On this episode of Brain Body Resilience, we're not just talking about battling anxiety, but embracing it as a valuable messenger. Learning to not only practice the skills that help you regulate but use them when your anxiety begins to spiral out of control.
You'll gain access to my top five strategies for immediate anxiety relief integrating your body and mind. We'll examine tools and techniques that foster an environment of safety within our own bodies.
Get in there and give it a listen!
Resources:
Manage Your Stress Mentorship
Discovery call
You can find more about Brain-Body Resilience and JPB:
On the BBR Website
On Instagram
On Facebook
Sign up for the BBR newsletter
On this episode of Brain Body Resilience, we're not just talking about battling anxiety, but embracing it as a valuable messenger. Learning to not only practice the skills that help you regulate but use them when your anxiety begins to spiral out of control.
You'll gain access to my top five strategies for immediate anxiety relief integrating your body and mind. We'll examine tools and techniques that foster an environment of safety within our own bodies.
Get in there and give it a listen!
Resources:
Manage Your Stress Mentorship
Discovery call
You can find more about Brain-Body Resilience and JPB:
On the BBR Website
On Instagram
On Facebook
Sign up for the BBR newsletter
What is up? Hello there. My name is Jessica Paching Bunch, you can call me JPB, and this is Brain Body Resilience. This is a podcast dedicated to growth, human development and stressing a little bit less so you can go ahead and live a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Hello my friends, and welcome back to the Brain Body Resilience podcast. This is episode number 165. I am still your host, jpb, and today's episode was a brilliant question from one of you. This is such a good question to go over because I know this will be a big help for lots of folks. The question is what to do in an active anxiety spiral. What can you do in those moments?
Speaker 2:Now, before we get into the tangible tools to use for immediate relief, it's important to understand what anxiety is and how it shows up for you in your mind and body, because knowing there is a biological reason for the feelings helps us to recognize what is happening and then stay grounded in what actions we can then take in those moments. The first thing to remember is that anxiety is not just worrying. It is the emotional and physiological response to chronic stress, to immediate threat, to stored trauma or uncertainty, both about the things you are feeling, the sensations you're having in your body and the world around you. So if we know the parts of anxiety that we don't generally think about things like the inability to relax because your nervous system is on high alert all of the time, the constant self-doubt and insecurity, the underestimation of your ability to handle the outcome of your choices or navigate uncertainty in your life or uncertainty in your ability to actually affect change in your immediate situation, in how you are feeling, which can bring sudden feelings of fear and terror, that panic. When we recognize the signs of anxiety in our body and remember that these are all just communication from your nervous system that something needs attention, it is a request for change of some sort, not necessarily signaling impending doom or that you are immediately dying. This is it, I knew it, this is the end, which is obviously the first thought. So when we start to feel those, those signals the heart pounding out of your chest, we're short of breath, sweaty and lightheaded, dizzy, holding immense tension in our back, neck, shoulders, face, jaw, hands clenching you can recognize that these signs are, that anxiety spiral and start to take action. In that moment Now, trying to control the feelings and sensations.
Speaker 2:That you're having to dismiss them or kind of push them aside, shove them away, try not to feel them comes from trying to keep things predictable so that your dysregulated nervous system can feel some sense of safety.
Speaker 2:And I know this tends to be the first action. We try to fight these feelings and sensations because they're scary. We generally feel out of control when there is anxiety and the sensations that we feel that come with that are scary because most of us don't take the time to allow, to recognize, to process the feelings and sensations that we have, because life is fucking busy and, frankly, we don't know how, because we never learned it, because this wasn't something that our parents, generations, knew to be able to teach us. So often we try to talk ourselves out of our anxiety and panic Everything's going to be fine, I am okay, everything is fine. Calm down. And this doesn't work, and I'm sure you've learned that we have to work with the body to regulate the body so that we can gain the access to our higher level thinking tools like rational thinking and reason, to be able to assess our immediate safety.
