An attempt at conceptualizing a multidimensional body-brain nature of stress reduction

About 23% of US adults live with a mental illness. Young adults (36.2%) and women (26.4%) report the highest rates of mental health disorders. The typical brain/cognitive-oriented first-line treatments of anxiety disorders are pharmacotherapy, psychological interventions, and transcranial stimulation. Such approaches have several limitations, including medical costs, adverse effects, treatment resistance, limited evidence of long-term effects, and high relapse rates. Instead of relying solely on ultra-cognitive therapies, it is worth examining the embodied nature of stress reduction (body–mind unison). Therefore, the purpose of this conceptual mini-review was to analyze how exercise programs, such as endurance training and holistic body–mind movement, modulate the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Grounded in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical underpinnings of embodiment, it was hypothesized that a shapely body schema (habitual body) via exercise can facilitate the strengthening of the HPA axis. A critical narrative review of healthy adults was conducted to test and support this hypothesis. Merleau-Ponty challenged Cartesian mind–body dualism and showcased how consciousness is embodied: it derives from the union of body and mind. Exercise facilitates this union by leading to a balanced body schema formed as a Gestalt. Mental health is not the outcome of a unidirectional stimulus-response model from the brain to the body, but holistic and embodied via a strong body schema. Regular and appropriate exercise training can strengthen the body schema and thus the function of the HPA axis by connecting its in-itself elements (e.g., cortisol secretion) and for-itself essence (e.g., perceptions, emotions, and breathing regulation) for health and well-being.