Anxiety

Using Breath to Mediate Anxiety

Anxiety is complex and my approach to working with it is twofold: firstly to use breathwork to deal with the immediate problem and secondly to explore the underlying cause. In my experience anxiety is a clue that you are out of balance and need to understand what the anxiety is pointing to. Therapeutic exploration can throw light on this and, once integrated, the anxious symptoms will often disappear.

When in the anxious state the breathing is usually shallow and the mind racing. When you become aware of the anxiety, check your breathing. To become centred or grounded again do the following:

1. Start at the abdomen and fill your belly like a balloon. Place your hands on your abdomen and let the inflation push your hands out.
2. As you continue to inhale move your hands up to your ribcage and feel your ribs expand.
3. Now bring your hands up to the collar bone as you inhale the last bit of air and feel it rise.

Exhale in reverse, pushing all the air out, pushing in the belly to create a vacuum. Breathe this way for at least three minutes. Practicing this breath on a daily basis, gradually increasing the time to 10 minutes will teach your body through repetition. When anxiety hits you will be able to quickly come back to yourself.

The Racing Mind

Once the breath is relaxed again begin to pay attention to your senses. Much anxiety is generated by a racing mind obsessing about things not present. We can generate fear for ourselves just by thinking about it, in the same way we experience pleasure fantasizing about a vacation - it is important to realise that we are responding to a fantasy. Shift the attention to the five senses by asking yourself the questions:

1. What can I see right now?
2. What am I hearing?
3. Is there a taste in my mouth? Of what?
4. What can I smell?
5. What sensations am I aware of on my skin?

As you move through your sensory experience you will realise that there is no threat present. As you combine breathing with sensory attention your anxiety will diminish.

Beyond the Band-aid - Long-term relief

The above strategies will enable you to manage your anxiety but do not address why it occurs in the first place or what it is about. Our bodies are very good at giving us clues that we are out of balance - physical illness, depression, anxiety, migraines etc all point to a need to address something to which we are not consciously paying attention. Psychotherapy can help address the issue or experience to which the anxiety is pointing that needs to emerge into awareness. Once this is recognised and integrated the anxiety has served its purpose and no longer needs to be active.