Hi,
I'm Audra from the Wellmind Collective.
Today,
We're going to talk about anxiety.
And I have previously done a video on stress and how that feels in your body.
Well,
Anxiety feels the exact same way as stress does in your body.
So if you remember correctly,
We have shortness of breath,
Short,
Shallow breathing in our chest,
And then also accompanied by some tightness in the chest,
Some warmth in your shoulders.
So that's the physical manifestation of anxiety and stress.
So how do you know which one you have?
Well,
Stress is a response to immediate harm,
Meaning,
So for example,
If you were having a pop quiz tomorrow,
That's an immediate harm.
You have to take action and do something about it.
It is in that fight or flight state.
Your body is in that sympathetic nervous state.
And anxiety is an emotional response to a perceived harm that hasn't happened yet.
So when you have that pop quiz the next day and you've studied,
You're lying in bed,
And then you start thinking,
Well,
It doesn't matter how much I study because I'm still going to fail that test.
I don't take tests well.
Or maybe it's,
I'm not going to do well,
The teacher doesn't like me.
So those are the stories that you're making up in your head about the situation.
That anxiety creates more fear in a heightened sense of stress.
So we really need to figure out a way to lessen that anxiety,
Move our systems from that sympathetic to parasympathetic nervous system,
Which is the calm state.
And how we do that is through some breathing techniques.
It's different for stress.
We use the box breathing,
The breathe in for four,
Hold for four,
Breathe out for four,
Hold for four,
And doing several rounds of that.
For anxiety,
The best way to breathe is really to elongate our exhale.
So what we're going to do is,
Well,
One,
First we want to do some deep belly breathing.
And so,
You know,
That is always an option,
Either stress or anxiety.
If you can't remember anything else,
Remember that you can take 10 deep belly breaths and it will help you calm down.
But these other ones are a lot more effective and efficient for the symptoms you are having for stress and anxiety,
Especially for anxiety.
So let's do a couple of deep belly breaths just so we remember what it feels like.
So we put our hands on our bellies,
And as we breathe in,
You'll feel your hands rise.
And as you breathe out,
You will feel your belly moving closer back in towards the spine.
So let's breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe in and breathe out.
And this last one,
Make sure you're letting it all go when you exhale.
So breathe in and let it all go.
Now,
When we are doing breathing for anxiety,
We're going to be counting up for four,
Breathing out for five.
And then we will do that a couple of rounds,
And then we will do breathing in for five and breathing out for six.
And then we'll do that a couple of times.
And then we'll breathe in for six and breathe out for seven.
And we'll do that a couple of times.
And then we'll breathe in for seven and we'll breathe out for eight.
And we'll do that two times as well.
And we don't really go past eight because a lot of people don't have that sort of lung capacity.
But if you're a long distance runner,
You probably can go much higher.
You can go as far as you want.
So let's get started.
You want to lower your gaze or close your eyes.
And when you're ready,
We're going to inhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe in for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
We'll breathe in for five.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe out for six.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe in for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe out for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe in for six.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe out for seven.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe in for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe out for seven.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe in for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe out for eight.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Breathe in for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe out for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Now,
Keeping your eyes closed,
You can return to your normal breath.
And I want you to think,
Drop the story that you're telling yourself that's causing your anxiety.
Just let it go.
You don't have to judge yourself for it.
We all do it as part of being a human.
It's the human condition.
We do do this.
Our mind does this to us.
I just want you to feel a calm state without the story.
And I want you to check yourself.
What are the facts?
That story you told yourself is not true.
Be kind and gentle yourself and tell yourself,
I'm going to do great on that test tomorrow.
Switch that negative conversation in your head to a positive one.
I studied and I'm ready to go.
When you're ready,
You can flutter your eyes open.
So by elongating your out breath,
So by elongating your out breath,
You've actually stimulated your vagus nerve,
Which is how you get moved over to your parasympathetic nervous system state to that calm and peaceful state.
And it's really important that you really question the stories that you're telling yourself.
Are they true?
Do you have facts and data to back up that it is true?
Or is it just your mind?
Which your mind is born to protect you.
So it's always going to be a little,
It's going to be more negative because it is for survival.
But we've evolved as humans and we are safer than we used to be.
And we're not having the big saber tooth tiger chasing after us anymore.
So we can work ourselves to a much more calm and peaceful state.
Thank you for breathing with me.
I hope this is helpful.
Have a great day.
