Yoga - Relief From Anxiety, Week 2

Welcome to week two! I am so proud of you for sticking with the program! Let me simplify this week into one sentence… Coming back to neutral. Our ‘anchors’ that we are about to dive into are about bringing us back into the present moment. This is especially important for anxiety attacks. As well as moments of overwhelm and moments of depression. When we slip into anxiety attacks, feelings of overwhelming, or when we experience days of depression our mind is not present. It is almost always trying to escape and run as far away from the present moment as possible. So with a sense of calm we bring our mind back to the present moment which shakes off what is not serving us ( i.e the anxiety attack, depression, etc.) Our technique of the week also brings us back to neutral, however it works more on the physical body than the mental body. Our technique brings the physical body into a neutral nervous state. Our ‘anchor’ brings our mind back into a neutral state in the present moment. Sounds awesome right? I know! So with out further delay, lets dive in!

Story time - One of my favorite summer activities is to go paddle boarding. I strap my board to the bars on my jeep and with the roof off I crank up the music and head to the lake. I paddle out to where ever I feel like it that day, then I stop, do some yoga, do an affirmation meditation with a mala and then pray. It is my most beautiful time alone in nature. For two full summers I would finish my prayer and open my eyes to see I have drifted some where completely different. One day in particular I drifted quite far towards a small rocky area where there were no cabins. The weather began to turn and before I knew it I was having to paddle against the wind, current, and rain. It was the toughest fight against the growing waves to get back to the shore where I had parked my… roofless jeep! Each wave was so massive the peak of my board would rise up and then get pushed back about a foot. I had to paddle as hard as I could, as fast as I could. My mind raced, no matter the amount of panic that would creep in I had to push it out. I had one goal. Get back to shore. Eventually I made it. I learned so much about paddle boarding (like bring an literal anchor) and, more importantly, so much metaphorically that day. Despite having good intentions, I still floated away and struggled to make my way back to where I started. Sometimes anxiety is exactly like this. We have the best of intentions but still float away, struggling to come back to neutral. To keep us from floating away we need an anchor. Yes, I physically have an anchor now for my board but also for the mind. There are many techniques that will bring you back to the present moment. These techniques are what I am calling ‘anchors”. Choose a technique that suits you and it will anchor you in the present moment. At first your mind will still wander but slowly over time it will wander less and less, and your anchor will bring you back to the moment faster and faster. It’s as if my paddle board had an anchor with a rope that was 30 feet long and by the end of the summer it was only 7 feet long. The more you use your anchor the faster it’ll bring you back to the moment.

Choose one anchor and stick with it as your anchor for the whole course. We are all human and we are creatures of habit. Do you always sleep on the same side of the bed? Do you feel better when you wake up and go to bed at a similar time of day everyday? Do you have any routines, like getting a water, then brushing your teeth, then going to sleep? My point exactly! We must choose one anchor and allow it to become a habit, so that when times are difficult you default to your anchor just like you would the blue box in last weeks lesson.

Maybe you don’t have many habits, so let me tell you another story that will hopefully work for you. There once was a family who wished to build a house on this new piece of land they acquired. They dug a well 5 feet down… no water. So, they moved to the east corner of the lot and dug 5 feet down, no water. They moved to the south east and dug, 5 feet down, no water. They moved all around the lot and still no water! On the brink of giving up they went back to their first hole and dug another foot. A total of 6 feet down and water sprung up in abundance. Sometimes we give up to easily. It wouldn’t have mattered what hole you dug 6 feet deep. You just had to commit to digging the hole 6 feet. We must choose one anchor and stick with it until it brings us ‘water’.

Here is a list of anchors to choose from, you may alter them or choose another if you have already been using a technique that keeps you present, stick with it!

Body Scan – begin to scan the body from the toes to the crown of the head and become aware of all the sensations in each area, following the sensation back to the source and then allow that area to relax. Then move to the next area and repeat.

5 Senses Scan – Begin by tuning into all that you can hear right now, from the most distant sounds to the nearest. Notice even the mundane sounds. Notice any lingering flavors in your mouth. Are there any fragrances in the air? Now, what do you see? Label what you notice but do not judge. For example, I see a phone in front of me versus I see a dirty outdated phone. See the difference? Now move on to what you can feel from sensations caused by outside objects like clothing, the air on your skin, and the floor beneath your feet. Become aware of sensations inside your body. Lastly become aware of your breath. Begin to breathe slowly.

