Managing Anxiety
Dear Ones,
Obviously, anxiety is a pretty big topic. People dedicate their lives to studying it, writing about it, helping people with it. I'm pretty passionate about it myself, because when it takes over, I've found it can blind the whole body and mind to other possibilities. It's hard to find the deeper truth of who we are when anxiety flows.
And yet, even though anxiety creates many uncomfortable feelings - we can have so much compassion for where it comes from. There are always reasons. There's always a history or story or ancestral or karmic link to why anxiety shows up. The reasons are real, and those reasons can be healed and released.
We can be kind and warm to anxiety, welcome it,
learn from it, transform it.
Going on a journey to heal anxiety will definitely help you get to know yourself better as each layer comes up to heal and release. Healing anxiety is letting go of old energy and welcoming in more of the possibilities of you, honing in on purpose and meaning that's unique to you.
Addressing anxiety falls into two categories - healing and coping/managing.
Both ways are useful! Both are needed! You might lean one way or the other, and following your own intuition and what excites you or calls to you or pulls you in will lead you on the best path for you.
Below are several tools that I use regularly for coping with and managing anxiety. The next email will contain my favorite tools for transforming and healing anxiety.
Shaking and trembling. When fear runs through the body, adrenaline releases. In fight or flight, the adrenaline is put to use right away through action. When that adrenaline charge races, I shake and wiggle and make weird sounds. Or find the way to move your body that appeals to you - dancing, jogging, wrestling. I love that this is free and easy!
Here's a cool video showing an impala playing dead (freeze) while under attack from a cheetah, and when the danger has passed, it moves to trembling and shaking, and then it suddenly runs away. Some people say the trauma doesn’t get stuck if it is released through trembling and shaking and movement. Trigger warning - the cheetah has the impala already tackled, and swings its neck around a bit, but the impala does escape. Impala in and slowly out of collapsed immobility - YouTube
Alternatively, sometimes the anxiety needs a good snuggle under the covers. Listen to your body, see what it most wants. Curled up, soft belly protected, maybe under blankets. I've found that doing this with intention shifts the freeze feeling faster than trying to push through it or ignore it.
Rub this Parasympathetic essential oil behind the ears. I used this a ton during the pandemic, and now I use it when I'm in the height of distress. An easy trick that really does seem to help in the moment.
If you enjoy guided meditations, here is one I created for Gently Connecting with Anxiety. (I included it in the last letter as well.)
There are so many ways to address anxiety, and perhaps you have other tools that are working well for you. I'm curious to know what you turn to when anxiety comes up, if you'd like to share!
With love,
marta
Photo by Ante Gudelj on Unsplash
