CEUs are available at AllCEUs.com/Anxiety-Master hey there everybody and welcome to this video  on 20 anxiety relief strategies i’m your host   dr donnelly snipes in this video i’m going to  walk you through the basic strategies that i  
00:00:16
use to address generalized anxiety in someone  who comes into my office now it’s important   to remember that every person is different and  every person may display their anxiety slightly   differently so this just gives you a general  idea of tools and techniques that i might use  
00:00:35
we’re going to start out by looking at what i go  over in the assessment or intake interview and   how that relates to the symptoms of  anxiety then we’ll explore other things   that i rule out or rule in that might  be contributing to the person’s symptoms  
00:00:52
then we summarize the typical interventions that  i use when treating generalized anxiety disorder   and i finish up by listing 15 psycho-educational  topics that i think are important   for everybody to have in a foundation treatment  program if you’re not familiar with some of these  
00:01:11
tools or techniques that i’m using that’s okay  i’ve linked to longer videos that i’ve done on   each one of them in the notes to this video so  just scroll down look at some of those videos   and you’ll be up to speed so let’s start out with  the intake assessment or the diagnostic criteria  
00:01:31
remember anxiety is a feeling it’s an emotion  so the first criteria for diagnosing generalized   anxiety is excessive anxiety that’s difficult  to control on most days for at least six months   about a variety of things it’s not about one  specific thing it’s about a variety of things  
00:01:53
it’s also important to recognize that just  like you wouldn’t wait to go to the doctor   until you had a pneumonia you also are likely  going to do better if you start addressing anxiety   when you notice it instead of waiting until  you’re at a crisis point or until you accurately  
00:02:11
and completely fulfill diagnostic criteria just  because you haven’t had it for six months or more   doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be addressed so we  start out with this first symptom and i ask people   about what triggers their anxiety what causes  them to feel anxious what things do they think  
00:02:31
about when they’re feeling anxious and  i make a list of these things as we talk   and then we examine those triggers for themes are  they related to things like loss or abandonment   or rejection or failure or loss of control and we  start trying to group them together a little bit  
00:02:50
to help the person get a better understanding  maybe of where their anxiety might be coming from   then i asked them about their  anxiety vulnerabilities now   remember vulnerabilities are different  than triggers triggers are things that  
00:03:06
kick off the anxiety response vulnerabilities  are things that make people more likely   to be triggered when they encounter certain  stimuli so being over caffeinated being unrested   being sick being in a strange environment all of  those may be vulnerabilities for people’s anxiety  
00:03:30
and i go through each one very systematically  we look at physical vulnerabilities   such as being over caffeinated or having low  blood sugar having poor sleep being in pain   then we move on to affective vulnerabilities  if the person’s already feeling stressed out  
00:03:50
or overwhelmed about things maybe they’re just  starting to feel burned out then that may make   them more vulnerable to react to things with with  anxiety then we look at cognitive vulnerabilities   when they are in a particular mood perceiving  the world as either optimistic or pessimistic  
00:04:12
does that make them more likely to feel anxiety  and then we’ll look at environment are there   particular environments that contribute to their  anxiety like i mentioned earlier being in a   strange place or maybe being in an environment  where there’s lots of activity like your kid’s  
00:04:29
preschool classroom or a very busy restaurant as  opposed to your home or the library and finally   we’ll look at relationship vulnerabilities if  you will and that is people in the person’s life   that may make them more vulnerable to  react with anxiety are there people that
00:04:54
make the person feel on edge that may contribute  to them being a little bit more hyper vigilant so   they’re more likely to become anxious and notice  for example micro expressions after we go through   the themes the triggers and the vulnerabilities  then we go to effective coping strategies what  
00:05:16
is the person doing right now that helps them  either a little bit kind of take the edge off   their anxiety or maybe it helps them relieve their  anxiety even if just for 5 10 minutes 30 minutes   those are things that we can build  on and that helps me understand  
00:05:36
the types of tools that might  be effective for that person   the next characteristic or criteria for diagnosis  of anxiety disorder is feeling restless keyed up   or on edge now this is different than anxiety this  is having difficulty sitting still and this is a  
00:05:55
common symptom of adhd so the person may have  anxiety but they also may have concurrent adhd   or concurrent ptsd that is contributing to their  sense of restlessness so no matter how much of the   anxiety that we treat this particular symptom may  continue to be present unless we also address it  
00:06:21
so again i asked them about what triggers your  restlessness what triggers your inability or   difficulty sitting still and are there any  vulnerabilities that make it more likely that   you will have difficulty sitting still or that  you you will feel more keyed up a lot of these  
