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"The best use of creativity is imagination.
The worst use of creativity is anxiety." Deepak Chopra
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is natural and normal and we all experience anxiety at some point or another. We often feel anxiety when we need to be alert to deal with a stressful situation. It is the body's response to the fight - flight - freeze response and it serves a purpose, however sometimes it can get overactive.
What can I do about Anxiety?
There are a range of tools that can assist in learning how to control anxiety. There are breath work techniques to help. Often when anxiety starts to increase, we go into a shallow breathing response, which in turn creates more of the anxiety that we are so wishing would stop.
Learning how to breathe in a more effective way, helps enormously.
A simple breath work technique to help, is to simply extend the length of the exhale, longer than the inhale breath. Slow down as you breathe in, and count how long you can breathe in for. Now as you breathe out, breathe out for a longer period of time. For example if you breathe in for a count of 4, exhale long count to 6 or 7. Notice the length of time it is comfortable to breathe in for, and over time you will be able to increase the length of the breath.
Learn to Stop and Pause
Just as we hit the pause button on our videos, we can learn to do that with our body. We need to learn to take time, to stop and reflect on what's going on. Anxiety is trying to tell you something. It may be that you are in danger and need to be careful. That after all, is it's purpose.
If you find anxiety is arising, stop for a little while and notice if you are having a feeling of emotional upset, or a reaction to something stressful. Sometimes after drinking too much caffeine, we can have an anxiety response, but we don't link it to the amount of caffeine we have had. We can also have a similar response to our blood sugars that are spiking.
What can I expect in a session?
As a holistic counsellor, in our sessions, I will assist you in learning how to manage your worrying and anxiety. It may feel as though you are the only one feeling this way, however, we all experience anxiety at some point in our lives, it is a normal emotional response to a situation.
In our sessions you will learn effective breath work techniques, and we will reflect on life style choices that may be contributing to anxiety. Sleep, diet, relationships, work, all contribute to anxiety. We'll work together to help you to master it, rather than it, mastering you.
Get Checked
There are certain health conditions that can give anxiety like symptoms. For example, if you have asthma and have trouble breathing, you may experience anxiety like symptoms. If any of the relaxation or other techniques don't seem to be helping, it's advisable to see your Dr to have it checked out.
"Anxiety is like a smoke alarm going off in the house. Now that can be very helpful... of course we need to know if there's a fire, so we can stay safe and take the appropriate action. Other times, that smoke alarm picks up little things, and yet, Anxiety would have you believe, you're in mortal danger. We need to learn the difference and how to work with it."
Anxiety Management Course
There are a course of 10 modules if you would like to work through them. I will send you the modules out each week for you to work on. You can work through them in session, or complete them at your own pace and then discuss them in a session.
You will learn...
What triggers worrying and what keeps it going. Attention Training - learn how to strengthen your attention, so that your mind is not so easily distracted by worries. It will help you to stay present-focused, to keep your mind on the task at hand and learn to disengage from worrisome thoughts.
We will also cover problem solving strategies, how to discover helpful thinking about things that concern you.
To finish up, we will look at strategies to help you stay on top of worries in the future, and develop a self management plan.
"Anxiety is when the butterflies in your stomach, turn to bees."
Hypnotherapy for Anxiety
If you have had a counselling session for anxiety, a comforting way to finish off the session, is to add another half hour onto your time, and help to relax at a deep level, and let go of some of the subconscious thought patterns that contribute to anxiety.
You can also attend Hypnotherapy for an anxiety session on it's own.
Where are the sessions held?
Sessions are held online via Skype. You can either download, Skype, use it on computer or, I can send you a link prior to your session - click here to find out more.
I've had some great feedback about sessions online, people say they are as good as in person sessions and have been enjoying the ease of being able to be at home, or travel and still connect.
On this site, you will also find a resources page that I have created. It is filled with links for all types of issues such as; addiction, anxiety, alcohol, arthritis, cancer, depression, eating, financial counselling, gambling, grief, mental health, pain, PTSD, treatment centres. There are reading suggestions and video links -
click here
To find links to all the pages on this site, visit the Site Menu - click here
Port Macquarie Counselling and Coaching - help along life's journey.
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