Natural Anxiety Remedies

Part 1 Passionflower

There are several natural anxiety remedies available. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses and they don’t work for everyone. The important thing is to find the natural anxiety remedy that works for you. I’ll discuss several remedies for natural anxiety relief in this post and the next few ones.

The natural anxiety remedy I’ll discuss today is passionflower.

Passionflower has been used as a natural anxiety remedy and has also been used as a for remedy insomnia. Its effectiveness is disputed, achieving non significant results in 2 studies even though job performance did improve with less drowsiness when compared to mexazolam. Besides that, it was comparable to benzodiazepine drugs, but again not statistically significant.

In another study in 2008, passionflower did seem to reduce anxiety for patients before an operation when compared to a placebo. Still, when looking at the general picture, the effects are too small and too few to be conclusive.

It has several side effects including nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, and rapid heartbeat. Do not take it when pregnant, nursing or when you have liver or kidney disease. The safety has not yet been established for these groups. Also refrain from taking passionflower when under sedatives.

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercises 13 & 14

Affirmations

As I’ve said before, we often experience negative thoughts.  These thoughts often block out attempts at anxiety relief. More often than not, these are automatic reactions that we’ve learned over the years. We might not even be aware of them consciously, but you can be sure that they have an effect.

Negative thoughts day in, day out create a negative and stressful atmosphere in your body and mind.

Before you can experience anxiety relief you have to change your negative thoughts.

The first step is to stop listening to them. In order to do that more effectively it helps to replace them with positive sayings and thoughts that likewise will have an effect on your mind.

I’ve found and supplemented the following affirmations that you can repeat to yourself whenever you feel the need to help with anxiety relief.

Exercise 13 Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Affirmations

• I handle stress and tension appropriately and effectively.
• My mood is calm and relaxed.
• I can cope well and get on with my life during times of stress.
• I think thoughts that uplift and nurture me.
• I enjoy thinking positive thoughts that make me feel good about
• myself and my life.
• I deserve to feel good right now.
• I feel peaceful and calm.
• My breathing is slow and calm.
• My muscles are relaxed and comfortable.
• I feel grounded and fully present.
• I can effectively handle any situation that comes my way.
• I think through the solutions to my emotional issues slowly and
• peacefully.
• I am thankful for all the positive things in my life.
• My body is healthy and strong.
• I eat a well balanced and nutritious diet.
• I enjoy eating delicious and healthful food.
• My body wants food that is easy to digest and high in vitamins and
• minerals.
• I do regular exercise in a relaxed and enjoyable manner.
• I enjoy my life to the fullest and choose to be happy.
• I control the thoughts I have and choose to think the thoughts that
• benefit me the most.
• I trust and follow my intuition.

Exercise 14 Positive Self Esteem Affirmations

The following affirmations will help you raise your self esteem. Raised self esteem is one of the key pillars of anxiety relief. Like the ones above, it’s not about just saying them. Believe them, say them with your heart and soul. Repeat them as often as you need. Trust your intuition.

• I am filled with energy, vitality, and self-confidence.
• I am pleased with how I handle my emotional needs.
• I know exactly how to manage my daily schedule to promote my emotional and physical well-being.
• I listen to my body’s needs and regulate my activity level to take care of those needs.
• I love and honor my body.
• I fill my mind with positive and self-nourishing thoughts.
• I am a wonderful and worthy person.
• I deserve health, vitality, and peace of mind.
• I have total confidence in my ability to heal myself.
• I feel radiant with abundant energy and vitality.
• The world around me is full of radiant beauty and abundance.
• I am attracted only to those people and situations that support and nurture me.
• I appreciate the positive people and situations that are currently in my life.
• I love and honor myself.
• I enjoy my positive thoughts and feelings.
• I deserve to be happy and lead a long fulfilling life.
• I choose to be happy, to be open to new experiences and learn and better myself.