00:06:40
often overlap with the anxiety triggers but  it’s still helpful to take a look at them   then i asked them about their strengths and  coping strategies for dealing with feeling   restless or keyed up what do you do when you have  to sit still and you feel restless maybe it’s in  
00:07:00
a staff meeting or on an airplane or something  else what strategies can you use that help you   cope with that sense of restlessness and edginess muscle tensions sleep disturbances and being  easily fatigued are all additional symptoms  
00:07:21
and they can all be caused by a variety of things  muscle tension can be caused by poor ergonomics   and pain for example that is completely unrelated  to anxiety so again we can treat the anxiety   and we can address the stress related muscle  tension but if there’s also muscle tension for  
00:07:42
other reasons we need to pay attention  to that too because muscle tension is   perceived by the body as a stressor and  that is going to trigger the stress response   which is going to make the person more  vulnerable to anxiety so i ask about  
00:07:59
different triggers for their muscle tension and  what’s an effective coping strategy whether it’s   progressive muscular relaxation or massage or  heat or stretching what is it that helps them   reduce their muscle tension in terms of sleep  disturbances sleep can be disturbed for a lot of  
00:08:20
reasons your circadian rhythms can be out of whack  your hormones can be out of whack you’re you could   be experiencing pain that is impacting your sleep  none of those are necessarily directly related to   the anxiety but they could be contributing  to maintaining the symptoms so i asked about  
00:08:41
what are triggers for sleep disturbances for  example watching particular movies before going   to sleep or checking their email before going  to sleep and what vulnera vulnerabilities exist   for sleep disturbance what things make you  more likely to have difficulty going to sleep  
00:09:03
and what are some effective street sleep  strategies that the person currently uses   sleep hygiene is a big focus of early treatment  for dare i say just about every disorder that i   treat because when a person is sleep deprived  when they’re not getting good quality sleep  
00:09:23
it contributes to a whole bunch of symptoms  physical symptoms cognitive thinking symptoms   emotional symptoms as well as emotional ability  and difficulty regulating their emotions   so sleep strategies are important and i generally  provide people in the initial intake a link to a  
00:09:46
video on sleep hygiene and a handout on sleep  hygiene so they can evaluate their own sleep   and then if they’re easily fatigued why is this  is it because they’re not getting good sleep okay   that could be it is it because their nutrition  is poor if you’re not getting good b vitamins  
00:10:08
or if you’re stressed all the time so your body  can’t use the food that you are eating nearly   as effectively or if you’re eating foods that  don’t provide all the nutrients for your body to make energy available then nutrition may be a  cause of fatigue or a contributor to your fatigue  
00:10:31
over and above fatigue caused by poor sleep  and being anxious or stressed out all the time   tension can contribute to fatigue even  though you may not notice that you’re   holding a lot of muscle tension holding that  tension keeping those muscles clenched takes  
00:10:49
energy and that contributes to fatigue and finally  deconditioning people who are anxious and people   who are depressed often feel overwhelmed and  exhausted because of life so going to the gym   that’s a pie in the sky thought they feel like  they barely have the energy to get through the day  
00:11:12
they can’t imagine mustering the energy to work  out but even deconditioning in terms of not being   able to spend as much time cleaning the house or  working on the yard just doing regular activities   of daily living may seem completely overwhelming  so they’re not doing them and after a period of  
00:11:34
time the body loses its conditioning it loses its  stamina the good thing is stamina can be rebuilt   but it’s not something that comes back overnight  it’s something that has to be gradually rebuilt   and what helps the person improve their  energy when they’re feeling fatigued  
00:11:51
you may not be able to go from feeling completely  exhausted to ready to go to the gym but if you’re   feeling fatigued is there something that can put  a little pep in your step besides caffeine and i   ask people about music are there particular songs  or playlists they listen to that can give them a  
00:12:12
little boost music can actually help increase  dopamine and norepinephrine which make energy   more available to us so music’s one maybe deep  breathing or just getting up and moving around   or going outside into bright light those are  all tools or techniques that help some people  
00:12:33
get a little bit of energy like i said it’s not  going to be a panacea but we want to look at   any strategies that work for the person at least  a little bit and then we can build on those two more criteria for anxiety disorder include  difficulty concentrating or your mind going blank  
00:12:55
and irritability when you’re stressed when you  feel anxious you’ve got that fight-or-flight   system going on you’ve got your brain in rescue  mode if you will so your brain is paying more   attention to all the threats because it doesn’t  feel safe it’s paying attention to more things  