Speaker 2:So we need to learn the tools to regulate the nervous system and release stored stress from the body so that we can establish a sense of safety from the inside out, because that's how it works. So one of the first things that I do when I'm feeling this way is to repeat the reminder to myself that I am right here. This grounds you in the present, reminds you that you are yourself in your body and gives you a quick moment to choose what comes next. And it may not seem like you have the ability to stop and choose in those moments, but if you can access the reminder that I am right here, having that anxiety spiral, recognizing that you know what is happening, is an important part. Reassuring yourself that you have got a sense of what's going on, and then you can pick a tool, or even remember that you have a tool to use. And the more practice that you have with these tools outside of those immediate moments of need, the more easily they will come there and be available to you. The more practice you have using them, the more they will come naturally in those moments. And so if you are communicating and a regulating message to your system on a regular basis, you'll be able to create a different conversation both in your mind and your body. So there will be less stress stored to create that anxiety in the first place. You start creating different patterns of thought, different patterns of sensations in your body, different signals that you are sending to your systems less reactive, less threatening. And the less reactive that we are to the stress, the better we are at regulating emotions, and that includes that fear and panic. So, knowing the signs of anxiety, you will be able to then recognize when you are having an anxiety spiral and then you can choose to take action. And that doesn't mean that this process is easy in those moments, because it's not, but it works. So my five top immediate tools for what to do in those moments of anxiety spiral, in those panic moments, are as follows.
Speaker 2:The first thing I would do is use the physiological side. There's a lot of research saying that this is one of the best stress relieving, calming tools in those moments. So by using the extended exhale after a couple of short inhales, you are prompting your system to pay attention and then activating that parasympathetic system to relieve the physiological stress, which will then decrease the psychological and emotional stress so that you can have the ability to choose what comes next. And so that physiological side goes like this you will inhale until you are full, take another quick inhale and then exhale for as long as you can, as slowly as you can. So we'll do one, we'll do a couple right now. We'll inhale, inhale again, exhale, and a really important part of this is trying to make that exhale as long and slow as you can. If you are just letting it out immediately, it's not going to be as beneficial. So again, we're going to inhale to almost full, inhale again and then exhale for as long and slow as you can.
Speaker 2:I would start with five of those, but really you'll just do those until you feel a tad bit better, until you have just a moment to think what comes next, and once you have kind of a hold on like, okay, I feel like I'm coming out of that, somatic shaking would be my next suggestion. So once you've stabilized, you can begin to stomp or shake vigorously to help move that arousal energy that comes from your stress response, getting you ready to fight or flee, and so this also helps to release muscular tension that is signaling those protective states to your system, leading to your nervous system to calm, into a bit more neutral state. So you're just going to literally stomp your feet kind of as hard as you can, feeling those vibrations go up your legs, and then shake or and or shake vigorously all of the parts of your body your hands, your arms, your feet, your torso, just anything that you can shake, to the point where it probably feels a little bit silly. But it is necessary to again move that arousal energy and release some of that muscular tension. So I would do this just for I don't know 30 seconds, and then you'll be able to have a little bit more access to your senses and I would use the grounding 333 method, which is finding three things that you can see and recognizing them, stating them. Three things that you can hear, recognizing them, stating them. And then three things that you feel and I think it's important to kind of go over this one a little bit not like I feel terror and I feel anxious and I feel like I'm going to die, but I feel the clothing on my skin, I feel the chair underneath me supporting me, I feel my hair on my face, things like that, the sensations that you're having, kind of your tactile sense. So I would do that.
Speaker 2:When you are looking for things using your visual sense, I would recommend softening your gaze. Look straight out ahead of you, allow your gaze to soften and notice your periphery, which signals the vagus nerve to send safety signals to your brain. Because when we are in a hyperarousal state our vision narrows. So if we are able to look out a little ways, relax our gaze, start to notice what is in our periphery, then we are sending that signal of safety that will be communicated to our other systems. So that is my number three. Once we have done this, we have a little bit more access to our self, to our neutral state.