Believe these affirmations, say them and let them run around in your mind. What you believe is your truth. Once you’ve tried these exercises and the previous once you can continue to do those that resonated best with you. Besides these exercises continue to focus on other methods of anxiety relief, such as healthy eating, self-help books or seeing a therapist.

Feel free to ask a question or leave a comment, I would to hear what you think!

Take care,

3 tips for Anxiety Relief

Anxiety affects people through uncertainty and worry. Sometimes it can really make life hell. Did you know that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S.? They affect about 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, which is 18.1% of U.S. population. That’s a lot of people who need anxiety relief.

Anxiety relief is possible through different ways. Mental health professionals, medication, support groups and self help are all possible depending on what is around you and what you need. All can be helpful and everyone is different in the approach they take. You do need to realize though, that unless you make a personal commitment to overcoming anxiety there is little any of these methods can do.

Below are 3 anxiety relief tips that will help take control of your life and strengthen the other methods of anxiety relief.

Tip 1 Accept Uncertainty

Those who worry about everything do so because they feel the need to 100% certain about everything. That’s what makes them feel safe. Worrying allows them “predict” the future, giving them a sure outcome, even if its negative. The first thing to do when you want anxiety relief is to accept the fact that you can’t be sure about everything. Worrying doesn’t predict what’s going to happen, it just gives the worse case scenario. Try instead to acknowledge that something bad could happen but then again, so could something great! Either way, you can’t know for sure, so don’t let it bother you. Worrying about it, won’t change a thing except for the fact that it makes you feel bad.

Tip 2 Worry about it later!

When we try to suppress our worries, they often just get worse. So here’s a great tip to deal with that. Don’t suppress it, write it down and worry about it later! Give yourself a worrying time out. Once a day for a certain amount of time, go over the list of worries you have and let your mind free. The rest of the day is worry free, because every time a new one comes up, you add it to the list and postpone the worrying. No worries, is relief from anxiety! Make sure you don’t have your worry period right before going to sleep. That’s a guarantee for a restless night.

Tip 3 Relax!

Learning how to relax is great for anxiety relief. You can do this in any way that seems right for you. Some people prefer to meditate, others go jogging while some use deep breathing exercises. Try out a few different methods and stick with what works. The ability to relax your mind and body at will is something most people have difficulty with, but trust me, it’s totally worth it. The day you learn to relax at will, is the day you control you mind instead of your mind controlling you. Learning how to relax at will comes through practice, every day find a moment of peace, preferably after your worry period where you just close your eyes and let all the thoughts, good and bad just flow through your mind like leaves on a river. Don’t evaluate them, don’t judge them, just acknowledge they’re there and that you’ll take care of them another time. For now, you’re just letting go.

Take these tips and make them your own, anxiety relief is in your hands. Feel free to ask questions or leave a comment, let me know what you want to read about.

Take care,

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercises 11 & 12

Color Visualization

Relief for anxiety can come in many forms. For example, meditation has helped countless people to overcome and relieve their anxiety. But meditation can be done in different ways. Some people prefer mindfulness meditation while others prefer color visualization for anxiety relief. Today meditation exercises are based on color therapy.

Colors have an effect on the human body and mind. The scientific community has demonstrated repeatedly that being exposed to certain colors has a physical and mental effect. In fact, it has been shown that anxiety can indeed be relieved using certain colors. Using the colors blue and red, the following exercises will help with calming you down and recharging your battery.

The color blue diminishes the fight or flight response. It also has a calming physiological effect. It slows down your breathing, pulse and perspiration. This is great for anxiety relief.

Exercise 11 Calming Blue

Start by closing your eyes and relaxing completely. Now imagine that a beam of blue light is coming from the universe into the top of your head. Visualize how the blue light fills your entire body from top to bottom. Feel how the blue light soothes your body and mind. Really feel it happening. As you inhale, notice how the blue light fills your lungs and as you exhale visualize the light going out, taking all the tension, stress and anxiety with it. This warm soothing blue light makes you feel calm and collected. You feel at peace, bathing in a warm blue light. Go through this process for a few minutes and just enjoy the relaxation.

