Hi,
Sweet friends.
Welcome to the very first ever Move Toward with Jenna.
Today,
We're going to move toward our anxiety.
So let's get started.
Today we are going to move toward our anxiety.
And this may be an unusual practice for you because anxiety tends to not feel great when it's overwhelming us.
So our natural instinct is to move against it.
We tend to want to numb it or get busy so we don't feel it or don't notice it and try to push it down or make it go away.
Today we're going to do the reverse.
We're going to move toward our anxiety so that we can perhaps help it.
To feel reassured,
Comforted,
And be able to settle down.
I'm going to be doing this in real time with you because I have had an anxiety-provoking situation come up in my own life.
And so together,
You and I are going to journey through a welcoming moving toward each of our anxiety.
I have a simple way to help you know how to do this.
And that is really just three simple words.
Notice,
Notify.
And need.
So let's get started.
First of all I just want to invite you to draw your attention and your awareness to your body.
So it can be helpful sometimes to.
.
.
Just take one or two deep cleansing breaths as you start to focus your attention inward.
And just with a very gentle,
Gracious.
Spirit towards yourself.
Notice where you are feeling.
Your anxiety.
Maybe in or around your body.
So you may notice that your heart.
Is beating quickly or you may notice some shallow breathing or tension in your neck or shoulders.
I think where I'm noticing.
.
.
My anxiety is right there in my neck and shoulders.
It may be different for you.
You may notice it in your thoughts.
It may be some racing thoughts or it might be in your stomach.
However you're aware of your anxiety,
If you'd like,
You can just join me and place your hand.
On that part of your body with a gentle compassion,
A welcoming.
Maybe as you take a couple of deep breaths in,
Focus on breathing love into your anxious part of your body.
You may notice when you do this The anxiety may get stronger for a moment temporarily.
And that's okay That's just the anxiety appreciating.
Having a moment of time with you and having your attention.
So if you can just welcome it.
Continue to breathe love.
And curiosity into your anxiety.
If it feels too strong at any point,
You can imagine a dial in your mind's eye.
And just invite your anxiety to dial down a little bit.
If it's at 100,
Maybe dial it to.
.
.
80 or 70%.
Just let your anxiety do the dialing,
Not you.
So that you can stay present with it.
And so you may notice.
Just some other things that are present.
You may notice a part of you that doesn't want to move toward anxiety.
It doesn't like anxiety.
And that makes sense.
So just notice and welcome that that feeling is there.
You may notice that busy thoughts start to enter your mind,
Maybe things you need to do in your day or thoughts that are distracting and just recognize that.
That's a way of trying to take you away from noticing your anxiety.
So just welcoming those distractions.
You may notice some fear that if you're present with your anxiety,
It might overwhelm you.
Just remind the fear that anxiety has that dial,
That it can dial down so that it doesn't overwhelm you.
And so this is just step one of moving toward.
We're just moving toward.
Our anxiety,
And any other emotions,
Thoughts,
Or feelings that are present initially with love and compassion.
With no agenda to change them or shift them in any way.
Just awareness.
And if at any point you're noticing that those distracting thoughts or that reluctance to move toward the anxiety just really doesn't want to step back,
Then just shift your awareness.
To the distracting thoughts.
For example,
And just do this exercise with that part of you instead of the anxiety.
But if it feels okay now,
As you've acknowledged and noticed,
All these different feelings,
Thoughts that have come up.
Again,
Draw your awareness to the anxiety and notice if it's shifted in any way.
Remembering that we don't want it to go away.
We actually want to be present with it,
Kind of like a friend,
To get to know.
Why it's present.
So.
As you go through step one of notice.
If you can come to a place where you feel open-hearted toward the anxiety,
Maybe curious about it,
Or compassionate towards it.
Then you'll know that you're ready to move on to step two.
And in my own body,
I'm noticing that that anxiety in my neck and shoulders,
It's really calmed down with my gentle attention.
And it's kind of.
.
.
It's dialed down a little bit.