Speaker 2:So then I would move into box breathing to balance out the activation between the sympathetic and parasympathetic sides of our nervous system and just help bring that regulation in a little bit more. So box breathing is just an equal inhale, a pause for an equal amount, equal exhale and then another pause for an equal amount. There are lots of different numbers you can choose. I like four or five If that feels inaccessible to you, because it feels like you are straining or you get some air hunger and you feel like you can't breathe, then that's not going to be as useful. So I would say try and get to three or more. So what that looks like is you are going to inhale two, three, four, five, hold two, three, four, five. Exhale two, three, four, five and hold two, three, four, five Again, if five seems too challenging. We don't want to be challenging ourselves in that moment. The point is to help regulate and bring more calm into our nervous system. So we don't want to be challenging and I would do that for at least five breaths, maybe a couple of minutes, whatever feels best to you.
Speaker 2:And I think an overall, an added bonus is curiosity instead of resistance to an immediate fear, being able to accept that there is fear, that it exists. I am afraid right now, and then get curious why? What is happening? And not like what is it that's making me afraid? But what is happening in my body? I am feeling these sensations Because really, again, your system is asking for attention, it's asking for something to change. So we need to give that attention with curiosity and not just shut it down because of things that we try and resist. Just hold on a little bit tighter so this curiosity can either come at the end or at the beginning.
Speaker 2:I think that takes some practice, a little bit more awareness, to be able to say like, okay, I'm in this state, what are the sensations? How can I work with that? What is this? What's important to me right now? Why is this anxiety coming about? Or in between any of these interventions? So you can start with you know how you're feeling at the beginning, and then you can do one of these exercises and check back in and get curious, like now how does my body feel? And then do another one Now how does my body feel? And that's a good way to check in and again, just recognize what is happening in your system to help bring in that top down and bottom up Way of balancing, because then your mind is getting on board with your body.
Speaker 2:Basically, and, of course, using nervous system hygiene to reduce the stress that causes the anxiety. Again, practicing these tools on a regular basis so that they are more accessible when you need them immediately. And practicing these tools remembering that it's not the thing that happens, it's not the situation in front of you, but your capacity to handle that thing, to handle that emotion, to handle whatever it is that's happening. So we have to build tolerance little by little, which takes recognition and celebration of your growth as you are choosing to build these tools, as you feel more tolerance, more ability, you feel yourself reacting different ways and this can be the hardest part for some of us that recognition and celebration of ourselves and our effort. But if we remember that anxiety is the under estimation of our ability to handle a threat and the overestimation of that threat, it is crucial that we recognize our growing capacity and strength and understanding of ourselves and ability to navigate and cope with the tools that we have and to practice them. All of that tells your body you are in a safer space and the more balanced and able to self-regulate our nervous system is, the safer we feel overall. And when we have that sense of safety we don't have as many of those automatic negative thoughts and ruminating worries that anxiety brings with it.
Speaker 2:So again, the immediate tools to use when in the middle of an anxiety spiral are acknowledge and get curious if that's accessible right away. Otherwise put that in somewhere else in this list. But number one, the physiological side, to help immediately calm and start regulating the somatic shaking, to move that energy and release that tension from your muscles, grounding in that 3-3-3, three things you see, hear and feel. And remembering to soften your gaze with that which will send that signal to your vagus nerve. And then box breathing to help really kind of balance out that and continue regulating. And then again the curiosity piece, which I want you to sprinkle in there wherever you can, because the curiosity allows us to recognize without the fear and just immediately trying to push it away and give yourself the attention that you are ultimately asking for. And I will make some reels on the social medias, on Instagram, about these interventions so you can save those on IG as well, if that's useful.
Speaker 2:These tools are meant to be a progressive down-regulation for your system, but the order of operations is ultimately what works best for you. You may not need all of these steps, but practicing is never going to be a waste and we tend to want to jump right back into business as usual Because, again, we are busy, which is in part why we have these stress responses that we do. So give yourself the extra few minutes to process and balance back into a neutral state. I hope this was helpful. If it was, please do share it with a friend so that they might also find some use in this. I know that this is going to be helpful for lots of folks. I'm going to wrap it up there until next time. I hope you have a beautiful week and I challenge you this week to give some of these things a try, even if you are not in that immediate spiral state. See how they work, practice them so that they are more accessible when you need them. Alright, that's it. Have a great week. I'm out of here. Peace.