Red stimulates all the endocrine glands, and heightens senses such as smell and taste. Science has shown red to be associated with high energy and vitality. Anxiety relief will be easier to find when you have more energy.

Exercise 12 Charging Red

Start by closing your eyes and relaxing completely. Now imagine that a beam of warm red light is coming from the universe into the top of your head. Just like the blue this red fills your entire body. This color has a different effect however. You may begin to notice that as the red color travels through your body that you start to feel energized and vital. Your energy reserves are being refilled…and then some! Breathe in the energizing red light energy and breathe out tension, fatigue and negative thoughts. This warm red light clears your mind, charges your body and gets you in a state of mind where you know you can take on the world.

I hope you enjoy these two exercises. Comment on your experiences, let me know how it worked for you. The last two anxiety relief exercises will lists of positive affirmations you can use to replace the automatic negative thoughts I’ve discussed in a previous post.

Take care,

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercise 10

Inner Child Healing

We all become adults and grow up. Even so, within all of us resides our inner child. That’s the part of us who doesn’t care what others think, who just wants to live life and learn by experiencing new things. All of us are born without preconceptions, judgments and ideas about how the world should be. This changes as we grow and learn just how limited we are. By others, our environment and ultimately, by ourselves. This creates anxiety.

Children believe in a world of unlimited possibilities, only to become limited as they grow older. These limits aren’t always real facts, they are conditions imposed by others.

Healing your inner child is a meditation exercise that brings back that feeling of joy and openness to experience. We’re going to do this by taking all the fears, anxiety and stress you might have experienced as a child, and let it go, much like we did with the previous anxiety relief exercises.

Let’s begin by closing the eyes and breathing in the familiar relaxed way. Allow yourself to become totally relaxed in body and mind.

Now it’s time to find your inner child. Where is he or she? In your body? Like your chest, your head or maybe throughout your entire body. Perhaps he or she is beside you, or following you around. It doesn’t matter, just go with what feels right.

Take a good look, how old is she/he? What is he/she wearing? How is he/she feeling? Happy? Angry? Sad?

Tell your inner child it’s all going to be ok, in fact, it’s all going to be great. Visualize the negative feelings, emotions and anxiety come out of your inner child and be gathered in a box in front of him/her. Continue filling the box till it’s all out. Close the lid and get rid of the box. You can send it out to space, bury it deep in the ground or just make it disappear.

Now watch your inner child as you imagine him/her being surround by a iridescent white gold light. It’s healing your inner child, making him/her feel happy and relaxed. See how your inner child smiles when you give him/her a toy or stuffed animal, preferably his/her favorite one.

Now notice how all this makes your inner child feel and take the time to notice how you are feeling. Continue to breathe deeply and slowly and when you’re ready, say goodbye or see ya later.

This exercise might take some imagination, but then again so did the other ones. Either way, for your mind it doesn’t matter. Try it out and see how it makes you feel and let me know! I’d love to hear your comments.

The next 2 exercises will use visualization of colors to help with stress and anxiety relief.

Take care,

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercises 8 & 9.

Making stress and tension disappear

When people perceive and experience stressors they often automatically enlarge them or blow them up out of proportion.  At the same time, people rarely give themselves nearly enough credit. Challenges or problems that may seem insurmountable or too difficult to handle, can be brought down to smaller tasks that can be managed, sometimes even with relative ease. It’s all about perception, as you will see in the next exercises.

Exercise 8 Shrinking The Stress

What you’re going to do here is simply visualize or imagine a situation that causes you stress. This could be an event of some kind, a certain person or anything else that could cause anxiety or stress for you.

Now pay attention to the to the image, where do you see it in your mind? Is it somewhere on the top, the middle, somewhere off to the side? Is it black or white or colorful? Are there any sounds or is everything silent?

Once you have established all of this, it’s time to take control of the image. Take that image, wherever it is and make it smaller and smaller till it’s almost out of sight. If it’s a colorful picture, make it black and white, if it’s in the middle or somewhere else you can see it easily, move it off to the side. If there are any sounds, turn the volume down till you can’t or barely can hear it.