00:13:15
that are going on around you because it doesn’t  feel safe which means if you’re in an environment   where there’s a lot of distractions maybe in a  busy restaurant or even at work if you work in a   open area with lots of other people moving around  it may be more difficult to maintain your train of  
00:13:36
thought because you’re thinking and then all of  a sudden your hyper vigilance makes you go over   here to pay attention to that person that just  walked in or over there to pay attention to sally   who just dropped something on the floor and  then you completely lose your train of thought  
00:13:55
so it’s important for people to  recognize when they’re feeling   anxious what environments what situations  what conditions make them more vulnerable   to having episodes where they can’t concentrate  or their mind goes blank and what can help them  
00:14:13
a lot of people find that in this particular  situation having noise cancelling headphones on   sitting in a quiet environment at work  maybe in a carol or in a private office   can help them focus more effectively and  what effective coping strategies do they have  
00:14:33
to help them deal with this difficulty  concentrating in their mind going blank   making lists is a big one if they have a bunch  of stuff to do at work but they’ve got a lot   of anxiety it may be hard to remember okay what is  it that i’ve got to do next but if they make lists  
00:14:50
that can help them keep track and  follow along with what they need to do   and irritability is that sense of being  short-tempered if you will and it’s important   for people to recognize what makes them irritable  irritability is sort of you can think of it as a  
00:15:11
mild form of anger and anger just like anxiety  is a response to a threat when a person feels   anxious when a person feels exhausted when  a person feels vulnerable for some reason   then they’re more likely to respond to  any sort of outside input especially  
00:15:31
stressful outside input with irritability it’s  like i just can’t take one more thing go away   it’s important for people to  recognize that and recognize   what their triggers are for irritability when  they’re angry i’m sorry when they’re anxious  
00:15:49
what things tend to trigger their short fuse  if you will and what makes them more likely   to be triggered for example being too hyped up  on caffeine or being exhausted or being in pain then i move on to ruling out no matter how much  work a person does on their anxiety and their  
00:16:14
thoughts and cognitions about their anxiety   if there are underlying physical issues or other  mental health issues that aren’t being addressed   there’s only so much progress the person can  make it’s important to recognize that people are
00:16:33
not just a bunch of independent parts everything  interacts so if somebody’s in pain physical pain   that’s going to trigger their stress response  which is going to make them more vulnerable to   anxiety in order to make them less vulnerable to  anxiety helping them address anxiety is great but  
00:16:52
we also have to address that pain so the stress  response system the hpa axis isn’t always turned   on we want to rule out thyroid imbalance hyper  or hypothyroid estrogen fluctuations lyme disease   nutritional deficiencies food sensitivities excess  caffeine or stimulants and that can come from the  
00:17:20
form of energy drinks or diet pills or other  herbs that somebody may be taking that have   stimulatory effects medication side effects some  medications have in their list of side effects can   contribute to anxiety it’s important to recognize  that when serotonin gets too high for example  
00:17:43
it can contribute to anxiety some people  when they start taking antidepressants   feel anxiety for the first couple of days  because all of a sudden their body’s being   exposed to more serotonin than it was prior  to taking the medication now eventually  
00:18:00
it all balances out but it’s important to  recognize that that is a potential side effect   alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal also  contribute to feelings of anxiety now alcohol   related anxiety tends to be much shorter than  benzodiazepine withdrawal when you withdraw from  
00:18:22
alcohol usually it’s two or three days that the  person experiences high blood pressure increased   anxiety etc and then things start to level out  i’m not going to say their anxiety goes away   but it levels out quite a bit with benzodiazepines  or anti-anxiety medications it can take a lot  
00:18:43
longer for the anxiety to go away a lot  of people also experience rebound anxiety   when their anti-anxiety medication starts to leave  their system so if they’re taking a short acting   anti-anxiety medication it may start helping them  feel better real quick but then as it starts to  
00:19:06
leave their system their anxiety rebounds and it  feels like it’s even stronger than it was before   they took the pill in the first place and it’s  important if that’s occurring to talk with your   doctor about whether there are more longer  acting options that would reduce the rebound  
00:19:26
anxiety or if there are other treatment options  which there are in in lieu of benzodiazepines   pain as i mentioned can also contribute to  keeping that stress response that hpa axis   turned on keeping the person hyper  vigilant when you’re in pain you tend to be  
00:19:47
