We all experience fear and worry at some point in our lives, but is it becoming a daily occurance that is consuming you?
Being excessively worried about your health, family, money, work or feeling like a disaster is about to happen is an anxiety disorder that can be really debilitating. These overwhelming feelings of dread can lead to physical symptoms in the body like increased heart rate, palpitations, chest pain, irritability, fatigue, sleep dysregulation and vomiting.
Anxiety can stem from a build up of stressful life situations, a single event, trauma or bereavement. It's useful to have practices in place to help manage stress and the triggers that cause the panic, worry and fear.
Here are 5 holistic practices you can do to reduce and prevent anxiety:
- Meditation - If you think you can't meditate because it's difficult to focus or you don't have enough time, that's exactly the reason you need to meditate! All that is required for meditation to be effective, is to close your eyes and bring your attention to your breathing. If your mind wanders, just return to the breath and reconnect. Daily practice is best and starting at 5 mins building up to 30 mins. Doing 2 x 5/10 minute practices a day is much better than 30 mins, once in a while.
- Exercise - Any type of movement is good as activity releases serotonin and dopamine. Walking in nature is extremely beneficial as it brings you into the present moment and engages the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest controller.) As does Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi and other restorative activities.
- Essential Oils - Diffusing pure CPTG essential oils like dōTERRA helps to calm the fight, flight or freeze response by inhaling aromas that are calming and uplifting. They travel up through the nose, to the Olfactory bulb and in to the limbic system of the brain. This is the part of the brain where you store mood, memory and emotion. Using essential oils to interrup negative signals is really effective. Lavender and Wild Orange are great for calming anxious feelings and also help to support sleep. See the Stress and Sleep Essential Oil Kit
- Cold Water Therapy - Whether this be an ice bath, cold shower or wild swimming, there are huge benefits to cold water immersion. The Wim Hof Method has science backed evidence to show improvements to the immune system, mental health and cardiovascular health.
- Hypnotherapy - This is a sleep state of the nervous system where the therapist accesses the subconscious mind for suggestibility techniques. Rapid Transformational Therapy uses hypnosis to find the reasons and root cause of conditions like anxiety and interrupts the triggers associated with the panic states. It's a powerful method of rewiring the mind and has immediate, effective results.
Eating a healthy diet, low in sugar and processed foods is also beneficial, as is limiting caffeine and alcohol intake as the side effects are classic feelings of dread and worry.
Most importantly, having the awareness that your anxious feelings are just temporary and that there is always something you can do about it. Whether this be talking therapy or taking regular time out breaks to reset your nervous system, your mental health is just as important as your physical health.
Contributing Factors
Other contributing factors that can lead to anxiety are issues relating to appearance, weight and menopause. For example, worries about physiological changes caused by perimenopause like hot flashes, may trigger your anxiety because you feel it is out of your control and this concerns you.
This is where Rapid Transformational Therapy becomes extremely helpful in releasing anxiety and the negative connections to it, allowing you embrace the next part of your life more positively.
