To support International Women’s day we are including a guest blog from Nicola Wagstaff from Inspire and Rewire with some great tips on how to relieve anxiety.
When it comes to the mind, pain comes from when we are thinking too much into the past (depression) or too much into the future (anxiety). We have all the emotions on the spectrum for a reason and so some anxiety, or feeling down, or anger etc. all are required for various reasons e.g. to move away from something, to be aware of danger, or to follow what’s right for you. It’s only when we are stuck in those extreme emotions in a chronic way that it can impact our health and wellbeing.
There are various ways that I lead people to that in the work that I do which is why my slogan is ‘you are what you are looking for’. I have found that through my training as a Yoga teacher, NLP coach and Hypnotherapist that our pain comes from when we attach emotions to a thought. When we struggle to move out the emotion. Emotion means to move out, so if it gets stuck then that can be physical, mental or emotional. We need to find our own tools to shift that out. It’s a journey of self awareness. This is mindfulness.
Whether this is occurring in your personal life or at work it is equally as important. Over the years working in learning and development and working with various groups from shop floor to execs, I have witnessed anxiety showing it’s face at varying levels with various faces; frustration, anger, introversion/extroversion, physical illness. Often it is either linked to a feeling of being over-whelmed. Even after a period of difficulty hormones/ chemicals can stay in the body impacting the mind and the body and patterns can also be formed. In my experience anxiety comes from these main areas:
- Not saying no
- Message from self – intuition
- Passion: purpose mis-alignment
- Belief/Confident in self/ feelings
- Trauma part or current
We have a cycle that needs to be broken for the pattern to be rewired. I believe we each have a spiral – up and down; sometimes we can find ourselves stuck in our spiral or a negative cycle. Thereby we can raise awareness of red flags, while preparing a unique toolbox for when you find yourself on different places on that negative spiral. It could be food, walk, meditation, dance, friends, alone time, bath, holiday, depending on what you like to do. But it’s also about raising your self-awareness of what works for you at varying stages of your spiral; sometimes a walk is not what you need.
Where you feel you need external support you can speak to an external support professional. The objective is always to get you to a place where you know your own tools and have taken empowerment back into your own life. These tools are interchangeable and selecting the right one for me comes with awareness.
The way I see the progress based on the clients I have had is the following:
1. Awareness (Initial discomfort or drive to change)
2. Exploration (why?)
3. Blame (who? when? where?)
4. Application & Options (understanding – leaving the blame where it is and choosing to move forward from that with awareness; learning and growth and taking ownership/ responsibility – trying techniques, recognising red flags)
5. Maintaining with tools (using own techniques, recognising triggers and maintaining balance)
For example; a person who is calm at work but gets palpitations at home when trying to sleep. This is an example of anxiety. This person wants to change it (step 1). They have acknowledged it, which is an achievement in itself. Then they explore why they get like this (step 2) – perhaps it’s workload, a person at work, their personal pressures at home. Or it could be a pattern that has been around for a long time. After identifying reasons (step 3) they can look at options to move past it (step 4) and make that a new habit (step 5).
Practical Tips
Here are some of my tips for breaking the cycle or maintaining a new balance or way to be/think/live. Of course everyone is different, so it’s about experimenting with what works for you and being kind to yourself in the process. Rather than feel hung up on your feelings and adding more anxiety to it, see if you can step back and observe that feeling without attaching a negative emotion on top of it. Praise yourself for noticing with awareness and keep that positive reinforcement. For your long term anxiety support it’s worth looking into a professional of anxiety to explore the root cause, it might go back further than you think; a coping mechanism that may have been developed. That’s ok, but if it’s holding you back, perhaps it’s time to address it with compassion and learning to move forward.
- Breathing techniques – simply pausing and releasing tension from the body
- Meditation (classes can be found on my website as well as blogs on tips and benefits www.inspireandrewire.com/blog)
- Yoga (classes can be found on my website as well as blogs on tips and benefits)
- Aromatherapy (especially Neroli and Lavender). Use before bed in a bath with Epsom/ Sea/ Himalayan Rock Salt, and oil. This will relax muscles and so your body inside and out, plus the aroma will calm the senses and the mind. You can also place some drops on your pillow. The salt contains Magnesium which is missing in the soil these days and Magnesium aids sleep. You could also have oils by your desk for through the day for calming or waking up
- Intake:
- Drink more water, eat more greens, less toxins. Rather than overwhelming yourself with a new way of living just start by cutting out 1 thing and introducing another
- Eat protein especially just before bed – just a little bite and avoid sugar/ caffeine even if it’s early in the day – helps reduce sugar cravings and increases ability to sleep well. Also eat more leafy greens
- Smoothies: e.g. Spinach, Kale, Mango, water or Coconut water, Flaxseed, Pea Protein
- Herbal Teas – Pukka do a great range for sleeping too, calming or waking. Some might taste bad to you so have a go at all the range – try Tescos but also if you order online you can pick and mix 10 different ones at a time to try. Also experiment with how long you leave the bad in
- Supplements – B Vitamins and Ashwagandha (an adaptogenic herb so if your adrenals are too high or too low it will balance but I recommend speaking to a Nutritionist for one to one support
- Download an App which supports sleep aid such as ‘Headspace’ or ‘isleep’ or ‘Buddhify’. They not only have meditation and hypno sessions but they have mind tricks that help you shift perspective. You can also buy earphones that are built into your pillow or head band so that ear phones don’t bother your ears when you sleep
- Drains and Radiators – sometimes things or people, places or thought patterns take away peace and unknowingly impact our emotions and therefore our behaviours. Once you can identify the source of this you can begin to filter the the negative elements that you are allowing into your life
- NLP mind techniques There are various mindfulness techniques try google ‘NLP Wheel of Life’ to divide life categories into manageable priorities – this can also be done with work tasks
- On a deeper level – anxiety comes from worrying too I have found on my experience with clients and myself, that it comes from a couple of key core issues. Therapy can support this;
- Feeling as though you have no choice or control. Freedom and choice is joy. So when we have this taken away or we have a perceived lack of freedom it will impact our deeper feelings
- Not being good enough. We worry and obsess over other people or their opinion on us when we don’t have a high opinion of our self. We need to work on building our self-esteem and unconditional love for ourself. These deeper issues can impact our behaviour and prevent us from saying no when we need to
Everything is choice. From internal reactions to external actions Are you ready to make new choices?
This blog was brought to you by Beehive Healthcare therapist Nicola Wagstaff. If you find yourself struggling, not feeling good in your own company or anxious about meeting in groups, then perhaps take some time out to work on your self-esteem. Hypnotherapy can help with this and soon we will be introducing a monthly group called Anxiety T&T (tips and techniques with meditation). Nicola also shares meditations online and soon will be introducing the 10-day mindfulness online retreat to support your daily activity and to help you rewire and reset your thinking.
To get in touch with a member of the Beehive Healthcare team, or to speak to Nicola about the issues that she has addressed in her blog, or to find out about her upcoming classes and events, please feel free to get in touch!
Nicola also holds weekly yoga classes, monthly sound healing, yoga retreats and 1:1 sessions (yoga, hypnotherapy, NLP coaching, reiki and Indian head massage).
For up to date details of all Nicola’s events you can also check her facebook page
