Staying Sane in COVID-19
Calming Anxiety
Anxiety can have many causes, and that means that it can be managed in many different ways as well.
Fear Driven
The first thing to recognise with anxiety is that it is fear driven. Fear lives in the future. We don’t fear the past or the present. We can only have fear for the unknown, and that lies ahead.
So the more we can understand about fear, the more we can remove fear of anxiety itself, which in turn, removes anxiety.
Anxiety is often felt at a cellular level. In that it can be all-encompassing, hard to understand and therefore, rationalise and remove. If only we could understand WHY we feel this in our body, then we’d know what to do about it, but it isn’t so straightforward and ‘negative cycles’ can spiral.
Understand this: We are born with an innate understanding of the signals our body is telling us. This is a different communication system, a different language to the one that overpowers the modern world.- it is not spoken or written word. It cannot be translated well into any language. It is instead, one that is felt and understood without words. You do not need to put what you feel into mother tongue in order to understand or to remove it.
The key is to make friends with it instead. When you make friends with your anxiety you have nothing to hide from, nothing to push away.
Fear arises from a feeling of lack of control and boundaries. Boundaries we can work on. Control we can too. You might not have control of future situations, but we can learn to feel safer and to be more trusting. We can learn to let go of our hold on needing control.
What You Can Do Right Now
Here are my ‘go to’s’ that I recommend to any of my clients that are going through anxious times:
Food
Consider what you are eating. There is a gut-brain connection, if your tummy isn’t calm, neither will you mind be calm. Think fresh colourful foods, no sugar, nothing you know you are sensitive to. Nourish your tummy! Ginger, peppermint, green vegetables (gently cooked), warm water and foods (NO ice!), are all particularly calming and nourishing for your tummy. Giving your tummy a break for a few hours if you are an anxious snacker, can be very beneficial for getting back into balance too.
2. Essential Oils
Essential oils. Not a fad my friends. A good quality essential oil can actually have an effect on the body at a cellular level, which means, it says what it does on the tin. You can use it like medicine. Some pure essential oils can even be ingested.
I use these particular ones in moments of need:
DoTERRA blends: Citrus Bliss (uplifting and calming), Balance (grounding) & Serenity (no explanation needed. Helps you drift off)
YLang YLang - lifts the mood while having a calming effect
Ho Wood - Calming
Marjoram - Emotionally soothing
Cedarwood - Calms the nerves
Lavender - Dispels tension and relieves anxious feelings
Vetiver - One of the most grounding essential oils
Vanilla Absolute - Soothes away worry and encourages feelings of love and connection
Roman Chamomile - Calms, relaxes, and quiets the body and mind
““essential oils can act as prooxidants affecting inner cell membranes and organelles such as mitochondria. Depending on type and concentration, they exhibit cytotoxic effects on living cells””
3. Apps
My favourite free app called ‘Insight Timer’ with lots of free music and meditations.
4. Music
Here are some playlists I use in my classes: (click on images for links)
5. Meditations.
Two to get you started:
6. Sit in water.
Have a bath. This isn’t about just calming your mind. If there is stress in your body, you will point to your mind, but often it has nothing to do with YOU. The only time your internal organs relax fully is when you are submerged in water. Chuck in some essential oils, petals, bath bombs.. Bubbles, ducks, do it. GET IN THE BATH!
7. Stop talking about it.
I generally find that speaking with people can make an anxious feeling worse. A positive person will highlight the positives and your brain will then try to locate the missing negatives. This doesn’t reverse if you speak to a negative person (it’s the way our brains work). What you really need to do is distract your mind to take it off the fear wheel. Being creative is a great way- paint, draw, sew, for example and if you aren’t creative? Mind puzzles are brilliant.
Wired to see the negatives
Know that we are wired to see the negatives, it is in our ancestral DNA that we see most clearly all that could go wrong, it’s a survival mechanism. It’s normal and it isn’t ‘you’. It doesn’t define you or make you a ‘crazy’ person.
It can, understandably all get a bit too much sometimes.
Something else to consider is pattern behaviour. We are creatures of habit and our habits have been shaken up recently. Deciding on some new routines will help you to feel more grounded.
Stay healthy and as always, please fire any questions at me for more advice.
- Charlette xx