Anxiety can often seem like a cyclone of thoughts and feelings taking over your mind and body. One way to shift out of that storm state is to ground yourself into the present moment.
Using the 4-7-8 breathing technique is a simple way to use your breath to help ground you. To use the 4-7-8 technique, breathe in quietly through the nose for 4 seconds. hold the breath for a count of 7 seconds. Then exhale forcefully through the mouth, pursing the lips and making a "whoosh" sound, for 8 seconds.
Tune into your body.
Notice how your body feels during a moment of high anxiety. Are you feeling tension anywhere specifically? The pit of your stomach, a knot in your throat, tension in your shoulders? Try noticing these points and actively releasing them. You may need to stand and stretch or close your eyes while asking your body to relax.
Or you can try a technique called progressive relaxation. In this technique, you systematically tense particular muscle groups in your body, such as your neck and shoulders. Next, you release the tension and notice how your muscles feel when you relax them. This exercise will help you to lower your overall tension and stress levels, and help you relax when you are feeling anxious.
Remind yourself that feelings and thoughts will come and go.
In a moment of high anxiety, we may feel overwhelmed by the thoughts in our mind. We may have trouble seeing them for what they are, just bits and pieces of information coming in and out of our awareness. Not all the thoughts that pass through our minds are true.
We often tell ourselves very unhelpful stories such as “I am a failure” or “I am unlovable.” These stories are not facts, they are just thoughts.
A way to help you untangle from these thoughts is by cultivating awareness of their presence and distancing yourself from them by “watching” them. One simple strategy to help you begin this is the leaves on a stream exercise.
You begin this exercise by picturing a stream. Imagine the stream flowing and on top of the water leaves are drifting away. Now bring to mind a particular thought and picture that thought being placed on top of one of the leaves. Now imagine that leaf being carried away by the stream. Continue to imagine this process with any thoughts that pop up in your mind for the next 3-5 minutes. This exercise helps to reinforce that thoughts will come and go, and if we can just notice and allow them to pass, they will.
Here is a link to a video demonstration of the exercise: https://youtu.be/r1C8hwj5LXw
Please reach out to me via phone or email if you’d like more information on these or others strategies to help reduce anxiety and increase your ability to live the life you desire.
