Managing Anxiety

This track uses a variety of techniques to help you to relax and then change your relationship with anxiety, giving you ways to shift your perspective if your stress response is triggered and anxiety begins to build.

Transcript

We're going to be looking at anxiety today.

To do this properly we just need to begin to unwind and slow down our busy mind.

Because that anxiety doesn't begin in your conscious mind,

It's fed deep down by your subconscious mind.

And so to get in there and make the changes we need to make,

We just need to begin to relax and unwind,

Slowing down the busy mind.

Of course when I talk to you thoughts will pop into your mind.

That's okay.

But just try and allow them to move on quite quickly,

Like a cloud moving across the sky on a breezy day.

Just letting those unrequested thoughts float away.

And just focus on my voice.

Quiet time for you.

So just finding somewhere you can sit and lie down.

And I'm going to be asking you to close your eyes.

Because then we can shut out the busy world outside.

And whilst I'm talking to you there might be noises or sounds outside the room you're in.

But just try not to let that distract you from my voice,

Which is going to help you to relax and unwind.

And perhaps noticing some things that sometimes get overlooked,

Like any sensations in your fingertips right now.

How does it feel to have your eyes closed?

Comfortable?

A relief perhaps?

Maybe they're a little bit heavy and tired?

Giving yourself permission to begin to slow down.

Maybe you're unaware of the thoughts slowing down,

Of the tension draining out of your body.

Just giving your body the instruction for the tension to drain down and drain away like water when it swirls around in the sink,

Goes down all the way through all the pipes and soaks away into the ground.

Just letting it go,

That tension in your body.

Feeling the muscles just loosen and lengthen.

What a relief.

I don't have nothing to do right now.

Each breath you take,

Taking you deeper and deeper into a place of relaxation and comfort for you.

No one is expecting anything of you right now.

No one is demanding anything of you right now as you allow yourself to rest.

Maybe your mind's just a little bit too active.

Let's give it something to do.

Your conscious mind is used to being busy.

So we're going to give it something to do to help it to unwind too.

So what I'd like you to do is leave all thought of your body there,

Where you're supported,

Where your head's supported,

Where your back and shoulders are supported,

Where your hands might be resting right now,

The position of your feet.

Just no need to notice whether one hand's more relaxed than the other.

The right or the left?

The left or the right?

We're going to leave all this behind.

It might be,

It might be whilst I talk to you,

You lose all sense of place from whence you were aware of where you are there.

So let's give your mind something to do.

What I'd like you to do is imagine an old-fashioned blackboard in front of you and the number 100 appears on it in chalk.

What we're going to do is count backwards from 100.

We're going to do it in this special way.

I want you to wipe away the number 100.

Wipe it away mentally,

Rubbing it out so the blackboard is clear again.

And I wonder if you've noticed it helps you to relax a bit deeper.

And with each number we count backwards it'll help you to relax your mind even more.

So 99 on the blackboard now.

I'm going to wipe that away.

You might be aware of some chalk dust in the air.

Then 98 is there.

Seeing the curve of the numbers there.

Wipe it away.

And then 97 is there.

We can wipe that away too.

And 96 appears on the blackboard.

Wipe it away.

95.

Wiping again.

94.

So just keeping this up.

Removing the number and seeing the next one become revealed to you.

And following the numbers down.

Allowing them to relax your mind.

Following the numbers.

And you know when you've reached the place of relaxation you need today to do the work we're going to do today those numbers will just float away but be there for another day.

And I'm going to ask another part of your mind to really engage with me as we think about fire.

We're going to think about fire and how fire starts from a spark.

A spark that has to be fanned and encouraged to survive.

I wonder if you've ever seen a fire start in that old fashioned way by rubbing two sticks together.

The smoke rises and then there's a spark.

A spark which you blow upon to sustain it.

And then feed it with materials that will burn.

And then and only then it will burst into fire.

Real fire not just a spark.

But you have to keep fanning the flames encouraging them.

You have to keep feeding the fire to keep it alight.

It needs oxygen to survive.

So many things needed in place to keep the fire burning.

Now I'd like to suggest that your anxiety is like that fire.

It starts from a small spark.

A flare.

A spark of anxiety.

But you have to sustain that anxiety to keep it there.

Feeding it with reasons,

Ideas and making it flare.

But you have the choice to remove your attention from it.

To stop fanning the flames of it.

To stop nursing that anxiety into life.

Stop coaxing it into existence.

I wonder now,

With thinking about it in this way,

Whether you can catch it when it's just a spark.

Just beginning.

Or whether it will have truly caught before you can stop the anxiety.

Before you withdraw your attention from it and it fizzles out.

I wonder if you've noticed when you've left the anxiety behind.

Sometimes it's gone far into the past.

And we've known that feeling.

That anxious feeling.

And you know it's past.

It's in the past.

And you can't quite reignite it.

In fact sometimes it's hard to remember just how you managed to create such a massive fire out of such a small spark.

And now you know you've snuffed it out.

You could even imagine more than withdrawing your attention and no longer fanning the flames of it.

You could see yourself throwing a bucket of water over it and completely putting it out.

Best way to be sure.

To be sure of leaving it in the past where it belongs.

