Befriend Your Own Anxiety
Cecilia d'Felice
The Independent on Sunday: 10 June 2007
Step One Exercise is essential. Chronic anxiety symptoms make our bodies very toxic. They flood us with chemicals which not only make us feel as if we're in a constant state of stress but also erode the 'feel-good' hormones that we need to help us think flexibly and creatively. The most natural way to create more feel-good hormones and burn off stress hormones is exercise. Exercise releases endorphins. The more endorphins we have, the better we feel. The most helpful exercises for people with anxiety symptoms symptoms are meditative in character. Yoga, for example, is a form of active meditation and has been shown in clinical trials to have positive effects on anxiety symptoms. Yoga often looks intimidating, but the reality is that yoga is accessible for everyone, regardless of fitness or age. A great introduction is 'Real Yoga for Real People' which shows how we can we incorporate yoga into our everyday lives. Walking, running and swimming are also wonderfully meditative, all of which can be done outdoors, bringing us closer to nature - restorative in itself. We are not designed to be sedentary, our bodies crave movement.
Step Two Learn to be mindful... I wonder if you have noticed that there is a part of you that is aware that you are anxious, yet that part of you is not anxious itself? The more aware we are, the less we will be at the mercy of negative thoughts that drag us back to a painful past or project us into an uncertain future. Join a meditation group or attend a mindfulness course, try mindfulness-meditation.net
Step Three Accept that anxiety is a fact of life. Anxiety is a part of our emotional repertoire. It is there to keep us safe, to help us be responsive to danger. Befriending our anxiety - taking care of it through taking care of our body and mind - is crucial in forming a relationship with this aspect of our personality that we should treat with loving compassion rather than shame or hatred.
Information dump for my later reference so I can throw away the newspaper clipping I took on the way back from therapy once.
The Independent on Sunday: 10 June 2007
Step One Exercise is essential. Chronic anxiety symptoms make our bodies very toxic. They flood us with chemicals which not only make us feel as if we're in a constant state of stress but also erode the 'feel-good' hormones that we need to help us think flexibly and creatively. The most natural way to create more feel-good hormones and burn off stress hormones is exercise. Exercise releases endorphins. The more endorphins we have, the better we feel. The most helpful exercises for people with anxiety symptoms symptoms are meditative in character. Yoga, for example, is a form of active meditation and has been shown in clinical trials to have positive effects on anxiety symptoms. Yoga often looks intimidating, but the reality is that yoga is accessible for everyone, regardless of fitness or age. A great introduction is 'Real Yoga for Real People' which shows how we can we incorporate yoga into our everyday lives. Walking, running and swimming are also wonderfully meditative, all of which can be done outdoors, bringing us closer to nature - restorative in itself. We are not designed to be sedentary, our bodies crave movement.
Step Two Learn to be mindful... I wonder if you have noticed that there is a part of you that is aware that you are anxious, yet that part of you is not anxious itself? The more aware we are, the less we will be at the mercy of negative thoughts that drag us back to a painful past or project us into an uncertain future. Join a meditation group or attend a mindfulness course, try mindfulness-meditation.net
Step Three Accept that anxiety is a fact of life. Anxiety is a part of our emotional repertoire. It is there to keep us safe, to help us be responsive to danger. Befriending our anxiety - taking care of it through taking care of our body and mind - is crucial in forming a relationship with this aspect of our personality that we should treat with loving compassion rather than shame or hatred.
Information dump for my later reference so I can throw away the newspaper clipping I took on the way back from therapy once.