Welcome,
Close your eyes and find a comfortable position.
If you're here,
You know the feeling,
That sense of doom,
The heart palpitations,
The mind that won't stop spinning.
Maybe you've never had anxiety before and suddenly,
In your 40s,
It's here.
Or maybe you've always been a worrier,
But now it's physical,
Visceral,
Overwhelming even.
But here's the thing,
This isn't in your head,
It's in your hormones.
When our oestrogen drops,
Your natural anxiety buffer disappears,
Your body thinks it's under attack,
Even when it's sitting at your desk or lying in bed at 3am.
This is why anxiety feels so physical now,
The butterflies in your tummy,
Tightness in your chest,
Maybe shortness of breath,
Just feeling like you can't deal.
But,
You can shift this,
You can train your nervous system to feel safe again.
And I'm going to help you,
Let's start.
Take a deep breath,
In through your nose,
And out through your mouth slowly,
Good,
Let's do it again,
In through your nose,
One more time with me,
In through your nose.
Now,
Let's find where anxiety might be living in your body,
We're going to do a slow scan,
There's no rush,
The only invitation here is to notice.
Star the crown of your head,
Right at the top,
Is there any tension there?
I want you to work slowly,
Down across your forehead,
Into the temples at the side of your eyes,
And down into your jaw,
Feel into this space,
Is it feeling clenched,
Is there any electricity here,
Or heat?
Now we're going to move slowly down to your throat,
Does it feel tight,
Scratchy?
Now I want you to move your attention to your chest,
Is there constriction here,
Maybe a heaviness or a fluttering,
Just observe.
Now we'll move down to your belly,
Is there a churning,
Does it feel tight,
Knotted maybe?
Now bring your attention to your hands,
Are they cold,
Are they sweaty?
Let's move our focus down to your legs,
Your thighs,
Your knees,
How do they feel?
Restless,
Sore?
Now I want you to identify where anxiety feels most intense in your body right now,
Place your attention there,
And don't try to change it,
Just notice,
Breathe into that spot.
This is anxiety,
It's just sensation and energy moving through your body.
If you stay with it,
And you don't fight it,
Or try to make it go away,
I promise you,
It will pass.
Keep breathing into that sensation.
Now,
Underneath this physical anxiety,
There's usually a thought,
A fear even.
Together,
Let's ask,
What is it?
Maybe it's something bad is going to happen,
Maybe it's I can't handle this,
Maybe it's I'm losing control.
Silently name the fear,
Just acknowledge it.
Good,
You just externalised it.
Now,
Let's check back in with reality.
Right now,
In this exact moment with me,
Are you actually in danger?
Or is your body reacting to a hormonal signal that doesn't match what's actually happening?
Take a breath.
And now I want you to say to yourself,
I am safe.
This is anxiety,
Not danger.
Know that this feeling,
Even if it's hard,
Will pass.
It always does.
Know that you can handle this.
Now,
Let's bring your nervous system fully back online with grounding.
Open your eyes if they're closed.
And look around the room.
I want you to name five things that you can see.
Take your time to do this.
Now,
I want you to list four things you can touch and reach out and feel them.
Maybe it's the fabric of your clothes,
The surface beneath you,
A pillow or a blanket.
Next,
I want you to list three things you can hear,
Even if it's subtle.
And yes,
My voice does count.
Next,
I want you to list two things that you can smell.
And finally,
I want you to say one thing out loud that you can taste,
Even if it's your own saliva.
You are here.
Fully present.
Now,
Close your eyes again if you'd like,
If that feels good to you.
Notice how different your body feels now compared to when we started.
The tightness has raised,
Hasn't it?
Or at least it's eased.
And the spinning has slowed.
This is regulation.
And this is how you reclaim your nervous system.
You pause.
You slow down.
You give yourself permission to come back into the room.
And the next time the anxiety hits,
Remember these words and this moment.
It's not danger.
It's not danger.
It's just your body responding to hormonal chaos.
It's just your body trying to do its best to keep you safe.
And now you know what to do.
Body scan,
Name the fear,
Ground yourself.
There's something important I want you to know,
And something that it took me a while to figure out on my own journey with perimenopause.
It's that you're not at the mercy of your anxiety.
You have tools.
Now take one final deep breath with me in through your nose.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
Thank you for practicing with me.
