1278: Back-to-School Anxiety Isn't Just for Kids: It's Stored in Your Body Too
YouTube 
Spotify 
Apple Podcasts 
RSS Feed Key Takeaways
- Back-to-school anxiety isn't just for children; many adults experience heightened anxiety and dread in late August and early September due to deeply ingrained somatic memories.
- Seasonal cues like changing weather, school supplies, and shifting routines can activate the nervous system to respond to past childhood stress without conscious recall.
- The body's social nervous system and neuroception constantly scan the environment for cues of safety, belonging, and threat, making familiar transitional periods feel like high-alert situations.
- Practicing a 'September body audit' helps you locate physical sensations, acknowledge them as old patterns from the past, and use a lengthened exhale to calm your nervous system.
- You can build a new present-day September experience by bringing repeated, gentle awareness to these seasonal triggers and practicing self-compassion.
In today's episode, Gina discusses why anxiety can increase with an often overlooked time of year: early September, the traditional timing for the restart of the school year. This late August, early September anxiety is suggested to be intrinsic to somatic memory established during childhood, particularly of the stress of newness, uncertainty and social pressures. A particular anxiety clearing practices is included: the September body audit. Listen in and start clearing your seasonal anxiety today!
Stillpoint Fridays is my once-a-week Friday note — a slower, more personal reflection that’s different from what I share on the podcast.
If you’d like a quiet place to land as the week winds down, you can join here: http://eepurl.com/bR2F9P or on our website anxietycoachespodcast.com and sign up for the newsletter.
Please visit our Sponsor Page to find all the links and codes for our awesome sponsors! https://www.theanxietycoachespodcast.com/sponsors/
Website https://www.theanxietycoachespodcast.com
Join our community Group Coaching Join our Group Coaching Full or Mini Membership Program
1:1 Coaching Learn more about our One-on-One Coaching
If you prefer to listen AD-FREE, try our Supercast premium access membership:
Learn more about anxiety What is anxiety?
Free Guided Meditation for Calming Your Anxious Mind 10-Minute Body-Scan Meditation for Anxiety
Quote:
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
-William Faulkner
Chapters
0:27 September Anxiety Begins
5:03 Old School Patterns
9:11 Social Nervous System
13:52 September Body Audit
17:52 Building a New September
Summary
In this episode, we talk about why late August and early September can trigger anxiety or dread even when there is no current reason for it. We explore how familiar seasonal cues, like school supplies, changing weather, and routines, can activate bodily sensations tied to earlier experiences.We explain somatic memory and how the nervous system can respond to patterns without conscious recall.
We also discuss how repeated childhood experiences of school transitions, uncertainty, evaluation, and social pressure may leave the body expecting change when September returns.We look at the role of the social nervous system, including the ideas of neuroception and the body’s ongoing sensitivity to cues of safety, belonging, and threat. We note that even small environmental details can be enough to bring back a felt sense of alertness.
We then offer a simple “September body audit” practice: locate the sensation in the body, acknowledge that it is an old pattern from another time, and lengthen the exhale to help the nervous system settle. The episode ends by encouraging a new present-day September experience built through repeated, gentle awareness.
#anxiety #nervoussystem #somaticmemory #polyvagaltheory #septemberanxiety #backtoschool #stressrelief #mindfulness #grounding #neuroception #emotionalwellness #bodyaudit #mentalhealth #anxietyrecovery #seasonalchanges #innerchild #subconsciousmind #copingmechanisms #selfcompassion #stressreduction #ginaryan #anxietycoachespodcast #somatictracking #relaxation #mentalwellness #holistichealth #nervoussystemregulation #implicitmemory #psychology #wellness #ACP
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Want to listen to the show AD-FREE?
Access every episode ad-free in our Premium Podcast Subscription.
That includes the entire back catalog of episodes without ads, bonus meditations, and more! All starting at
$5.00 a month :) https://anxietycoaches.supercast.tech/
Or on Apple Podcast Anxiety Coaches Podcast Premium
Hope you join us in the Ad-Free Premium for even more peace and calm!
Be Well and Aloha!
Gina🌺
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do adults feel back to school anxiety?
Adults often experience back-to-school anxiety because late August and early September trigger somatic memories from childhood. The nervous system remembers the stress of newness, uncertainty, and social pressures associated with the school year restart.
What is a September body audit for anxiety?
The September body audit is a mindfulness practice where you locate anxious sensations in your body, acknowledge them as old patterns from a different time in your life, and use a lengthened exhale to help your nervous system settle.
How does somatic memory affect seasonal anxiety?
Somatic memory allows your nervous system to respond to familiar environmental patterns and seasonal cues without conscious recall, often causing you to feel sudden dread or alertness even when there is no current reason for it.
