Loosening the Grip of Anxiety
The symptoms of anxiety can feel like our thoughts, breath and physical body are being gripped in a vice. The breath might tighten. Thoughts may clamp down into a familiar narrative such as “I can’t”. The emotion of fear may cause us to freeze. A familiar fog descends upon the mind.
Anxiety often shows up alongside perfectionism. It can cause sleeplessness, digestive disorders, cold extremities and panic. It can hit hard after years of striving and pushing through the symptoms in an outwardly successful life. More than ever, it is showing up in our youth as social, academic and familial pressures arise.
From my experience in working with clients of all ages, remarkable progress and relief happens as they learn to meet, greet and allow the symptoms to be experienced as messengers. Like any new skill it may feel difficult at first, so we establish what is needed to feel safe and secure amid the storm of symptoms. Unique to each person, this may feel like a safe haven or peacefulness in which to retreat in meditation or in everyday activities.
Through Integrative Restoration (IRest®), in a group or in private sessions, clients establish their safe haven or inner resource. They gently allow each sensation, emotion, belief and thought to be met and allowed to reveal itself….not as a symptom to be rid of, or fixed, but as communication from the body as it tries to find balance. The associated memories or stories that may come up are acknowledged. But in this work, they are just memories and conditioned thinking, so we come back to the body for inner wisdom.
Symptoms of anxiety can subside quickly. When they are noted early and allowed as communication, appropriate action can then be taken. This may be in the form of self-care, decision-making, words that need to be expressed or perhaps engaging in psychotherapy asa complimentary path to address what is underlying the anxiety.
Much like learning to ski, we might freeze with fear as we learn to assess the terrain. As we develop skill, we welcome more challenging terrain. It is then that ease and joy are unleashed, even among the challenges.
My work is to help you develop skills for ease of being. Life will continue to throw us tough terrain, we can count on that. Now is the time to hone the skills and open the heart to the richness of life.
It this resonates with you, please contact me for a complimentary 15-minute phone or Skype consultation.
That which we fully meet, we will transcend
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