Quick tips for anxiety relief.
There are many different types of tools that can be used to move from anxiety and fear to calm and confident. These tools for today’s article were the ones I used to help a client in a 10 minute quick session for anxiety relief.
How to begin
We started by looking first for what was triggering the anxiety and fear reaction. You too can use the steps in any situation to stop anxiety, fear and self blame. We start by just noticing what you are feeling, and where you experience it in your body. In the next step we use a specific question to get to what is actually triggering the symptoms.
After using these tool my client felt back in control and he told me how calm was once again flowing through his chest and body. For him understanding that the anxiety didn’t come out of the blue, and that he wasn’t regressing to old patterns, was a big step in feeling back in control. Then, getting to the underlying triggers gave us the next steps in what needed to be released and healed in our future sessions.
There are a many different things that can trigger anxiety, and for each there are specific tools that can be used. Today we start with the easiest tools, ones you can start with today.
Get to the underlying cause of reactions.
Step 1. Close your eyes, and notice where in your body you are feeling the anxiety (worry, self-doubt, fear, etc.)
Step 2. Take a breath and let it out slowly. Do this 3 times.and notice how it feels in your body.
Step 3. Next, take a moment to remember back to the thoughts you were having right before you felt the emotion.
One cause for anxiety can be our thoughts.
a. Sometimes you are aware of the thoughts
b. Many times your thoughts move so quickly you aren’t aware of them.
c. One way you know thoughts are triggering a reactions, is the anxiety or tension you feel in your body.
d. Anxiety provoking thoughts sounds something like this:
What if the anxiety comes back?
What if I can’t stop it?
What if I regress to old patterns again?
What if there is something physically wrong with me?
e. The body responds to the thoughts with some form of anxiety (knots in the stomach, tension in the chest, heaviness or pounding heart, racing mind, etc.).
f. Thoughts that begin with the words: What if. . . go directly into the unconscious as a direction. And the unconscious acts by sending the chemicals needed to fight or flee.
Quick tips to get to the underlying trigger for anxiety.
Step 1. Close your eyes, and notice where in your body you are feeling the (anxiety, worry, self-doubt, fear, sadness, guilt etc.)
Step 2. Take a breath and let it out slowly. Do this 3 times. Or use the Breathing for calm tool.
Step 3. Next, stop for a moment and become curious about what the anxiety is about.
Step 4. Use the following question: I’m really curious what this anxiety is about?
a. This is a question you put inside of yourself. Please make no effort to analyze, just be curious.
b. Say to yourself: I wonder what the feeling is about?
c. Wait for an answer from the unconscious part of the mind.
For the client I was talking about in the beginning of this article: the answer came quickly. His thoughts were triggering the worry and anxiety. In addition he was blaming himself for losing the calm he had after our session together. He was fearful that he was regressing to an old pattern we had already changed.
Background information:
In all my private programs I offer a two 10 minute “I need you now” sessions. My client was at his 8th session and this was the first time he needed this “I need you now” session. He is thrilled with his new self as he became calmer and more assertive (without the anger and guilt he started with). And overall feeling of his true-self was emerging. In our last session he went really deep, clearing long standing grief, sadness and loss. When he left the office his body actually felt different. There was a light, calm, solid feeling in his chest. That was one reason the anxiety was so unexpected. After our 10 minute call he was once again on the calm road.
I thought it would be of help to use this real life situation to help others to know some of the steps to take when anxiety surfaces. People wonder what causes them to go from a calm to anxiety and upset. There are a few things that can be at the root of anxiety.
Review:
- The thoughts that go through the mind.
a. Sometimes you are aware of the thoughts
b. Many times the thoughts move so quickly that you aren’t even away that you had a thought. what you are aware of is the feelings of anxiety or bodily symptoms. - The most common thing that happens after finding calm is that a question comes to mind that sounds something like this: What if the anxiety comes back? What is I get anxious again and can’t focus on my work? What if I panic and can’t function? What if I regress to old patterns?
- And, after these thoughts what happens is that the body responds with some form of anxiety. Knots in the stomach, feeling of tension in the chest, or an anxious feeling in the mind.
- The reason for this is that the thought (what if. . .) goes to the unconscious as a direction.
Tips to change the pattern.
- Close your eyes
- Take a breath and let it out slowly
- Ask a question that sounds like this: I’m really curious what the anxiety (knot in my stomach, fear etc) is about.
a. This is a question you put inside of yourself., without any effort to analyze.
b. You just wonder what the feeling is about and wait for an answer from the unconscious part of the mind.