It’s important to have a number of skills in your Anxiety beating toolbox, so you can learn which one works for you in different situations.
Exercise
Physical exercise helps because you ‘use up’ the adrenalin and nervous energy (from fight or flight) which causes the symptoms of anxiety. Try football, rugby, netball, swimming, or doing stuff on your own like going for a run, a skate or going for a ride on your bike. Exercise reduces anxiety levels and lifts your mood.
Deep Breathing
Taking deep breaths reduces your heart rate and helps to get rid of nervous energy. It also takes your mind off being anxious by concentrating on your breathing. Breathe in slowly and deeply whilst slowly counting to 3. Then try breathing out slowly whilst counting slowly to 5. Take a couple of minutes to try this technique now.
- Breathe in slowly counting 1, 2, and 3.
- Now breathe out slowly counting 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- Imagine that you’re blowing out all that nervous energy.
- Do this a few times. Does it make you feel calmer?
If you use this technique it’ll be easier to stay in the situation you find scary, which means you can get used to the situation and reduce your fear.
Muscle Relaxation
This technique helps to get rid of the tension in your muscles. This tension is uncomfortable and if you get rid of it, you’ll feel less anxious.
- Start with the muscles in your face.
- Tense each muscle e.g. forehead, eyes, and mouth in turn.
- Then let the muscles relax and imagine that the tension is draining out of you through your fingertips.
- Work down your body and do this with each muscle group in turn.
- This’ll help you to feel much more relaxed.
Try this technique now
Really pay attention to the difference in feeling between the tense and relaxed muscles. This’ll help you to notice when you’re becoming anxious. Start with your forehead.
Try tensing the muscles. Tense them harder and harder and then count to 10 whilst keeping them tensed.
Now slowly release the muscles. Really try to let the tension flow out of them until the muscles are completely relaxed. Feel the muscles loosening and relaxing and the tension draining away.
How does this technique make you feel?
The deep breathing exercise and the muscle relaxation can be used together to reduce anxiety. They can also be used at home to make you feel more relaxed generally.
Try lying on your bed at home and thinking of a situation that you find fearful. Try using these techniques to reduce your anxiety. This is very useful practice to help you deal with the real situation.
Using your imagination
One way to gain control over your fear is to use your imagination to beat it.
Our minds are very powerful tools – we can learn to use them to make our anxiety more controllable.
The first step is to think about whatever it is that makes you anxious
For example talking in front of a group. Whatever the situation is, it makes you feel anxious and can seem incredibly scary and impossible to deal with.
The second step is to try imagining it getting smaller and smaller, shrinking into a dot in your mind.
If you practice this technique it can help to make the fear seem more manageable.
Another option is to imagine the situation trapped in a large ice cube inside of you, a bit like a snow globe. Imagine it being covered by a warm black liquid that slowly dissolves it away to nothing.
Try this technique now
Really try and imagine your feared item or situation and then imagine it getting smaller and smaller or being melted away. How does this technique make you feel?
Positive Association
Try and picture something you really enjoy doing or try to recall a memory that makes you feel really happy. This could be a memory of a place or an event from the past.
Once you’ve thought of something happy, gently pinch one of your ear lobes.
Once you’ve practised this several times the two events will become associated.
This means that when you find yourself in a situation that makes you feel anxious, you can try pinching your ear, and you should find that the memory comes flooding back to you.
You may have to practice this several times, but once you’ve made the connection (the happy memory and your ear lobe) the memory should pop into your mind automatically. This’ll make you feel so calm that your anxiety should reduce.
Practice this technique at home before the next session and see if it works for you.
Distraction and mind games
To stop your mind from going round and round and making your anxiety worse, try and distract your mind with some games. This could be doing a Sudoku, playing games on Facebook or using a computer game. Distracting your mind from your worries can help reduce your anxiety and make you feel more calm.
These techniques can help when you’re trying to achieve a goal that may make you feel anxious.