Ebb & Flow with it!

What do you do when life throws you a zinger? How do you handle the occasional sideswipe?

Whether at the office or on the freeway, life has a way of sneaking up on us, sometimes unpleasantly. Our bodies are programmed to handle stress. In fact, we have an area of the mind that assists us in dealing with panic. Some of the components of the fight or flight reaction is the tensing of muscles and constricted breathing. In caveman days, this was to prepare your body to take action and defend itself. We've come a long way from needing to hunt for food or climb a tree for safety. So how can we deal with the stress of our times and not promote the escalating of the symptoms during an attack of anxiety?

I'm going to give you a simple and effective exercise that can stop a panic attack before it begins. The secret is to go with the flow of it. When your heart starts beating fast and your muscles tighten that's the time to take over. Instead of being a victim to the symptoms, begin to control them. How do you do this? The key is in what you say to yourself about the situation, because whatever you resist, persists so we want you using positive coping statements.

Let me break it down for you in 5 simple steps:

Step 1: Upon recognizing the physical symptoms of anxiety, replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk. Instead of, "I'm losing control" say, "I can handle these symptoms"

Step 2: Replace the emotional reaction of fear with a detachment technique of flowing with the bodily symptoms. You might say something to yourself such as, "This is just anxiety-I'll let it pass"

Step 3: Find a place to sit down or ground yourself by imagining an anchor dropping from your body to the center of the earth.

Step 4: Begin abdominal breathing and put all of your concentration and focus on the expanding and contraction of your belly. This will divert your attention from the bodily symptoms of panic and fear inducing self-talk.

Step 5: Consciously go through each muscle group progressing from the head down to the feet, tightening then relaxing. For example, tighten the muscles of your hands by clenching your fists and hold for 10 seconds and then relax for 10 seconds. This puts you in charge of the muscles and slows down the body's natural panic reaction.

You'll find that with a little practice this exercise will enable you to reach a point where you can observe and "go with" the bodily reactions associated with anxiety rather than reacting, placing you as the master of your life.

Christel Hughes, C.Ht.

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