It doesn't feel nearly as active or strong.
And this is normal because our anxiety now knows that we care about it and it has our attention.
You may even want to gently say to your anxiety,
I love you,
I'm here,
And I'm listening.
And so now you may feel ready to go on to step two,
Which is notify.
What is it that your anxiety is trying to notify you about?
You can just Almost even ask that question to your anxiety as if it were.
Just a friend.
Hello,
Anxiety.
What do you want me to know?
Why are you active right now?
And the important thing is just to ask that question and not try to figure out the answer.
Just wait and see if anything comes to mind.
In my own practice,
What I'm noticing is that there's an image coming to mind of the anxious part of me.
It's a little squishy kind of square,
Like a cartoon with little stick arms and legs,
Kind of hops up and down.
I'm getting the sense,
Just not hearing voices or anything,
But just getting the sense that my anxiety wants me to know.
That it's afraid there's some danger.
Around this situation.
That came up yesterday.
That someone that I love is actually in danger.
Might not be okay it wants me to pay attention to that You may notice in your practice that.
Memories,
Images,
Or a sense of something is coming to mind.
If so,
Great.
If not,
That's great as well.
Just being curious and open.
You I'm noticing my anxiety wants to notify me that it has a lot of catastrophic fears.
When it starts jumping up and down,
It's thinking towards some worst case scenarios of the worst possible thing that could happen if I didn't take action quickly.
So I'm just really just listening,
Right?
I don't want to argue or give any reasons why that's not the case.
I just am listening to what anxiety wants to notify me about.
In this step.
So I'm just letting my anxiety know.
Yeah,
That makes sense to me.
It's afraid of those worst case outcomes and it wants me to really pay attention.
So I'm just letting this little squishy square know that I'm getting that.
I'm just going to be curious and see if there's anything else that it wants me to know.
And so as you are being curious with your anxiety,
Like I am being with mine,
You may also notice,
Like I am,
Some images or memories or recollections from your earlier life.
My anxiety is flashing up some memories for me.
Reminding me that it's kind of always felt like my job.
To rescue other people.
From their pain Were there negative circumstances and try to make it okay for them?
Especially people that I'm very close to,
Because when they're not okay in my world,
When I was young was not safe.
So it seemed very important to this anxious part of me.
To make other people okay so that it would feel safe.
So I'm just letting my anxiety know that that really makes sense to me.
You can just see if your anxiety is sharing something similar with you.
And if so,
Whatever it is,
Just let it know you're getting it.
Again,
We don't ever argue or give reasons why not.
We're really just listening to understand here.
So just be aware of any images,
Memories,
Thoughts that are coming to mind and just take it in.
And that seems like all I'm getting for right now.
So I'm just going to check in this step two of notify and I'm just going to ask this little.
Squishy part of me,
This little image of my anxiety.
If there's anything else,
That it is wanting to notify me about right now in this moment about this situation.
Yeah,
I'm getting a really strong image of an important person from my early life whose anxiety and.
.
.
Difficult situations felt really frightening for me.
So that makes sense.
That my anxiety was really scared when other people would get.
Emotionally dysregulated.
And for me,
That seems like all my anxiety really needs for me to know right now.
There's nothing else really coming up in the moment.
But if for you,
Your anxiety needs you to know more,
Feel free to pause this video right here and just stay with your anxiety.
We want it to have enough time to show you or kind of give you the impression of any parts of your experience that it wants to let you know of or remind you of that are important.
But if that feels complete for you for now.
Then You're ready with me to move on to step three.
And step three is need.
So I am going to ask the image that I have,
This little image of my anxiety,
If there's anything it needs from me.
Right now to feel more comfortable.
So let me invite you to ask your anxiety.
You might have an image of it.
You might not.
You may notice it in your body.
You may not.
Either way is fine.
You can just ask into your inner experience.
What do you need from me right now to feel a little more comfortable?
So in my mind's eye,
I'm getting the sense that my anxiety would actually like a snugly warm blanket.