Count to 10 and down Again – This is the technique discussed in week one. Revisit it for instructions.

Affirmations – Similar to your sentences in week one. Take a moment to reflect of what happens when you feel anxious. Do you feel really tense in your shoulders or jaw? Do you feel light and airy in a blurry way? Create an affirmation that is the positive counter part to the experience you are have. Repeating your affirmation silently to yourself for example: “I am breathing in, I am breathing out” or “I am present, I am calm” or any other affirmation you create.

Mantra – Mantra in this scenario will often be in Sanskrit or another language you are unfamiliar with. This is so that the repetition of the word does not have a specific meaning to you, it is the repetition and purely sound that is calming. The example is my favorite because it is pared with a small action. Mantra is as follows: “Sa, Ta, Na, Ma” as you say the first sound touch your thumb and index finger together firmly. Then move to thumb and middle finger and so on. Repeat as many times as you would like. If you are wondering what it means… Sa – Life, Ta – Death, Na – Infinity, Ma – Rebirth.

3 Part Belly Breath – Breath into your low belly. The space just below your belly button. Expand your belly as you breath in and out for a few cycles. Then breathe deep into the low belly, keep filling and feel the ribs begin to expand, front, back, and sides. Exhaling the air out of the ribs and then the belly. Breathing into the belly, then the rib, exhale in reverse. Continue breathing in this way for a few rounds. Then breathe deep into the belly, the ribs, and lastly feel the chest fill with air until you can’t fill any more. Then slowly like gently seeping air out of a balloon let the chest empty, then the ribs and lastly the belly. Continue breathing in this way.

Technique of the week!

Alternate Nostril breathing

This week is all about finding an anchor and using it to keep you present. Becoming present will pull you out of the stories in your head and hopefully allows you the opportunity to choose to relax the body. This next technique has been proven to bring you back to a state of neutrality in the nervous system, mind and body. It is an excellent technique for anxiety attacks, or to begin or end your day.

Did you know that there are two divisions of the autonomic nervous system? The sympathetic often referred to as the fight or flight state. It is known for being responsible in times of an emergency. The other division is the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic is known as the rest and digest state. The state in which we need to be in to sleep and heal. When we experience something chronically it can affect our nervous system. Let’s think about anxiety for a few moments. What is happening when we get anxious? We are often thinking about an impending threat. For example, a bear is running at me - anxiety - which causes our sympathetic nervous system kicks in. Example two, you’re arriving at a social situation, thoughts about who is or isn’t going to be there, what you’re wearing, what you might talk or not talk about, and so much more begin to arise in the mind - anxiety - once again causing the sympathetic nervous system to kick in… when this happens regularly, for long periods of time, from “threats” large and small it is often called chronic anxiety in our culture. This means your sympathetic nervous system is working really, really hard all the time! Anything in large consumption is toxic to our well being.

Take breathing for example, we need to inhale and exhale. If you inhale, and inhale again, inhale some more, and hold. The oxygen that is normally a necessity for our life changes and becomes toxic. You are eventually going to need to exhale. This is because we breathe in oxygen and our bodies turn it into carbon dioxide. If you do not exhale the body will take oxygen our of your blood cells, causing your blood pressure rise. This lack of fresh oxygen and over load on carbon dioxide is toxic to the body. So toxic that they body knocks you unconscious so that it can breathe regularly again to keep you alive. Even the air we breathe and need is toxic in to large of a consumption.

Here is another fun fact, our autonomic nervous system is connected to which nostrils we breathe predominately with. Who knew? Yogi’s thousands of years ago as it turns out. The left is often associated with the parasympathetic state and the right with the sympathetic. When we practice alternate nostril breathing, it allows us to breathe evenly through both nostrils. Bringing us back into a neutral state. Since the nostrils and nervous states are connected when we change or alter one, we alter the rest. Our goal is to get back to a state of neutrality to allow our bodies to reset.

Take your thumb and ring finger, lightly place them on the outside of the nostrils. Exhale completely. Block the right and inhale from the left, block the left and exhale from the right, inhale from the right, block the right and exhale out of the left. That is one cycle. Repeat nine times and then notice how you feel.