Now that it’s really tiny, plain and quiet, take one good look at it, say goodbye and either make it so small it disappears completely or push it far away over your mental horizon so it’s out of sight. This exercise can be amusing and fun to do and it has the benefit that you’re taking control of your thoughts. Instead of letting them just be, you decide their attributes and whether or not you want them to exist at all. This is a great tool, not just for self help for anxiety. A great way to really finish this, is to imagine or visualize the situation you would like to experience instead. Make it huge, colorful, loud and clear and put in the center of your “vision”. Notice how good it makes you feel and come close your eyes any time to come back and visit.

Exercise 9 The Eraser

This one is similar to the previous one. Once again visualize the stressful event. Make sure you can see the whole picture and take a good look at it. Now imagine that you have a giant eraser in your hand. Take this giant eraser and erase the whole image. It’s important that you enjoy this process. You’re saying goodbye to stress and that always something to be happy about! Continue to erase the image till its totally gone. Take a nice deep breath in and let it out slowly, enjoying the empty space. Now it’s time to take a paintbrush or pencil or marker and draw the new replacing image. Once again, color it up! Make it lively and wonderful and enjoy the process.

These exercises are great for enhancing your visualization skills and they are fun to do. Remember that the mind has a great power. If negative thoughts and images can cause you stress, then making them go away and replacing them with positive thoughts can definitely help.

Next time I’m going to give you an exercise to release anxiety and stress from the past. It’s an exercise to heal the child that resides within.

Take care,

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercises 5, 6 & 7.

Finding and releasing muscle tension for anxiety relief.

Muscle tension is often a caused by emotional and mental problems. For example, a lot of pent up anger can manifest itself as chest pain, or tightness around the chest muscles. Chronic neck pain often arises with people who have problems expressing themselves. Tense and pent up muscles can restrain blood and energy flow thereby restricting the amount of oxygen that passes through.

Locating and releasing these tensions is beneficial for body and mind. That doesn’t mean however, that the emotional or mental causes can be ignored. Too much modern medicine is based on curing symptoms instead of causes. Use these techniques to relieve the tension, but keep in mind that you still need to find and take care of the cause of your problems.

Exercise 5 Locating Tension

Lie on your back in a comfortable position. Allow your arms to rest at your sides, palms down, on the surface next to you. Close your eyes, go to that relaxed state of mind and just scan your body with your mind for tension spots. Your mind knows where they are. Allow your attention to move from body part to body part and just notice how the muscles and tendons feel in your body. Are they tense? Are they relaxed? Make a mental note and move on. Go through your entire body this way. You’re going to get good at this after a while. I can now notice exactly where I feel the stress or tension in my body when it comes in. This allows me to direct attention to those spots and relax them immediately. A pretty handy ability if you ask me.

Exercise 6 Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Lie on your back in a comfortable position. Allow your arms to rest at your sides, palms down, on the surface next to you. Let the relaxation set in as you breathe in and out, deeply and slowly. Now there’s 2 ways to do is and we’re going through both, so you can find out which one you prefer.

I recommend recording them and listening to them for a better effect.

A. Close your eyes and continue to breathe in a relaxed way while you bring your attention to your feet. Imagine a warm, soothing feeling of relaxation surrounding your toes. Your toes are instantly becoming more and more relaxed. Really feel it happening. The relaxing feeling is now moving up in the balls of your feet, through you arches and into your heels. As the warm and soothing feelings go up into your ankles you notice how your entire foot is now completely relaxed.

The relaxing feelings now slowly crawl up into your lower legs. Notice and feel how the warm soothing sensations relax the muscles in your shins, your calves and how all the muscles and tendons are completely relaxing.

The feelings are now moving on up into your upper legs, notice how the muscles are releasing all the remaining tension, now and completely. The sensations are now moving up into your hips and core muscles. Feel your stomach and back muscles becoming loose and relaxed.

