Belonging: the true antidote to anxiety

You regulate yourself better when you don’t need to defend yourself.

When we talk about anxiety, the focus almost always goes to the mind:
racing thoughts, worries, fear of the future, difficulty controlling things.
The proposed solution is usually the same: think differently, control better, organize more.

But what if anxiety were not, at its origin, a problem of thinking?
What if it were a bodily signal of a lack of real belonging?

Anxiety is not excess thinking. It is excess defense.

From a biological point of view, anxiety emerges when the body enters protective mode.
It is the state in which the nervous system understands that it needs to:

• anticipate

• prepare

• defend

This does not happen because you “thought wrong.”
It happens because the body does not feel safe in relation to the environment or the group.

Before it becomes thought, anxiety is body posture, breathing rhythm, muscle tension, hypervigilance.
Silently, the body asks:

“Do I belong here, or do I need to protect myself?”

Belonging as Human Quorum Sensing

Here we introduce a central concept of our model: Belonging as Human Quorum Sensing.

In biology, quorum sensing is the ability of organisms to perceive:

• who is around

• whether there is enough cooperation

• whether the environment is favorable

In humans, belonging works in a similar way — but in a corporeal and affective manner, not a rational one.

Belonging is not agreeing.
Belonging is not being the same.
Belonging is feeling that the body can relax in the presence of others.

When human quorum sensing is active:

• the body reduces alertness

• breathing slows down

• attention broadens

• anxiety naturally decreases

Not through control,
but through living coordination.

Jiwasa: when the group regulates (or dysregulates)

The Jiwasa avatar represents the dynamics between bodies in a shared task.
It observes what happens when people need to:

• cooperate

• synchronize

• decide together

• coexist

Jiwasa shows something essential:

groups also have regulated and dysregulated states.

A group can be:

• synchronized by trust

• or synchronized by fear

Externally, it may look the same.
Internally, the effect on the body is opposite.

When synchronization is real:

• the body relaxes

• mistakes are tolerated

• creativity emerges

When synchronization is driven by pressure:

• the body contracts

• mistakes become threats

• anxiety grows

Acceptance by pressure is not belonging

Here lies one of the greatest confusions of social life — especially in adolescence.

Being accepted is not the same as belonging.

Acceptance by pressure happens when:

• you need to adapt all the time

• hide parts of yourself

• act against bodily signals

• maintain constant performance

The body perceives this immediately
and responds with tension.

Real belonging is the opposite:

• you do not need to defend yourself

• the body finds rhythm

• presence is enough

Anxiety decreases not because everything is perfect,
but because the body is not under social threat.

APUS: the body also belongs in space

Belonging is not only social.
It is also spatial.

The APUS avatar represents the body–territory: how the body positions itself in space and relates to the environment.

The body feels belonging when it:

• has somewhere to settle

• recognizes the ground

• perceives clear boundaries

• finds predictable rhythms

Chaotic, noisy, overly accelerated environments
keep the body in alert — even without social conflict.

That is why anxiety is not resolved only by talking.
Often, it decreases when:

• the space changes

• the rhythm slows down

• the body finds support

Body in space, group in rhythm

When APUS and Jiwasa align, something powerful happens.

The body finds:

• a place to be

• a group to synchronize with

In this state:

• breathing adjusts

• internal time slows down

• attention distributes more evenly

This is collective Zone 2.

It is not euphoria.
It is not constant excitement.
It is effortless coordination.

Collective Zone 2 vs. Social Zone 3

Collective Zone 2 is marked by:

• spontaneous cooperation

• comfortable silence

• error without punishment

• presence without performance

Social Zone 3, on the other hand, emerges when:

• the group operates through rigid ideology

• there is fear of exclusion

• difference becomes a threat

• the body is silenced

In Social Zone 3:

• anxiety increases

• thinking accelerates

• creativity drops

• belonging is replaced by obedience

The body knows the difference —
even when the mind tries to deny it.

A simple path to reduce anxiety now

No complex techniques.
No attempt to “control the mind.”

Some bodily questions:

• Can I relax here, or do I need to defend myself?

• Is my body trying too hard to adapt?

• Does this group regulate me or tense me?

Simple practical actions:

• change position in space

• leave environments of continuous pressure

• seek simple shared rhythms (walking, breathing, listening)

• allow silence without justification

This is not social withdrawal.
It is biological regulation.

The central point

Anxiety does not decrease when you think better.
It decreases when the body stops defending itself.

And the body only stops defending itself when it feels:

• real belonging

• living coordination

• safe space

• shared rhythm

Or, in one sentence to remember:

You regulate yourself better when you don’t need to defend yourself.

When the body belongs,
the mind finds rest.

Scientific References (post-2020)

• Balconi, M., Angioletti, L., & Amenta, S. (2024).
  Inter-brain synchronization during interoception: a multimodal EEG–fNIRS coherence-based hyperscanning approach.
  Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
  — Combines EEG and fNIRS to show that interoceptive attention (e.g., breathing focus) modulates neural coherence between individuals, supporting collective regulation and embodied social coordination.

• Chen, X., Liu, Y., & Zhang, D. (2024).
  EEG–fNIRS-based emotion recognition using graph convolution and capsule attention networks.
  Brain Sciences.
  — Demonstrates that emotional and affective states can be objectively identified through EEG + fNIRS integration, reinforcing that social emotions have measurable neurophysiological bases.

• Nozawa, T., et al. (2021).
  Interpersonal neural synchronization during social interaction: a hyperscanning study with EEG and fNIRS.
  NeuroImage.
  — Shows that cooperative interactions produce inter-brain neural synchronization, empirically supporting belonging as Human Quorum Sensing and the concept of collective Zone 2.

• Koike, T., Tanabe, H. C., & Sadato, N. (2021).
  Hyperscanning neuroimaging study designs for social interaction research: a review.
  NeuroImage.
  — Methodological review consolidating the use of EEG and fNIRS to study real-time social dynamics and group coordination.

• Tachtsidis, I., & Scholkmann, F. (2021).
  False positives and false negatives in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS): challenges, limitations, and future directions.
  Neurophotonics.
  — Updates validity and interpretation criteria for fNIRS data, strengthening its application in studies of emotion, bodily regulation, and natural social contexts.

How these references support the blog

• Belonging reduces anxiety → evidenced by interpersonal neural synchronization (EEG/fNIRS) in cooperative contexts.

• Belonging is bodily and rhythmic, not only cognitive → neural and hemodynamic coherence reflect living coordination, not pressure-based obedience.

• Collective Zone 2 is measurable → inter-brain synchronization patterns differentiate regulated cooperation from defensive interaction.

• Anxiety as a state of social defense → dysregulated groups show neural patterns distinct from groups in safe coordination.