7 Anxiety-Busting Exercises That Actually Work (and Don’t Suck)
Anxiety, ugh, why won’t it just go away?
Anxiety is basically your brain acting like a fire alarm that goes off when you burn toast. Annoying? Yes. Life-ruining? Not if you’ve got some quick tricks up your sleeve.
Here are seven exercises that can help you tell your anxiety to sit down, shut up, and maybe go touch some grass.
1. Belly Breathing (a.k.a. Pretend You’re a Balloon)
Your anxious brain loves shallow breathing. Joke’s on it—we’re going deep.
Inhale through your nose like you’re inflating a balloon in your gut.
Exhale through your mouth like you’re letting all the air out (bonus points if you add a dramatic sigh).
Do it a few times. Boom. Instant human deflation device.
2. Tense & Release (Squeeze It Like It Owes You Money)
Anxiety makes your muscles clench like you’re bracing for impact. Let’s flip the script:
Tighten up one body part at a time (fists, shoulders, legs—whatever).
Hold it for 5 seconds. Feel the burn. Pretend you’re Hulk.
Then drop it like a bad habit. Relax for 10-20 seconds. Let that tension melt away.
Congratulations, you’re less tense and looking pumped.
3. The 5-4-3-2-1 “Oh Look, I Exist” Game 🔎
Your brain’s running 200 tabs? Time to force a reboot:
5 things you see (yes, your phone counts)
4 things you can touch (clothes, desk, your cat if it allows you)
3 things you hear (probably that one coworker who types aggressively)
2 things you smell (hopefully not your lunch from last week)
1 thing you taste (coffee, gum, morning breath?)
Suddenly—you’re back in reality. Hi.
4. Spy Walk
Take a walk, but instead of doom-scrolling your thoughts, pretend you’re a spy on a mission:
Notice weird details (brick patterns, squirrels plotting world domination, etc.).
Walk like you’ve got somewhere important to be—even if it’s just Target.
Boom. Anxious energy converted to secret-agent energy.
5. Box Breathing (Because Squares Are Chill) 🟦
Here’s how to turn yourself into a calm little rectangle:
Inhale for 4.
Hold for 4.
Exhale for 4.
Hold for 4.
Repeat until your nervous system stops acting like it’s auditioning for a horror movie.
6. The “Burn Book” Notebook (a la Mean Girls) 📝
Sometimes you just gotta put all those messy thoughts onto paper.
Write everything in your head—no censoring, no spelling police, no judgement.
Dump the whole messy soup.
When you’re done, add 3 things you’re grateful for so it’s not all chaos.
Think of it as emotional spring cleaning, but cheaper than therapy (though therapy is still great, don’t @ me).
7. Yoga Lite™ (for People Who Can’t Touch Their Toes) 🧘
Forget Insta-yogis balancing on cliffs. This is anxiety yoga for normal humans:
Child’s pose (literally tuck those knees under you and curl into a ball).
Forward fold (pretend you dropped a contact lens).
Gentle neck rolls (the “ugh” motion when someone says relax).
Congrats, you’ve stretched, breathed, and maybe even tricked your brain into turning things down a notch.
Final Thoughts (Because We’re Not Done Yet)
Anxiety will keep crashing the party, but you don’t have to hand it the aux cord. Try one of these exercises next time your brain screams “the world is ending!” when really, you just got a mildly confusing email. You don’t have to cure anxiety in one go—you just need to start using some new tools, one weird little trick at a time.
If you want to go deeper, consider therapy to look at whats underlying those anxious thoughts, hot sweats, or performance anxiety.
