3 Ways to Manage Anxiety In the Moment
Anxiety. It’s uncomfortable, unsettling, overpowering and at times, debilitating. It can affect different areas of our daily lives, interfering with work, relationships, sleep and more.
Though each of our experiences of anxiety will be unique, what goes on within us when we’re anxious is not, and this understanding can be a great first step to taking control of it. Our bodies are wired to function in the same way, and there are many techniques we can use to manage and reduce anxiety when it strikes.
Why do we experience anxiety?
Though it may seem rather unhelpful, anxiety does have a purpose – it’s part of the innate way we deal with stress. Anxiety is our body’s protection mechanism, also known as the ‘fight-or-flight’ response.
There are two branches to our autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.
The sympathetic nervous system is our fight-or-flight response, the state that puts us on high alert and allows us to react to and escape from threats. If you were being chased by a lion, this response would be appropriate.
The parasympathetic nervous system is our ‘rest-and-digest’ state, where we feel calm and relaxed. These two systems should work in balance, each used when required.
Since our ancestors had to be on the lookout for threats in order to survive, we evolved using our fight-or-flight system on a daily basis. Nowadays, however, the threats that we face are nowhere near as life-or-death, yet our bodies react in the same way and habitually shift into the sympathetic nervous system.
This is what’s behind the anxiety we feel in everyday life. It’s how our body is reacting to what it’s perceiving as a threat.
Add in smaller life stresses, work and family commitments, and you can see why many of us feel anxious all the time! We’re stuck in fight-or-flight, often without even realising it.
It’s important to remember that anxiety in itself isn’t a bad thing – it becomes a problem when we experience it so much that it impacts on our ability to live our lives fully. We’ve become used to living in fight-or-flight mode, but it is possible to train ourselves to feel calmer, relax more fully and cope with anxiety.
How can we manage anxiety effectively?
When you’re in that place of feeling anxious, worried or stressed, it can feel overwhelming. But you can do something about it and steer yourself in the direction of calm. Here are three simple techniques you can use to instantly reduce levels of anxiety and transport yourself back to a place of feeling more balanced.
Breathe deeply
When we’re anxious, we tend to breathe shallowly in our chest, which only increases the anxiety and stress that we feel. By instead breathing deeply into the belly, we counteract this and switch over into the parasympathetic nervous system, restoring normal breathing and reducing anxiety.
Place your hands over your belly, and practice breathing deeply to expand the belly as you inhale and let it relax as you exhale. Breathe slowly and consciously, keeping your attention with your breath.
Another great way to calm the nervous system is by extending your exhales, making them slightly longer than your inhales. For example, if you breathe in for a count of four, try breathing out for a count of six – adjust the numbers to make sure your breathing is natural and comfortable.
Our breath is the most powerful tool we have, and when we know how to use it properly, we can use it to help us navigate back to calm every time anxiety rears its head.
Notice it, name it, embrace it
Let’s face it, anxiety is not generally a nice feeling. We don’t want to experience it, and we might wish it would disappear. But in the wise words of psychologist Carl Jung, ‘what you resist persists.’
Resisting anxiety tends only to make it stronger and more overwhelming, so we can instead use mindfulness to become aware of anxiety, allow for it and feel it fully. As counterintuitive as it may sound, when we allow uncomfortable feelings to be truly felt, they usually subside a lot quicker.
Try these three steps:
Notice it – become aware that your anxiety trying to alert you to something it perceives as a danger and pay attention to it.
Name it – whether you say to yourself ‘anxiety is here’ or even give your anxiety voice a name, naming it can help to reduce its intensity.
Embrace it – instead of fighting it, let the feelings of anxiety wash over you. Imagine you’re standing in the sea and a huge wave is approaching – you can brace yourself and fight the inevitable, or you can dive into it headfirst and get through it with more ease.
If the anxiety continues to feel strong, you could also try questioning your thoughts to gain some perspective. Is this worry realistic? Is it really likely to happen? What’s the worst-case scenario? Could I handle that?
Practice catching your negative thoughts and challenging them to stop them from overpowering you.
Tune into your senses
Becoming aware of the five senses is a wonderful way to instantly get out of your head and into your body, into the present moment.
A popular technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 method. Take a deep breath and then notice five things you can see around you, four things you can feel physically, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.
You can list them in your mind, or out loud. Then take another deep breath and notice how you feel. Tuning into the senses in this way really helps to calm the nervous system and lower levels of anxiety.
All of these techniques are based on principles of mindfulness, which shifts us from ‘doing’ mode to ‘being’ mode.
When we allow our mind to slow down, we escape the autopilot that we usually live our lives on, and instead take more notice of our present moment experience. Rather than focusing on our incessant thinking, we improve our ability to acknowledge them and recognise that they’re just thoughts – nothing more.
When we’re clear-headed and have tools to help us cope with anxiety, we’re better able to focus, solve problems and respond to our environment in a healthier way. Remember that however bad anxiety may feel at the time, it will always pass, and you can manage it.
To find out more about yoga classes in Chippenham with Kelly, click here.