kind of guarding because you don’t want to hurt  anymore you don’t want to get injured anymore   and it can make people more likely to respond with  anger or anxiety so we do need to address pain   whether it’s chronic pain like from fibromyalgia  or intermittent pain like from frequent migraines  
00:20:08
we still need to address what’s going on for  people who have intermittent pain they can also   experience anxiety because they dread having  another episode for people with chronic pain   they can have anxiety related to the chronic pain  worrying that it’s going to get worse and worrying  
00:20:29
that it’s going to keep them from having the life  they want ptsd post traumatic stress disorder has   a lot of anxiety related symptoms however people  can have both generalized anxiety as well as ptsd   ptsd symptoms are focused mainly around triggers  reminders of the trauma whereas generalized  
00:20:55
anxiety the anxiety is about more things but if  a person has ptsd they are going to likely be   hyper vigilant which is going to make them more  vulnerable to anxiety about a variety of things   obsessive-compulsive disorder has an anxiety  component people have these obsessions  
00:21:17
that they are they can’t get out of their head  and they’re worried that if they don’t do if they   don’t do x if they don’t engage in a compulsion  then it is going to end up causing bad things   or they may just have this repetitive intrusive  thought that they ruminate on that contributes to  
00:21:37
their anxiety and social anxiety remember i said  generalized anxiety the person is anxious about a   multitude of things in social anxiety the anxiety  is specifically about being negatively evaluated   by people can you have both yes potentially but we  do need if somebody has a social anxiety component  
00:22:00
we need to make sure that we’re addressing  that in addition to the generalized anxiety the general treatment flow that i go through  with general with generalized anxiety   in this initial meeting we have talked about  triggers vulnerabilities and current effective  
00:22:23
strategies that the person uses so i take all  of those and i put them into a spreadsheet   and we look for themes and i give them to the  per give the spreadsheet to the person so they   are more aware they can start identifying  vulnerabilities and triggers that they  
00:22:40
want to address i also refer people to their  primary care to rule out physical causes and   contributors like hormone imbalances nutritional  deficiencies chronic pain if they need to be   or they want to be referred to a nutritionist  or a sleep specialist i also make a referral  
00:23:00
to those particular people at that point in time i  also have people start keeping a daily anxiety log   in which they note the date the time the trigger  or triggers for their anxiety the intensity   of their anxiety on a scale of one to four one  being yeah i noticed it but it wasn’t a big deal  
00:23:24
two is i felt anxious but i was able to get  through just fine three is i felt really anxious   but i managed somehow to get through it and  pushed through but it was really really hard   and four the anxiety was overwhelming i just i  couldn’t i was paralyzed so date time triggers  
00:23:49
intensity duration did it last five minutes or  five hours and what interventions what things did   they do that helped to either reduce their anxiety  or help them recover after the anxiety episode and then henceforth each week we review their  anxiety logs that’s like the first thing that  
00:24:12
i do with people after i ask them you know  how’s your week been we look at the anxiety   logs and i evaluate it for repeating triggers and  repeating themes for their anxiety then we process   at least three of their triggers for their anxiety  and i use the fcp method what are the facts for  
00:24:34
and against your belief about this situation what  aspects did you have control of in this situation   and based on the facts and your ability  to control the factors you had control of   what’s the probability that this  actually would have ended up being  
00:24:55
a catastrophe would have actually ended up  being a notable threat that’s where we start   a lot of times helping people move away from  emotional reasoning into factual reasoning gives   them a sense of new perspective and a greater  sense of mastery over the situation they may not  
00:25:21
feel like they can control it yet but they’re  feeling like they have a better understanding   eventually as we go through the treatment process  people will learn about cognitive restructuring   dialectics living in the and purposeful action and  hardiness and we’ll apply each one of those tools  
00:25:40
as they learn them when we process their  triggers i also look at their anxiety   logs for potential vulnerabilities and i and i  identify mitigation strategies include setting   and maintaining boundaries assertiveness  and trigger management so for example  
00:25:59
if one of their common triggers was interacting  with their boss or interacting with their   sister-in-law then i would say okay what  mitigation strategies could we use how can   you effectively set and maintain healthy  boundaries and manage this trigger in a meaningful  
00:26:23
way may not be able to completely prevent the  anxiety but how can we help you move from a four   where you’re completely paralyzed by your anxiety  to a three where you can start you can get through   it it sucks but you can get through it and  then eventually we’ll get down to a one  
00:26:43
we discuss what tools have been effective  in the past week it’s really important in   my mind to help people identify and build on  their strengths and realize the power that   they already have realize the resources that they  already have that they may be taking for granted  
