck so beautifully describes in her work, the right brain helps us step outside of fear's narrow focus and back into a sense of connection — to ourselves, to others, and to something larger than our immediate worries.

When we engage the right brain, anxiety softens. Our breath deepens. The world expands again.

Here are a few ways to gently invite your right brain online when you're feeling anxious:

1. Play or Listen to Music

Music bypasses the verbal mind and speaks directly to emotion and rhythm. Whether you're playing an instrument, singing, or simply listening, music synchronizes brain waves and helps bring balance to both hemispheres. Choose melodies that move you — even humming softly can help reset your nervous system.

2. Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is not just a thought — it's a felt experience that invites presence and appreciation. By focusing on what feels supportive or beautiful in the moment (a warm cup of tea, your child's laughter, a quiet sunrise), you shift from analytical rumination into embodied awareness and emotional openness — both right-brain experiences.

3. Tune Into Your Body

The right brain connects us deeply to our sensory world. Notice the weight of your body in your chair, the temperature of the air on your skin, or the rhythm of your breath. Anxiety often pulls us into our heads; body awareness gently brings us back home.

4. Give Your Anxiety Shape and Color

When you name your anxiety not with words, but with imagery — perhaps it feels like a gray cloud, a tight red knot, or a fast-moving swirl of blue — you transform it into something your right brain can relate to and process. This creative reframing moves you out of judgment and into curiosity and compassion.

The more we engage our right brain, the more we access our innate capacity for calm, creativity, and connection.
Anxiety loses its sharp edges when we see it not as an enemy to fight, but as a messenger guiding us back toward inner balance — and to the body's natural wisdom to heal.