Hello you.
Welcome to the Anxiety Armory.
Where in this safe space we're going to find some tools and techniques that are going to help you cope with the uncomfortable symptoms that anxiety causes within your body.
Today we're going to befriend it because when you resist it the symptoms feel worse.
When you befriend it and acknowledge it they start to dissolve.
Okay,
I'm going to start to breathe a little bit deeper and rub the palms of the hands together.
Let's see if we can stir up some energy and invite it to begin to shift.
Take a nice deep breath in.
And an exhale out through the mouth.
Breathing in fully and deeply.
Exhale shake the hands out to the sides let something go We're going to let the palms gently rest on your heart space.
Allow your eyes to gently close and feel the ground below you,
Holding you steady and safe.
Right now with the hands on the heart space you are releasing oxytocin,
The love hormone,
Into your body.
And oxytocin helps to combat the effects of cortisol,
The stress hormone.
We all need cortisol to some level.
It helps us wake up,
Get up and start our day.
But too much of it can leave us feeling anxious.
Let's breathe in and out of the heart space now and just allow that love hormone to circulate.
And from here,
You're simply going to start to notice and acknowledge any uncomfortable feelings within your body.
So maybe your heart rate is increased.
Perhaps your shoulders feel tense.
Maybe there's a tightness or an uneasiness in your stomach area.
We're just going to notice these parts of your body that are feeling uncomfortable and acknowledge them.
We're going to allow them to be seen and heard and acknowledged.
I'm just going to breathe in gently.
And as you exhale,
Send a little bit of love to all of those parts of your body that feel uncomfortable.
I'm going to invite them to soften,
To relax and to begin to release.
And the part of your brain that has switched you into fight,
Flight or freeze,
Aka the stress response,
Is the part of you that simply wants to keep you safe.
Quite often the body and the mind can't tell the difference between a real threat and a perceived threat.
So just give yourself some grace.
It's part of who we are as human beings.
And you're going to thank your human thinking mind,
Your ego,
For trying to keep you safe.
And by acknowledging the symptoms in your body and inviting them to soften,
You're reassuring this part of your brain that all is well here.
And you are safe.
Feel free to join me as you breathe in and opening the arms out to the sides.
And as you exhale,
Wrap them around yourself.
Embracing.
What I like to call a self-love.
Trust that this oxytocin is entering into your body and circulating around your bloodstream.
And your stress hormones are already beginning to reduce.
We have already begun to trigger your relaxation response.
Keep breathing here and softening your body.
I would like to tell you that you're not alone in how you're feeling.
I and many others have been anxious many,
Many times.
You can use these tools and techniques to empower yourself and disempower your anxiety.
As your body begins to regulate and find a sense of grounding and calm.
Just keep breathing and staying in the present moment,
Noticing the sensations that you are feeling.
All is well here.
I am safe.
On your next breath in,
I'm going to invite you to lead with the elbows as you reach up towards the sky and paint a big rainbow out to the sides with your hands and just let them land on the surface beside you.
It might be your chair,
It might be the ground,
But you're just going to bring yourself back to the surface below you and allow it to hold you steady and hold you safe.
We're going to breathe in here.
And exhale,
Blinking the eyes open,
Coming back into the room,
Into your surroundings and just noticing if anything has shifted for you today.
I'm going to thank you for taking this time for yourself to acknowledge,
To notice.
And to release those symptoms of anxiety.
I'm proud of you for empowering yourself with this tool,
This technique.
And I'm going to invite you to take it with you.
You can use it anytime,
Anywhere.
Whenever you feel stressed,
Whenever you feel anxious.
