Anxiety Self Help

Energy Healing and Mind-Body Techniques
to Tame the Anxiety-Monster

Anxiety self help methods are a valuable addition to most people's  self-care "tool box." Anxiety is such a common affliction, from occasional cases of tension and stress to full-blown anxiety disorders. Whether for you, a client or someone you love, it's smart to have some helpful tricks up your sleeve.

Some of the signs of anxiety are worrying a lot, finding it hard or impossible to relax, having physical symptoms such as difficulty sleeping or concentrating, feeling persistently tired or achy, or feeling light-headed, out of breath and irritable.

Everyone worries sometimes, but some people worry all the time. Severe stress and anxiety like this can interfere with daily life, including work, school, sleep and family life. It can make you miserable all day long and have serious consequences for your health.

If this common disorder is having a severe impact on your life, you should seek professional help. However, anxiety self help methods such as energy healing and mind-body techniques can also be helpful for mild, occasional symptoms, or as a complement to professional medical or psychological help

How Energy Healing Can Help Restore Inner Calm

When we're anxious, the energy field usually feels spiky, zingy or jagged. Energy work can be profoundly relaxing and can significantly help relieve tense, jagged energy.

Simple techniques that smooth the field can help a lot to restore a sense of peace and harmony, relieving the edgy suffering that stress and anxiety bring.

Balancing the first chakra will help to re-build a basic sense of safety and security. Balancing the third chakra will restore self-confidence in the ability to deal with life and its uncertainty.

Stress and anxiety disrupt the rhythm and flow of your body and energy. Breathwork (see below) helps to re-establish harmony and flow to your energy field.

Basic grounding is also an important technique. Connecting to the earth helps to stabilize and modulate the jittery, unstable energy of anxiety.

Self-Energy-Healing for Stress and Anxiety

• Learn simple, enjoyable things you can do to balance your first chakra and third chakra.
• Ground by sending imaginary roots deep into the earth from your first chakra or the soles of your feet. Feel your strong connection to the earth. Let it's calming and stabilizing energy support and stabilize your body, mind, and energy field. Alternatively, you can go outside (barefooted is best) and really feel your connection to the earth.
  
• Use your hands to smooth or "comb" your energy field, as if you were petting a cat, about six to twelve inches out from your body. (Having someone else do this is even nicer.)
• Hold the "Sea of Tranquility" acupressure point, in the center of the chest, about four finger-widths up from the bottom of the sternum (breast-bone).  (Often there's a slight indentation at this point.) Hold for one minute or more.
• Hold your hand or hands over your heart or the center or your chest at heart level.
• Hold the K27 acupressure points, in the fleshy spots just below and slightly to the outside of the "points" of your collarbone. Hold for one minute or more.
• Bring your energy into the present by asking yourself "Am I OK right now?" Chances are very good, unless you're in an ambulance, that you're OK at this exact moment. Notice that you're OK right now and say (out loud or to yourself), "Yes, I'm OK right now." Take a moment to let your body relax as it realizes that. If you start to feel anxious thoughts return or your body become tense again, bring your energy back into the present by asking yourself again, "Am I OK right now?" Repeat as often as needed. Eventually you'll train yourself to keep your energy in the present, where it belongs.
  
• Buy or check out Donna Eden's book "Energy Medicine." Learn to do the "Cross Crawl" and the "Wayne Cook Posture" at least.

Breathing Exercises for Anxiety Self Help

Breathing is a bridge between the physical and subtle worlds. Breathing optimally can have a huge impact on your mind-body health, and is especially helpful for tension, stress and anxiety. If you do nothing else, learn to breathe optimally and make it a daily practice of at least 10 or 15 minutes. It has many other health and energetic benefits as well as calming the nervous system. Breathing techniques for anxiety can be extremely effective.

You can learn some basic breathing and relaxation techniques here.

If you want to go farther -- and I recommend that you do -- I suggest Gay Hendricks "The Breathing Box: Four Weeks to Healthy Breathing", a kit that includes a 90-minute DVD, a CD, and illustrated cards.

Meditation

Once again, you can hardly go wrong using meditation as a natural anxiety remedy. It quiets most peoples' minds, and has no down side. You can learn some basic meditation techniques here.

Exercise for Stress and Tension Relief

Exercise is an essential element of anxiety self help. Walking is great because it's easy, free, safe for everyone, does myriad good things for your health, and energetically works to balance left and right.

Nature

Get outdoors! Nature is a great healer and balancer for the energy field.

Alpha Brain Wave Entrainment

The Relaxation Company (founded by pioneering sound healer Dr. Jeffrey Thomas), has a variety of CDs using brain wave entrainment technology to help you relax. High quality music or nature sounds have alpha brain waves (the frequency that the brain produces in a relaxed state) inaudibly embedded behind them. I use them a lot in my practice and at home -- they really work.

Essential Oils for Anxiety Self Help

Aromatherapy, a form of vibrational medicine, can help to soothe the body/mind/energy at a deep level.

Learn about using aromatherapy as help for anxiety relief and relaxation.

Go deeper and learn about more essential oils that help with stress and anxiety, plus some personally tested recipes that smell divine and really work.

Diet, Supplements and Herbs for Anxiety Treatment

I highly recommend you discuss forms of natural anxiety remedy with a naturopath, if you haven't already. In the meantime, do the obvious things and cut out stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine. Avoid alcohol, as it can make things worse. The Mayo Clinic also suggests that you avoid fatty, sugary and processed foods, and include foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins.

Body/Mind Books

I recommend you look at Daniel Amen's book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. You might also want to look at Mark Hyman's book, The Ultramind Solution. Both have interesting and potentially useful things to say about natural anxiety relief techniques.

Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder can include the following:

• Worrying a lot about everyday things
• Having trouble controlling your worries
• Knowing that you worry more than you should
• Being unable to relax
• Having difficulty concentrating
• Being easily startled
• Having trouble falling or staying asleep
• Feeling tired all the time
• Having headaches, muscle pains, stomach aches, or other unexplained pain
• Difficulty swallowing
• Trembling or twitching
• Being irritable, sweating a lot, feeling light-headed or out of breath
• Having to go to the bathroom a lot.

If you think you have a disorder, you should seek professional anxiety treatment from a doctor or mental health professional. Don't wait. Anxiety is miserable, and I encourage you to treat yourself with compassion and get help if you need it.

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