Join me… and chant in the Asda car park

So over the years, stress and anxiety have featured highly in my own life as well as the lives of most of the people I know. I mean, stress is an everyday word and it seems that it’s almost impossible for us to avoid it in this modern world. Perhaps if we opted out of the system all together and lived off grid we could get away from stress, or would we, I’m not actually sure if geography holds the answers. My experience tells me that people who run away from their situation by changing location or house or who they live with, generally take their stress, anxiety and everything else with them. And then the patterns repeat, it’s all part of our own script. So how do we cope? What can we do to bring our lives more into balance and reduce our own stress levels.

Recently I ran a zoom meeting on how to reduce stress and anxiety in difficult times. We practiced methods of self regulation to help us feel safe right now, calm our nervous system and relax our minds and bodies. We worked on stimulating the vagus nerve, focusing on becoming part of the solution and taking advantage of the opportunity to open up, wake up and help ourselves energetically and spiritually. We demonstrated to ourselves the power of what you can actually do and how it can stop us from feeling frantic, uncertain, fearful, out of control, anxious and depressed even. We changed the experience of our experiences.

The techniques we used are able to ground us, regulate us, and become part of the solution. We focused on six methods to help with the symptoms. Methods that require nothing more than you, and the decision to practice them. Just making the choice to take part and showing up for yourself. In my opinion these techniques are all fantastic as you can take them anywhere and practice them anytime.

We covered breathing techniques such as nadi shodhana, voo chanting, jin shin jyutsu holds, mudra & mantra combinations, moving from fovial into peripheral vision, tapping techniques and more. It was an interactive session and we all chanted and tapped together, which was fun and connected us all in the vibrational healing. These are all methods that you can learn and slot into your everyday life. If you want help learning these have a look through my website or please feel free to get in touch. 

Not that long ago I was on the way to the supermarket and I was feeling a sense of overwhelm with the current situation, tensions were high all around me, in my home,  as well as outside where most people seem to be in a state of total panic. So I took a few minutes, and grounded myself with a good few rounds of nadi shodhana before doing the weekly shop and the experience was a much easier one, I felt safe, serene, calm, relaxed and present as I shopped. 

I really hope that these tips will help you too and that you can begin to practice even just one of these today should you need to.

So, we have looked at how we can be part of the solution, but that still begs the question of finding the cause. Perhaps you are someone who suffers with migraine, or gut problems or back/neck pain and you know that they are caused by tension. How do you address the root cause of what is happening in your body. If you can get to the bottom of it then you won’t need the solutions at all. How freeing would that be! 

Something needs to change.

Try asking yourself what am I feeling right now? And where am I feeling it in my body? And is the cause of the tension something that you can change. Once we can identify what we can change and we find the courage to change it we are really on to something.  Perhaps you need to sat new boundaries for yourself, or learn to say no when you want to.  I remember someone teaching me that ‘No’ is a complete sentence…that was quite a revelation I can tell you, it meant I didn’t have to justify my decisions any more, I could just politely decline. Maybe you need to put your needs before everybody else and stop trying to spin so many plates. Could it be the it’s time to practice some self compassion and know that it is not selfish to take care of yourself. 

Self compassion is made up of three main parts. First accept that you are human and not a superhero, you are designed to make mistakes, to learn from them and grow. Another person in your position would like respond the same way as you. Second, most of us are our own biggest critic and that probably makes us a fairly unreliable source! Unless we lighten up and speak to ourselves as we would to someone that we truly love or care about, a best friend or a partner then we can be horribly self judging. Be kind to yourself. And finally, practice some mindfulness, stay in this moment, here and now and this will stop the scary narrative running away with itself in your thoughts.

Through self-compassion we become an inner ally instead of an inner enemy. So my wish for you is that you remove all negativity that you can, get focused and disciplined and remain consistent with your practices. If you need a mentor, get one and do exactly what they say. Stop surviving and start thriving.

A healthy mind and body is something we can achieve and if help is needed then just ask.