What do you do when you start to feel anxious?
Do you have some strategies and tools that you rely on?
This article offers 5 practical, easy-to-try tips to reduce anxiety naturally.
Awareness is the first essential step
Mental health awareness can help you address anxiety and boost your journey toward immediate recovery.
Anxiety comes in all shapes and sizes, from Sunday scares to more serious anxiety attacks. Paying conscious attention to this is the first and most important step.
Maybe lead and document these fears without judging them. Simply document and record them in writing.
And remember: you are not a fearful person. You're just experiencing an anxious moment.
Of course, switch the switch to relaxation
By slowing your exhalation, you can turn off your body's fear response and turn on the calming response. The hōki is designed to help you flip that relaxation switch.
Think of your breath as a light switch. When you breathe in, the light turns on. When you breathe out, the light goes out. When we are afraid, we usually breathe short and shallow. That's the equivalent of quickly turning a light on and off and on and off and on and off, etc.
When you slow your breathing (especially your exhalation), you turn off the fear response in your body for a longer period of time.
Now imagine how you would feel if you focused on breathing in slowly and breathing out slowly for 1 minute. Imagine 5 minutes at a time.
You may also want to learn other breathing techniques. There are countless videos on YouTube. We have also founded our own myhōki relaxation platform. Here you will also find courses from professional breathing trainers.
But no matter which way, learn to breathe properly.
You are not alone
Understanding that you are not alone and starting to make small, incremental micro-adjustments to your routine can have a real, lasting impact on how you feel. Changing something as small as one breath today will help you think better and feel better.
But to feel better, you have to change your approach.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety is “very treatable, but only 36.9% of sufferers receive treatment.”
Whether you decide to seek professional help or try the anxiety reduction tips in this article, acknowledging the anxiety and taking this step can have an immediate impact.
Change perspectives
We can all take a collective moment to acknowledge what we have just been through due to COVID.
Say these words with me, at least mentally: I survived a global pandemic. This is serious, this is hard, this is a lot. Talking to a therapist, even just about my experiences during COVID, would be more normal than not talking to a therapist.
Practicing such perspective shifts every day will recondition your mind. What do you already have that others would consider to be your biggest dream? Running water? Eating at the table? Electricity?
Micro-adjustments can help
By committing to small, gradual changes and micro-adjustments to your day, you can reduce daily anxiety. In every hōki packaging we include a few cards with questions that you can use to optimally reflect on your daily improvements in order to do exactly that.
Change is hard, right? When we start thinking about all the changes that need to happen in order for us to reduce our anxiety, the list gets pretty long. And maybe even overwhelming.
With one small change at a time, you build momentum and begin to reduce stress and anxiety as you progress. You shouldn't try to be perfect. The only thing that counts is that you try to make a little progress every day.
Cover photo shot by Gian Cescon. Downloaded from Unplash here .
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