Dealing With Anxiety

This week's exercise is one for anxious moments. I don't know about you guys, but I have been having a few of those in the past months. The exercise seeks to address four symptoms of acute anxiety or stress: shallow breathing, muscle tension, anxious thoughts, and tremors.

I'll give a short explanation of the neurological origins of anxiety and take you through four different methods to alleviate your stress right at this moment.

Transcript

Hi,

Hello and welcome.

My name is Julie and I'll be taking you through a relaxation exercise in just a moment.

I'm sure you're more than tired of hearing this,

But these are strange times.

As much as we may enjoy the extra time spent with our families,

And even though we're not really called to war like our great-grandparents,

But to sit on our sofas for a few months,

I for one have had some anxious moments these past few months.

To stay inside day in day out,

To have to adapt to wearing masks outside and to keep our distance,

Both with strangers and with those we love,

It's not easy and we can get quite worried,

Worked up or anxious.

And especially for those of us who struggle with their mental health,

This is a hard time.

So for those people,

And actually for everyone,

I have an exercise that may alleviate some of these anxious moments.

Today's exercise will take around 20 minutes.

You can practice it anywhere and at any time and in any position really.

Before we start,

I'd like to say a few words about anxiety,

About fear.

Anxiety can be very overwhelming and it's quite an abstract thing,

But we can actually find the symptoms of fear in our bodies and that way we can get a grip on them.

Fear is a state of the nervous system.

Our nervous systems have two important states or moduses.

The first is fight or flight and the second is rest and digest.

The nervous system's fight or flight response goes along with fear,

With a raised heart rate,

With rapid breathing and with the release of hormones such as adrenaline into the bloodstream,

To get oxygen and energy to the running muscles in the legs and the fighting muscles in the arms.

The body reacts like this to dangerous situations.

Just imagine a prehistoric situation where you're physically threatened by,

Say,

A large animal,

But it can also result out of stress.

Rationally,

In your head,

You might know the difference between facing a predator and stress,

But your nervous system really doesn't know the difference and so it reacts in much the same way.

There are many symptoms of anxiety of your body being in the fight or flight response,

But mostly anxiety presents itself in tense muscles,

Shallow or fast breathing,

Anxious thoughts and shaking or tremors.

With today's relaxation,

We'll try to address each of these symptoms and we'll try to alleviate them a bit,

To try to get our nervous system back into the rest-digest mode.

Okay,

Let's get started.

First,

We'll focus on our breathing.

A calm breath is the key to relaxation.

We'll take a few slow breaths in through our noses and out through our mouths.

We'll breathe in through the nose for three counts and we'll breathe out through the mouth.

Don't be afraid here to really sigh out your breath.

Breathe in for one,

Two,

Three and breathe out.

Let go of all of the air in your lungs.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe out.

Breathe it all out.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe it all out.

Let all of the air out of your lungs.

Continue your breathing.

Breathe in and while you're breathing in,

Try to focus on slowing down your breathing to a calm tempo.

Breathe out fully.

Let all of the air out of your lungs each time you breathe out.

Breathe slowly.

Now that you're getting all the oxygen you need,

Know that your only task right now is to make yourself as comfortable as possible while these anxious feelings pass.

Fighting these feelings could make them more prominent or stronger,

So in this moment,

As hard as it may be,

Try to accept that you're having these feelings.

We'll take one more breath in together for one,

Two and three and we'll breathe out,

We'll sigh out all of the air.

While you continue breathing in slowly and out fully in your own time,

We can look at any shaking or tremors that you may be experiencing at this moment.

When you're anxious,

When your body is in a fight or flight mode,

Your body produces adrenaline and your heart beats faster so oxygen reaches your muscles faster.

But because there is no danger right now,

All the adrenaline that you produce runs through your body but isn't used.

Your muscles are so ready for action that they shake.

You can help yourself to alleviate this by shaking out this tension.

You can even do this if you're not experiencing any tremors right now.

You never know whether it could help.

So shake your hands.

Imagine that your hands are wet and that you're shaking them to get the water off.

Shake your hands.

Allow your wrists and your hands to be limp and loose while you shake your hands and your lower arms.

Imagine that drops of water fly off your fingers.

Imagine that the tension leaves your fingers in this way.

Okay,

Let your hands be still now.

Notice how much more relaxed your hands feel.

It's possible that there's a pleasant tingling in your hands.

Take another deep,

Slow breath in and breathe out.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe out.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe out.

Let's focus now on trying to calm your mind.

It's possible that you're worrying or you're experiencing anxious thoughts.

So let's replace these thoughts by repeating the following sentences in our heads after I say them.

I feel anxious right now,

But I'm okay.

This feeling will pass and no harm will come to me.

I am safe even though I'm afraid.

I'll be calm later even though I am anxious now.

I'll get through this.

I'll get through this.

I'll make myself as comfortable as possible while I wait for these feelings to pass.

I can help myself feel more comfortable,

Calmer and more relaxed while I wait for these feelings to pass.

Continue,

Give yourself calming thoughts.

As you take another deep,

Slow breath in and breathe out.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe out.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe out.

The last thing we'll do to alleviate your anxiety is to try to soften our tense muscles.

Your muscles could be tired,

Painful and cramped as a result of stress or fear.

Oftentimes we don't even know we are tensing our muscles.

You can help yourself relax your muscles and we'll start in the face.

Bring your attention to your jaw.

Allow your lower jaw to drop a bit so you have more space between your teeth.

Let your jaw be loose and relaxed.

And when you're ready,

Let your shoulders drop.

Breathe in and while you breathe out,

Lower your shoulders.

Let them be relaxed and loose.

If you want,

You can even roll your shoulders by carefully pulling them up to your ears,

Moving them back and then down along your spine.

Make space between your ears and your shoulders.

Bring your arms over your head and have a stretch.

Breathe in and while you breathe out,

Let your muscles relax while you bring your arms back down and let them hang along your sides.

Turn your head to the left,

Back to the middle and then to the right.

Look down,

Look straight ahead and look up.

Bring your head back to a relaxed neutral position.

In your own time,

You can move a bit more,

Stretch to help your muscles relax and become a bit less tense.

Relax your legs,

Your feet and your toes.

Let's take another few deep,

Slow breaths together.

Breathe in for one,

Two and three and breathe out.

Breathe in for one,

Two,

Three and breathe out.

You've now gone through four steps to help you soften your anxiety.

Number one,

The breath.

Remember to breathe in slowly and to breathe out fully.

Number two,

Shake off your tension.

Number three,

Calm your thoughts and remind yourself that your anxiety will pass.

Number four,

Relax your muscles,

Especially your jaw and your shoulders.

If you like,

You can repeat these steps until you feel a bit calmer and the anxiety passes.

And for one last time,

We're going to take another deep,

Slow breath in and we're going to breathe out fully.

Take your time with this exercise.

Be kind and soft for yourself.

Voila!

That was it for this week.

I hope this helped you a bit in these weird and uncertain times and hopefully until next time.

Hope this helped you a bit in these weird and uncertain times and hopefully until next time.

I hope you have a great day.

And I'll see you in the next video.

Reviews

This was informative, helpful & calming. Thank you.

Julie’s meditations and related relaxation exercises are excellent— I think they are among the very best of Insight Timer’s offerings.

Works WONDERFULLY WELL on me. Thank you 💚

Thanks for the very practical teaching and sharing these techniques. 💐