Embracing Inner Calm – Navigating the Storm When Anxiety Strikes

Welcome back, lovely souls! Are you ready to continue this exploration of what it means to embrace our authentic selves?

As humans, anxiety is an inevitable part of our lives. It’s a natural response to life’s uncertainties. Many of us have learned some techniques for dealing with planned anxiety – those common situations like meetings and presentations. But what do we do in those unexpected moments when anxiety suddenly engulfs us, taking over our bodies with its tight grip?

Breathe.

The first and most vital step is to regulate our nervous system. When anxiety strikes, our nervous system shifts into survival mode, triggering our fight-or-flight response. In this state, our prefrontal cortex, the rational part of our brain, goes offline. Before we can address the anxiety, we need to regain control over our nervous system. Spend two to five minutes focusing on your breath: inhale slowly through your nose, allowing your belly to expand, then exhale even more slowly through pursed lips, as if exhaling through a straw. You can count in for four and out for six if it helps.

Another technique you can try is progressive muscle relaxation. Find a quiet and comfortable place to sit or lie down. Starting from your toes, tense the muscles for a few seconds, then release and relax. Progressively move up your body, tensing and relaxing each muscle group for about 5-10 seconds. Release the tension and allow your muscles to relax completely.

Anxiety, like all emotions, is temporary. If we can learn to let it move through our bodies, rather than becoming attached to it, we can start to explore where it came from. Sometimes giving our bodies a good shake, literally shaking it off, can be quite effective in moving the energy through. This is one of my go-to methods. And if we can practise any of these techniques while planting our bare feet on the earth, even better!

These tools can help us through the initial intensity of anxiety and loosen its grip. According to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, “When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90-second chemical process that happens; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop.” This implies that if we can learn to self-regulate through these 90 seconds, we’re more likely to move through the emotion rather than linger in it.

Once we’re feeling more regulated, we create space for inner exploration. Our emotions are messengers. and if we can tune into what that emotion is trying to nudge us to look at, we can learn from the experience. One way to approach this is through mindful observation. Practise observing your thoughts and feelings without judgement or trying to change them. Focus on the physical sensations – ask yourself what you’re feeling and where you feel it in your body. Tuning into the sensations can lead us to the thoughts and narratives we’ve associated with them. For instance, with me, feeling my stomach drop can be associated with excitement or fear, depending on the narrative I’ve created around the situation.

For a deeper dive, consider adding a journal to the mix. Write down your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, along with the situations that triggered the anxiety. Describe how these triggers make you feel and how your body reacts. Are there any patterns you notice? Do any of these things remind you of past experiences? How far back can you remember having these thoughts or sensations? What have you done in the past to help manage them – what helped and what didn’t? Understanding how you’ve coped in the past can offer insights into your current coping mechanisms.

If you want to take it even further, you may want to try getting creative. Drawing, painting or even doodling your anxious thoughts and emotions can often reveal underlying feelings you might not be consciously aware of.

Anxiety isn’t something to be avoided, and it can’t be. It’s a natural part of life that we all experience. Let’s start by learning to regulate ourselves through these feelings by first observing, and then exploring them…and let’s see what we find! Many of us benefit from additional support during this process and if you think you would, give me a shout and you can start expanding your toolbox.

Remember, while these are great tools to have for unexpected moments, they become easier to access when we’ve practised them in expected ones. Keep exploring which tools work best for you and see how they can help you embrace your inner calm.

With heartfelt gratitude,
Christina