Here are nine tips for beating stress and anxiety which you can start implementing today. They will help you start taking back control of your life so you can stop living in fear.
When we experience heightened stress and anxiety our body may feel a number of physical sensations. These could include feeling faint or dizzy, cold or hot, sweaty palms, fidgety, brain fog, faster heart beat, rapid breathing, shaky, a knot in your stomach or tightness in your throat.
These things feel very uncomfortable and even scary but they are the body’s natural response to the threat which it feels under in the moment. This threat could be real or imagined.
Out natural instinct is to want to be rid of these sensations and to make them go away. They often make us feel embarrassed or ashamed which adds to the whole uncomfortable situation you find yourself in. No one wants a panic attack in public!
But what if we changed our strategy of dealing with these sensations, what if we got curious about them, fascinated and intrigued by them? What if we welcomed them and thanked them for showing up?
This would seem counter-productive to many people.
The bodily sensations you experience are a natural and normal experience for what you are going through even if it is just your imagination. There is nothing wrong with you. Your amazing body is doing the job it’s designed for and that’s to protect you so do not be afraid.
Here are 9 things you can do to alleviate these sensations.
9 TIPS FOR BEATING STRESS AND ANXIETY
*Focus on relaxing your shoulders, drop them and move them about.
*Pop a toffee or other chewy sweet in your mouth. This makes the jaw move and the mouth moist. (when we get anxious we often clench our jaw and our mouth goes dry without us realising)
*Soften your focus and allow your eyes to slowly take in your surroundings. Look all around you with wonder and curiosity. (anxiety causes us to fix our eyes, stare hard and our mind to go blank)
*Make yourself smile. Smiling sends signals to the brain that all is well. Stress and anxiety cause us to get very serious and often the last thing we feel like doing is smiling.
*Make every effort to do a number of sighs. Breath in deeply and then sigh. This signals to the brain that we are feeling safe. When we are in a stressful situation we either hold our breath or breath very shallow which signals to the brain we feel unsafe.
*Learn to do a body scan. In your mind’s eye and with your eyes closed scan your body from head to toe and notice if any tension is being held in any part of you. If you find you have some tension somewhere, spend a few moments focusing on that tension. Imagine it melting away and then continue scanning.
* Change your physical state. By that I mean go for a walk or run. Put on some dance music and get dancing or singing. Bounce gently up and down on the spot while shaking your hands from the wrists and then from the elbows. Learn some full body breathing exercises.
* Engage in MAP ( Mindful Awareness Practice). Being able to tap in to MAP when you feel stress levels will rising will keep you in control of your emotions.
* Notice what your triggers for stress are and learn to understand how you can discharge their power over you.
These 9 tips for beating stress and anxiety, if practiced when you are in a calm state, will allow you to start taking back control of your stress when it starts to show up. Feeling out of control adds to the levels of stress and it’s a very disempowering state to find yourself in. It makes you feel very vulnerable and like there’s something wrong with you. Don’t wait until your stress levels are high before doing any of the above. Practice daily so your mind and body come to recognise what calm feels like. It may feel quite uncomfortable to start with because a calm state is so unfamiliar for your mind and body but stick with it. The key is to keep practicing anyway.
If you’d like to learn more on how to alleviate your stress and anxiety Contact me today to book an appointment.