You now notice the warm relaxing feeling start in your fingers. They move up into the palm of your hand, into your wrists, into your lower arms and finally into your upper arms.

As the relaxing sensations crawl up your back, you notice how your spine is becoming more and more relaxed, the feelings move upward, relaxing your upper back, your chest and your neck and shoulder muscles. Feel how all the tension is now fully released. The warm feelings move up into your scalp and then slide down your face. Your entire body is now in a state of total relaxation.

B. The alternative way to do this is to go through each body part one by one, and tense them for 10 seconds. Then you release and allow the relaxation to set in. Feel free to do them both and see which works best.

Exercise 7 Scan and Release

After doing either or both of the exercises above, go through your body one more time and scan each part for remaining tension. If you find any, focus your attention on releasing it by breathing in deeply and imaging the tension seeping out as you exhale. Replace the tension with the warm soothing feelings from exercise 6a. Do this for each body part with remaining tension. When you’re done, just allow yourself to lie there for a few minutes, enjoying the relaxed state of being. When you feel you’re ready, get back up and enjoy your day, knowing that you control the relaxation of your body!

The next time, I’ll give you 2 exercises you can use to mentally erase stress and tension from your mind.

Feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to know how the exercises work for you! Take care,

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercises 3 & 4.

Anxiety and Stress Relief Techniques Series Exercises 3 & 4.

Grounding Techniques for anxiety relief.

Anxiety often stems from feeling divided and disorganized. This includes the feeling of being spread all over the place with so many different things to do. The next two exercises will help you gather and center yourself. They will allow you charge and use your energy more efficiently perhaps providing anxiety relief before you need it. If you want, you can record these and listen to them for a better effect.

Exercise 3 The Great Red Oak Tree Meditation

Find a comfortable position to sit or lie in. Close your eyes and allow the familiar feeling of deep and relaxed breathing to take over. Now allow yourself to imagine your body as a great red oak tree. Immovable amongst chaos your trunk is solid and strong. For years you have grown tall and strong, overcoming everything in your path. Now imagine your legs as roots growing deep within the earth. These roots are sturdy and strong, nourishing you with energy from the earth even in the hardest of times.  You notice right now how you feel grounded, centered and strong. Feel the stability your roots provide, feel the replenishing energy from the earth keeping you strong. You feel confident and know from deep within that you can handle any situation.

Exercise 4 The Grounding Wire Meditation

Find a comfortable position to sit or lie in. Close your eyes and allow the familiar feeling of deep and relaxed breathing to take over. Allow yourself to see a strong sturdy wire, cord or rope to come out of the base of your spine. This is your grounding wire. Now imagine this wire to drop deep down into the earth. There it attaches itself with a hook, or by being tied around something, either way it is steadfastly locked in place. While you continue to breathe deeply in a relaxed state of mind, notice how this wire gives you a feeling of stability and peace. No matter what happens, you will always be in connection with the earth, centered and in control.

That’s it for today, next time I’ll give you 3 exercises that will help with releasing muscle tension, another great way for anxiety relief. A relaxed body, leads to a relaxed mind.

Take care,

Anxiety and Stress Relief Exercises 1 & 2.

This post will be the first in a series of posts with anxiety relief techniques. In total I’ll go over 14 exercises you can use to calm your body and mind. Try them all out and go with the ones that work best for you.

Before we begin, I’d like to talk a bit about how stress affects your body. For the best anxiety relief, it’s crucial to understand the processes in your body.

Stress has had many definitions in medical and psychological literature and I won’t go into them now.What you need to know is that stress is a biological response to outward stimuli.

This response causes physiological changes in the body.
Back in the day, our ancestors experienced stress during times of danger. Think of being chased by a large and hungry animal. Because of the stress response, their bodies would have more energy. Adrenaline and cortisol would be released into their blood streams causeing them to react faster, feeel less pain and have a temporary energy boost. The same thing happens now, under times of great stress the same hormones are released freeing up your energy reserves. But there’s a problem. Unlike our ancestors, our stressors are often not temporary. They experienced stress and anxiey relief when they survived. We experience stress everyday, sometimes all day. Our bodies are simply not equipped to deal with that. The stress hormones release our energy reserves. That implies that when were under continues stress, we tend to run out. That’s why people end up feeling empty and depleted.