00:27:04
and then i provide a video handout and worksheet  on a particular psycho-education topic and it’s   important for a lot of people to have a video  that kind of explains it and walks them through it   and then a handout or worksheet to apply  it why do i do this for in between sessions  
00:27:23
because i feel that people’s money is best  spent when they’re in session with me actually   processing stuff the psychoeducation component i  think is something in most cases is something that   people can spend their time learning between  sessions i don’t want to waste their money
00:27:46
lecturing them when they could watch a video on  it i want to spend their time in session actually   using what they’ve learned  and applying the information so the psycho-education topics that i  think are important for everybody to  
00:28:04
learn about the function of anxiety its connection  to the stress response and the impact of fight or   flight on perception and problem solving and i  mentioned that several times in this video that   when we’re in fight-or-flight mode we don’t pay  attention to the good stuff we are actually more  
00:28:21
aware of more of the threats in the environment  because we are on high alert so to speak   which means we tend to perceive the world as  more dangerous and because of all that because   of the glutamate and the norepinephrine and  everything else in our brain it makes it harder  
00:28:39
to think clearly our brain is has tunnel vision  adrenaline haze whatever you want to call it that   is geared towards helping us fight or flee  not think about all the possible options   and problem solving so until people can get  into what linehan called the wise mind until  
00:28:58
people can get out of that high anxiety state  it’s going to be difficult to problem solve   then we talk about distress tolerance  skills which are the skills that people   need when they feel anxious to help them  remember that they can tolerate the distress  
00:29:17
so they don’t feed into it by saying oh my  gosh this is going to overwhelm me i’m not   going to be able to handle it these distress  tolerance skills help people feel more empowered   even in the face of anxiety and can  help them get into their wise mind  
00:29:34
we talk about circadian rhythms and sleep  hygiene because it’s so important for developing new skills for learning new things  as well as for helping the hpa access the threat   response system recover that people are getting  good quality sleep then i talk about nutrition  
00:29:55
and neurotransmitter support what we eat is  broken down to make neurotransmitters to make   hormones to repair the body so if we’re eating  like crap we’re probably going to feel like crap   a lot of people want to get straight down to the  nitty-gritty of how can i improve my serotonin  
00:30:15
my dopamine my norepinephrine and ultimately  everything is in a fine balance so if one goes up   one happy chemical goes up the other ones are  likely going to go up too but that requires   a healthy diet for example making serotonin to  break down tryptophan we need to have vitamin  
00:30:37
b we need to have calcium we need to have  zinc we need to have iron we need to have   tryptophan itself and then to break down it goes  from tryptophan to 5 ht then to break that down   even more we need even more vitamins and  minerals so it’s important that people  
00:30:56
understand the importance of a healthy diet but  also understand the regular foods that they can   eat to support their body’s ability to make those  neurotransmitters like spinach and bananas and   cocoa and tea and colorful vegetables it’s not  anything that’s really weird wild and radical
00:31:22
next we talk about mindfulness the difference  between focused mindfulness so you’re focusing   on something like a candle flame or open  awareness mindfulness where you’re walking through   a park for example and you’re not focusing on  any one thing in particular you’re just noticing  
00:31:41
quote everything as you walk down the  path that open awareness encourages you to be mindful be in the moment instead of  thinking instead of being in your own head   and then mindfulness in terms of the self scan  mindfully scanning your your head heart and gut  
00:32:01
so to speak how am i feeling emotionally how am i  feeling physically what am i needing emotionally   what am i needing physically right now the next  lesson is on compassion and loving-kindness   developing compassion for yourself as well  as other people a lot of times anxiety  
00:32:24
comes from fears of being rejected  fears of being criticized fears of   not being good enough and sometimes that comes  because your own inner critic is just harsh   and hateful so developing self-compassion  recognizing that it’s okay to be imperfect  
00:32:46
can be helpful to encourage people to move towards  self-acceptance as opposed to self-abandonment   and loving-kindness meditation is helpful to   inspire compassion for others even  others that are being kind of difficult
00:33:06
the next unit or topic is cognitive distortions  what they are their function and restructuring   them cognitive distortions include think  things like all or none thinking mind reading   and catastrophizing and over personalization so  we talk about how those thinking errors are likely  
00:33:28
thinking strategies that formed in childhood  before you could think more critically so to speak   and often remained unchecked then we talk  about alternatives such as looking for   alternatives instead of thinking it always  happens or it never happens looking for exceptions  
