I’m worried! Can it be managed?

Any emotion is realized through the body: if we didn’t have it, there would be nothing to experience experiences, in particular, anxiety. At the biological level, stressful experiences are characterized by the release of a certain set of hormones, muscle contraction and other factors. Chinese medicine, based on the concept of “qi” (energy), explains emotional outbursts by the quality of its movement.

Even if you do not believe that our body runs on natural energy, the exercises below will help you reduce your anxiety level.

ANXIETY OR ANTICIPATION

What causes anxiety? The reason for its occurrence may be an upcoming event: dangerous, solemn, frightening. But there may not be any reason! Yes, yes, if a person prone to anxiety disorder gains strength and tries to analyze the cause of his excitement, in the overwhelming majority of cases it will be anxiety about a non-existent, hypothetical danger: “What if something bad happens?”

Being in an anxious state, it is not so easy to recognize the ephemeral nature of the cause of the excitement, therefore this type of anxiety is the most long-playing.

So, consider the first option: if anxiety develops due to the fact that some event awaits you. For example, women who are about to give birth often report being very anxious.

I always tell my friends who are crossing the threshold of the third trimester of pregnancy: anxiety and anticipation have the same roots. Anxiety develops against the background of expectation of something bad, and anticipation — on the contrary, but if you listen to yourself, you can understand that these are kindred feelings.

We often confuse one with the other. Are you about to meet your baby? This is an exciting event, but try to find the anticipation behind the mask of excitement and you will be pleasantly surprised.

HOW TO LOWER ENERGY

If the option described above does not help, or if it is not possible to find an understandable, “weighty” cause of anxiety, I suggest a simple exercise that will help restore emotional balance and vitality.

Why is it important to strive for this balance? Against the backdrop of experiencing powerful, vivid emotions, we lose a huge amount of energy. No wonder they say: “Laugh a lot — to tears” — even positive emotions can deprive us of strength and plunge us into apathy and impotence.

So, anxiety takes strength and gives rise to new experiences. To break out of this vicious circle, you need to start by restoring emotional balance. This will make it possible to accumulate energy, which means restoring health and returning the thirst for life. Believe me, it happens very quickly. The main thing is to start and move systematically, step by step.

At the first alarms, pay attention to your condition, be aware of it and remember that anxiety means raising energy upward. So, to stop the attack, you need to lower the energy, direct it down. Easy to say — but how to do it?

Energy follows our attention, and the easiest way to direct attention is to some object — for example, to hands. Sit up straight, straighten your back, relax your shoulders and lower back. Spread your elbows to the sides, keep your palms at eye level. Close your eyes and, lowering your hands from your head to your lower abdomen, mentally follow this movement. Imagine how you lower the energy with your hands, collecting it in the lower abdomen.

Do this exercise for 1-3 minutes, calming your breath, following the movement of your hands with attention. This will help you quickly regain peace of mind.

From my experience of working with people who are prone to panic attacks (and this is not just anxiety — this is “super anxiety”), I can say that attention to yourself, simple exercise and the desire to restore emotional balance work wonders.