For those experiencing anxiety it’s like being under constant or regular stress. That’s why it’s crucial to “recharge” the battery when it comes to anxiety relief. The following exercises will help you do just that.

The first 2 exercises are about quieting the mind. People suffering from anxiety often experience negative thoughts running around in their heads. These thoughts only cause more stress and anxiety. By using these meditation techniques you will start to develop the ability to control your mind better, by focusing first on nothing and then on specific thoughts.

Realize right now, that you are in control of your conscious mind. No one else, but you decides what you think and when you think it. Break the circles of “automatic” thoughts. Don’t let your mind tell you how to think, it’s the other way around.

Exercise 1 Focus

With meditation the focus is usually on nothing, for quite a few people this can be a difficult thing to do. Don’t worry, we’re gonna make it a bit easier. Focus instead on an object you like. Choose a small personal thing, like a watch, necklace, stuffed animal, anything. Close your eyes and focus on this object for a few minutes while you breathe in and out deeply and slowly. Keep your attention on the object as you relax more and more with every breath. If any outward thoughts come in, just tell yourself: “it’s ok, I’ll deal with this later”.  Just wave the thought away and return your attention to your personal object. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it, right away. Inner focus can take some time to master but its well worth the journey.

Exercise 2 General Meditation

This one is similar to the one above. The difference is that with this exercise you focus on nothing. That way we’re gonna do that is by making your mind blank. Just close your eyes and focus on the blackness you see. Breathe in deeply and slowly and notice how every aspect of your body is influenced by your breathing. Notice and feel how your stomach rises, how the air expands your chest, how it feels to inhale and exhale through your nose. Be conscious of the whole process. Once again, just wave away other thoughts, telling yourself that there is a time and place to deal with them, just not now. If it helps you can also focus on a feeling or word.

For example,  focus on a feeling that made feel so relaxed or good in the past. Just take that feeling and amplify it, make it stronger. Just let yourself be in the moment completely. Alternatively you can also focus on a word, such as peace, calm, or relax. So while you monitor your breathing process, continue say relax gently in your mind over and over again. Do this as long as feels good for you.

Alright, try these out and notice how they make you feel. The next 2 exercises will be about grounding yourself. This is another crucial way for experiencing anxiety relief. We’ll use meditation to symbolically help you stand firmly on the ground, staying calm when everything else falls apart.

I would love to hear about your experiences, feel free to leave a comment.

Take care,

Anxiety and Children

Children can experience the same anxiety disorders that adults experience. In fact, because of stress from school, social pressures and extra curricular activities children can be especially vulnerable to developing anxiety disorders.

Besides that, there is another type of anxiety children can experience. This is called Separation Anxiety. This occurs when children experience a lot of anxiety when separated from their parents. They may be worried about the health and safety of their parents, have trouble sleeping alone, experience extreme homesickness, and get sad or depressed when separated. Separation anxiety can be developed anytime before age 18, but it’s most common for seven to nine year olds.

Besides separation anxiety, children can also experience anxiety related to school. Every kid doesn’t want to go to school once in a while, but when they regularly insist on staying home, they may be experiencing anxiety. Common causes are:

• Separation anxiety
• Stress about performance
• Anxieties about making friends
• Fear of teachers or other students
• Using school bathrooms
• Being called on in class
• Changing for gym

Especially for children, it’s important that you choose the right therapy and mental health professional. Take care to choose someone with experience in treating children and make sure you have a good overview of the treatment plan. Successful treatment takes time and energy, and a supportive, understanding and accepting attitude is paramount.

With stressful times like these, pressure coming from school and other daily life activities, anxiety relief has never been more important.

Take care,