It feels a little cool.
And it would like a cup of tea like mine.
It can kind of see my tea and it wants one of those.
So in my mind's eye,
I'm just going to provide that.
Knowing this is just my imaginal experiential inner world,
I can really create anything I want to for this part of me.
And I'm noticing that the anxious part of me really likes that.
It feels comforted.
And it wants to kind of sit down next to me in a sense just the two of us kind of curled up with our little blankets and warm tea it likes that it's not alone here It doesn't feel nearly as activated.
It's much more calm now.
It likes just having my attention and my compassion.
It wants me to know that when I move against it,
With busyness,
Or distraction or numbing.
That actually makes it worse.
This is what is helpful to it.
So I'm just letting it know that I really get that.
And I'm owning that I often move against it with busyness.
And as I'm asking this part again,
What do you need from me to feel more comfortable It doesn't want to stay kind of back here in these old memories.
It would like to come with me too.
A place that feels a little more comfortable maybe in the present.
So I'm just going to ask this part of me.
Again,
We never tell or think of what it should be,
But we always ask.
I'm just going to ask,
Where would you like to go?
And I'm just going to wait for an answer.
Okay,
I got an answer pretty quickly.
Because I think all parts of me like to go to the beach.
This part of me would like to go to the beach.
So just asking.
Your anxiety,
If it would like to be anywhere with you that would feel more comfortable.
It can be real.
It can be imaginary.
Just ask and see what you notice.
It may not want to leave the memories where it is right now,
And that's fine too.
And I'm noticing that.
.
.
This little square is sort of a little bit more like a little child now.
It's a little more morphed out in the way that I'm seeing it in my mind's eye,
And it's wanting to run and play in the waves while I watch.
Actually,
It would like me to come and run in the waves too.
So we're going to do that.
You can be noticing.
What's coming up for you with your anxiety,
If it's feeling better,
Maybe more playful?
Or if you're just being present with your anxiety back in those old memories,
But being there with it so it doesn't feel so alone.
That's great too.
Very comforting.
And if you fall into the group of people who don't really get any visual image of anything,
Are not really connecting with where this is happening in your body,
But you're just having a general sense of something,
That is totally great as well.
Whatever your experience is,
Is exactly right.
And so as we complete these three steps together,
Notice,
Notify,
And need.
That help us move toward our anxiety today.
If you were like me and at the beginning of this practice,
You noticed that there were some other feelings that didn't want to move toward anxiety,
Maybe distracted thoughts or a part of you that was afraid of the anxiety.
Maybe just extending.
Love and gratitude.
To those parts as well.
Those parts of your inner experience and mind that allowed us to spend time moving toward anxiety today.
Just inviting them to notice how your anxiety is doing now.
Now that they have given you just a few moments of space.
Just 10 or 15 minutes of space to move toward anxiety.
Can really relieve those parts of us of hours and hours and years and years of work.
Trying to move against the anxiety.
And those parts of me actually are very relieved to see how happy my anxiety is right now.
And so just really welcoming whatever your experience was today.
And if you'd like to take one or two.
Deep breaths in through your nose.
And exhaling out through your mouth.
Starting if your eyes have been closed,
To just gently,
Maybe you might want to.
Rub your hands together or start to notice your body again and slowly beginning to shift your attention back outside from your internal awareness back out to the room around you.
When you feel ready,
Lifting your gaze or just gently blinking your eyes back open.
It can always be a little bit disorienting to kind of go from that space of being aware of our inner experience back out to the world around us.
But my friend,
I hope that this was a really healing,
Comforting.
Journey for you today as it was for me.
To rather than moving against our anxiety,
Which is most often what we do.
To have the practice together of moving towards it so that it can feel seen and heard and cared about and comforted in the way that all parts of us deserve to be.
So thank you,
My friend.
For joining me on this very first Move Toward with Jenna.
I hope today has been helpful.
Come back as often as you'd like.
To move toward your anxiety,
And I'll see you next time.
