managing Stress & Anxiety holistically

Everyone experiences some level of stress & anxiety. However, when it becomes severe and persistent, or shows up in the form of panic attacks, it does not take long before someone reaches out for help. More and more people are looking for holistic alternatives to the “mainstream treatment” of medication and talk therapy –treatments that work with the body, address the underlying causes, and benefit body, mind and spirit.
Energy healing, yoga and meditation all work directly with the nervous system and the mind to do just that.
Another profound way to manage stress and anxiety is to give yourself an opportunity to disconnect from tech!

Energy Healing
When approached with an open mind, energy healing is a highly effective way of making the unconscious conscious --and healing deeply rooted trauma that we cannot always get to in talk therapy. Energy healing sessions allow us to target the root cause of anxiety and panic attacks, heal wounds that we are not consciously aware of, and release core beliefs and experiences stored in the body or the subconscious mind (feeling mind). The techniques used during an energy healing session are designed to switch the nervous system out of “fight –flight-freeze” mode into a state of deep relaxation, allowing for both short-term and long-term relief of stress and anxiety. In addition, what we learn during a session can help us re-align our conscious mind (thinking mind) toward what we want to create.

Yoga & Meditation
The ancient practices of Yoga and Meditation are two more widely practiced alternatives to “mainstream” treatments for panic attacks, anxiety and stress. They teach us how to interact with the nervous system through breath and awareness, so that over time we can soothe and strengthen the nervous system. They also work with emotions, mental images, thoughts, and relationships, seeing them all as part of an integrated whole. Controlling the body and breath while opening the mind to allow and accept whatever arises sends messages of steadiness and balance to the emotions and nervous system, even as normally disturbing or triggering images may arise, for example. This neutral reaction allows the time and space needed to process or let the image pass through.

Disconnect from Tech
Breaking up is hard to do, yet sometimes it is what we must do to keep calm! Last week I disconnected from email and social media. What happened was remarkable. I felt instantly calmer and was able to re-connect to myself. I did not realize how much of my energy and attention was getting drained by the noise of the world. Even “good” noise is still noise and we need to manage it. While you may not be able to disconnect for an entire week, setting up boundaries about how much time you are on tech (including television) is vital to stay sane. Easy ways to do this daily are no tech when eating, shutting your phone off at night when sleeping, giving yourself at least 5-10minutes in the morning when waking up, and another 5-10 minutes at night before going to sleep to breathe and name what you are grateful for. We really must tune out of tech in order to tune into ourselves. If you can take a week off from tech, do it! It is a wonderful practice of letting go. Over time, we learn that we are not really in control of anything but our choices. We realize the importance of choosing habits that make us feel good. 

Want to learn more about the above? Email Stephanie here.