And I wonder when you'll notice that that moment has passed right away or a few minutes from now.

That you notice the fire is out.

And we could even ask ourselves what purpose does this anxiety have for me right now?

Or what's it doing for me?

Maybe it feels it's protecting me.

But if it's protecting me,

What's it protecting me from?

Why do I need protecting?

Is this anxiety the best way to protect me?

Can you find another way?

Are you in any real danger?

Is it just a perception?

What else can do for you what this anxiety has been doing for you it isn't going to do for you now?

Because you've decided to find a better way.

You've decided to put the spark out.

And I wonder if you try to notice when the anxiety snuffs out or you try not to notice like a candle guttering out when your back is turned.

Just snuffed out without even noticing the moment has passed.

And that a calm peace is returning to you.

The firework lying spent on the ground.

The moment has passed.

I wonder if you can notice how calm you're feeling now.

Do you need to notice or just enjoy the moment of calm?

The fire just fizzles out.

Over.

Finished.

I wonder if you'll notice feeling calmer than before right away or maybe 10 minutes from now.

Maybe half an hour from now.

Snuffed out.

Not stoking up that fire anymore.

You don't have to work so hard to build up that anxiety.

You can let it go.

You don't have to work at it.

Just withdrawing your attention from it.

Not feeding it with your attention.

In fact,

We're going to feed your attention with something else entirely right now.

I'd like you to just think about a place in nature that you like.

Somewhere out of doors.

It can be anywhere.

It could be a garden.

It could be a meadow,

A beach,

A mountain top,

A forest.

Whatever.

Whatever does it for you.

What a place you'd like to be.

Somewhere that's relaxing and peaceful and beautiful.

Seeing that in your mind's eye.

Really focusing on it like a picture.

If you're good at pictures,

It could be a picture in your mind and then you step into that picture.

Seeing what you can see.

If you're not good at pictures in your mind,

What can you hear?

What would you hear in this beautiful place that you've chosen today?

Sight,

Sounds,

Sensations.

Maybe there's a gentle breeze ruffling your hair.

Maybe there's the feeling of sunlight warm on your skin.

Sights,

Sounds,

And sensations.

You've just chosen this place,

This beautiful place of nature.

So just focus in on that.

We're just going to think about what it feels like to be in this place.

The good feelings.

When you think of a beautiful,

Relaxing place in nature,

Somewhere you've been that really resonated with you.

You release the body's natural opiates into your system.

Those feel good feelings can become stronger.

This is the thought we want to focus on.

And these are the kind of thoughts you can focus on instead.

As the other one,

I'm not even going to mention.

We can think about good memories.

We can think about experiences we enjoy.

And we can use these things to replace those other thoughts.

The ones that were causing us so much trouble before,

But aren't going to trouble us anymore because we're choosing a different source of thought instead.

And as you practice this,

As you work with this,

As you work with stopping the effort you were putting into stoke the flames of that distress and focus on something else instead,

Like two pathways in the forest,

That one towards anxiety was easy to follow and find.

And your relaxation one,

Well that had got rather overgrown,

But now we're working with that one.

We're clearing the pathway through to the calming thought.

The thoughts that make you feel good instead of bad.

We're focusing on those instead.

We're not stoking that fire anymore.

We're leaving that behind.

We are focusing in on the things that make you feel good.

And as I ask you to really think about that,

It may be a small moment.

It doesn't have to be a big moment.

When you felt better within yourself,

When you felt okay,

We're amplifying this and making it bigger for you now.

So much calmer than before.

I wonder if you can notice that you're already feeling calmer,

More peaceful inside.

And you can listen to this from time to time and it will remind you of how to do things differently.

I wonder if you've heard that expression,

If you always do what you've always done,

You'll always get what you've always got.

Well,

Now you're doing things differently and you'll get something better instead.

But now this process today is drawing to a close.

You've done some really good work.

You've done some really good work today.

We're going to integrate those learnings at a deep subconscious level.

We're doing that now.

And then I'm going to count up from one to five.

And with each number I count,

You'll feel better and become more and more alert.

And when I reach five,

You can open your eyes and come back to real awareness of where you are in space and time,

This moment now.

One,

Two,

Three,

Gradually coming up to the surface.

Four and five,

Opening your eyes wide awake.

That's right.

Reviews

Really helpful

Good!

Very easy. Good.

So helpful! Thank you

Thank you! This was definitely helpful.🙏🏻

Fantastic. Thank you

Thank you Zetta 🌟

Really enjoyed how this made me notice my anxiety “spark”, and also how much effort our minds put into tending to that spark, that fire of anxiety.

Really helpful meditation! Her friendly voice fills up the whole space and keeps your overactive mind busy. She also teaches techniques that can be applied right away and uses metaphors and guided visualization to help you relax and unwind. A good meditation/hypnosis session for an anxiety attack.

Amazing, very soothing voice! Helped a lot! ❤️ Will come back to it.

I like this as a way to take a break during my workday when I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Love her voice and it made me realize some things!

I loved this. Reminds me of light hypnosis I've had with a NLP practitioner. Bookmarked to come back again. Feeling so much lighter and more open now, thank you! xx