Anxiety and Digestion: The Gut-Brain Connection You Haven’t Been Told About
May 03, 2025
If you’ve ever felt stress in your stomach, you’re not imagining it.
The gut-brain connection is real, and it’s stronger than most people realize.
But for many of my clients, it’s not just about the food or the bacteria in the gut. It’s about what they are holding onto emotionally.
One client I’ll call Amy came to me with ongoing stomach pain and digestive issues that had been bothering her for years.
She had traveled the world seeing expert doctors and specialists. She had done tests, food diaries, protocols, and supplements. Some doctors even told her it was just in her head.
Still, the pain remained.
What she finally saw
After a few sessions together, something deeper came up.
Amy wasn’t just holding tension in her stomach from food sensitivities. She was carrying emotional stress that had been stuck in her body for years.
She had spent most of her life feeling responsible for her father's happiness. He was a master of unintentional guilt-tripping, and over time, she began believing it was her job to keep him emotionally okay.
When she became a mother, she repeated the same pattern with her son. He was eight years old and starting to become demanding and entitled. Every time he had a meltdown or felt upset, she immediately blamed herself and tried to fix it. She didn't want to bear to see him unhappy.
Her nervous system was in a constant state of alert. Her body didn’t feel safe.
And her stomach was holding all of it.
The breakthrough
Amy came to the realization that changed everything.
We did somatic work together so she could feel and release the pattern in her body, not just intellectually understand it.
She realized, “I’m not my dad’s savior. And I’m not responsible for my son’s happiness either.” She realized she has a lot of responsibility for her son, but his happiness is not the top of her priority list.
Shortly thereafter, her stomach stopped hurting.
She laughed and said, “I didn’t expect the pain to go away like that.” It's now been a few months, and she's still knocking on wood that her stomach is "completely fine"!
This is the part most people miss
When you take on the job of managing other people’s emotions, your body feels it.
If you think you’re living to make other people happy, you will always feel the burnout, the resentment, and the disappointment.
No diet or supplement can fix the emotional pattern of over-responsibility.
The truth is, your body keeps score. And for many people with anxiety and digestion problems, the real healing starts when you stop holding it all in.
Your symptoms are not random
If you’ve been dealing with gut issues, unexplained pain, or lingering stress in your body, your system may be asking for something deeper.
Somatic coaching for gut issues is about releasing the trapped beliefs and emotions that your body has been carrying silently.
Your body has wisdom. It knows when something isn’t yours to carry.
Ready to feel lighter in your body and mind?
This is the work I do with my clients.
It’s not about blaming yourself or fixing everything at once. It’s about helping your nervous system release the stress, the people-pleasing, the guilt, and the over-responsibility that you’ve been holding onto.
So that you can finally feel at peace.
If you’re curious what that would look like for you, I’d love to support you.
...to explore what your body might be trying to say and if coaching is the right next step for you.
With care and clarity,
Lindsay
