Effective Techniques for Transforming Your Relationship with Anxiety

You feel on edge, a deep dread, racing thoughts, and a pit in your stomach. You are worried that something bad could happen. The uncertainty is so unsettling. Your body feels jittery, and your heart is beating so fast. It is anxiety, here again.

Anxiety can be triggered at any point in your day for any number of reasons. Your alarm goes off in the morning and your brain is instantly flooded with thoughts of everything you have to do. You reach your lunch break and an upcoming deadline weighs on your mind.

 After work, when you should be heading home to relax, your mind is stuck on a hamster wheel worrying about bills that need to be paid or the pending results of a medical test. You may be replaying a conversation, embarrassed about what you said, or worried you will get in trouble at work.

 Each day is a never-ending cycle of things that trigger anxiety. The worry leads to late-night scrolling, searching for answers, relief, validation, and someone to tell you it will all be ok.

 Anxiety is an all-encompassing experience of the body, mind, and soul. When we experience anxiety, we have physical symptoms of discomfort, our mind races with worst-case scenarios, and our soul suffers disconnect from our true selves and fullest potential.

Anxiety is a means for your body to tell you something needs special attention. These symptoms are a call from the unconscious to pay attention. So often, the ways we try to manage our anxiety become part of the problem. It doesn’t have to be this way. The work we do in depth-oriented and Jungian-focused therapy goes beyond simply managing and living with the symptoms of anxiety to truly understanding it, honoring its role and function, and then beginning to untangle it and change our relationship with it.

 So, how do we pay attention? How do we heed the call of anxiety when it is so uncomfortable and seems to attach itself to something new each day?

We start simply, by slowing down, to connect with anxiety, instead of trying to push it away. We go a bit deeper into your internal world to find what is happening and what you truly need. We start with curiosity and ask: How is this anxiety trying to help me or protect me right now? How can I honor that part of me that is so concerned with my well-being and survival that it is raising the alarm in such a loud way?

 Importantly, we include your whole self in the process. Here’s a closer look.

Tending to Your Body

 Anxiety impacts the nervous system. Notice your breathing when you are feeling anxious.  Most likely there is a cycle of shallow breathing along with other things like an upset stomach, sweaty palms, tight muscles, or a knot in your chest.

Nature can be a very healing place for our bodies when we are anxious. If your anxiety is impacting your body, take a walk outside. Breathe in the fresh air, deeply and slowly. Listen to the sounds of the birds or the leaves rustling in the breeze. Move in a way and at a pace that feels good for your body.

Tending to Your Mind

What if we thought about anxiety differently? What if we related to the symptoms with love and care? Anxiety is often the product of feeling like you have little control over a situation with an unknown outcome. When you’re feeling your mind start to wander into an anxiety spiral, grounding exercises can be useful.

 Grounding exercises are a way to bring your mind back to the present moment. You can do so by focusing on one sense at a time or using a more involved approach like the 5-4-3-2-1 method. Use your immediate surroundings and find five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This can give you space to then direct understanding and compassion toward yourself when you are suffering.

Tending to Your Soul

 Anxiety can lead to an inability to trust yourself and to know what is real and what is fear. Soul tending involves connecting to what matters and has meaning for you. Connecting to what makes you feel alive and embodied allows space for hope and the cultivation of meaning. You might find this in music, poetry, art, animals, and dancing.

Your friends and family can also be a source of strength in managing your anxiety. Talk with them about your experiences and how you’re feeling. Allow them to provide relief. Sometimes, just being able to talk through your thoughts out loud can help reduce the impact anxiety is having on your life.

Therapy can be a safe space to work on transforming your relationship to anxiety: body, mind, and soul, and explore some of these themes more deeply. Together, we can be creative and curious, and find a new path forward with interacting with anxiety.

 Would you like to learn more about whether my practice is a good fit for you? Schedule a consultation today!