3 Steps to calm anxiety

What is Anxiety? If you are feeling anxious, know that you are not alone. Everybody will experience anxiety at sometime; it’s a normal human emotion. Saying that, the speed at which we are living and the speed our brains and nervous systems are accessing information has greatly increased. This means anxiety has become a bigger deal. Looking through the lens of Ayurveda, anxiety is a Vata imbalance. This is an excess of the Ether and Air elements. This means that certain body types are more prone to becoming affected by anxiety and certain activities can increase anxiety.

How does yoga help? When we feel anxious the energy in the body rises upwards and we tend to shallow breath, we may experience dizziness, nausea, heart palpitations, insomnia and digestive issues. If you have extreme anxiety it may also lead to panic attacks. Slow hatha yoga where we focus on grounding is a great panacea for anxiety. On a mental level anxious thoughts are future focused. Yoga, mindfulness meditation, breath work can help bring us back into the present moment.

Step 1 – Awareness Recognise that you are feeling anxious, acknowledge that anxiety is occurring, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Step 2 – Allow Allow it to be there, to feel it. Try not to resist the anxiety but instead, notice where in the body you are feeling the effects of this emotion and notice the intensity. When we name anxiety for what it is, a temporary emotion that comes and goes, it takes away its power.

Step 3 – Action (Choose a way to respond) Choose how to move forward, below are 5 ways you can do this through Yoga. Different approaches work for different people, choose what works […]