00:33:49
you know when has this happened if i if i say it  never happens is that true or are there exceptions   if i’m taking things too personally instead of  saying it’s all about me or the person’s mad at me   or hates me what are three other explanations  for why they may have given you a dirty look  
00:34:08
besides you you were they even did they even see  you or were they caught in their own thoughts   then we move on to optimism and i  have in here tragic optimism because   unbridled optimism can be just as unhealthy as  unbridled pessimism tragic optimism includes  
00:34:29
an element of dialectics and living in the  and in tragic optimism we recognize what is   but we have hope that it can get better we  recognize the good and the bad and the present   and we have hope that we can make a difference  to move towards a more rich and meaningful life
00:34:51
unit 9 looks at schema schema  are our brains cliff notes   our brain shortcut to help us interpret what  to happen you have schema about everything   stop lights i’m assuming everybody who’s  watching drives and so you have a schema  
00:35:08
when you see a stop light that’s on yellow  you have a schema that tells you how to react   if you think that yellow lights are really long  and you’ve got plenty of time to get through   then you’re going to keep on going or maybe even  floor it if you think that yellow lights tend to  
00:35:27
change really quickly and you don’t want to run  the red light then you’re probably going to stop   so based on your past experiences with yellow  lights you’re going to react in the current moment   probably without thinking about it you’re  not going to sit there and go okay well the  
00:35:43
last three times i came to this light it changed  really fast it’s just sort of an automatic process   that’s the beauty of schema it helps us do some  of our things in default mode or on autopilot   unfortunately if somebody’s been exposed to trauma  or has been anxious for a long time then their  
00:36:06
schema may have been altered to expect that  the world is going to always be a dangerous   disempowering un unpleasant place so it’s going  to be important to evaluate their schema back then   that may have been true in the current context  at the current time is this schema still accurate  
00:36:32
if so okay how do we deal with it if not how can  you adjust your schema relationships are the same   way if you’ve been in multiple bad relationships  you may expect that people aren’t trustworthy   but that really sets everybody else up to be  at a loss because you’re just expecting they’re  
00:36:53
going to behave badly if you adjust your schema  and you say okay in this context at this time   with this person are my beliefs about  what’s going on are my expectations true   or am i just assuming based on other  people’s behaviors and past experiences
00:37:16
number 10 is creating a rich and meaningful  life vision board helping people visualize what   things are important in their rich and meaningful  life what things do they currently have that are   important in their rich and meaningful life and  instead of using their energy just holding on to  
00:37:35
anxiety and tossing it around in their hands like  a hot potato how can they instead use that energy   to nurture the things that are important in their  life and what kind of a difference would that make   number 11 is acceptance purposeful action  and heartiness helping people recognize  
00:37:56
that sometimes life just sucks it is what  it is so to speak but using their energy   purposefully instead of using their energy  to be angry about it and stew on it and pout   using their energy and saying okay can’t change  this situation but what can i change what can  
00:38:17
i use this energy for that would help me  move closer to a rich and meaningful life number 12 moves into relationships and  interpersonal behaviors and i start out   with setting and maintaining boundaries a  lot of times people feel anxious because  
00:38:38
they have never been taught how to set boundaries  and maintain them they have other people have   encroached on their boundaries and told them  what to think or what to feel or criticized them   for how they think or how they feel and so  learning how to set and maintain boundaries is  
00:38:56
really important to helping people feel empowered  and safe in any relationship in section 13 we talk   about secure attachment positive self-talk and  the inner child so there’s a lot there hopefully   by this point in treatment people’s triggers  and anxiety experiences are a lot less intense  
00:39:19
and a lot less frequent so they have more time  to spend on developing additional skills but in   order to feel safe in order to feel loved people  typically need to have some secure attachments   including a secure attachment with self feeling  like you can be there to respond to your own needs  
00:39:43
so we talk about what secure attachment  looks like how secure attachment is developed   how to use positive self-talk to enhance  your secure attachment with yourself   and to help heal your inner child that may  have been wounded because of past things  
00:40:04
in unit 14 we talk talk more about the inner  critic because the inner critic is huge and   contributes to a lot of people’s anxiety the  inner critic may bring up past stuff remember   back then you failed you’re going to fail again  which can trigger anxiety or the inner critic can
00:40:26
bring up anticipatory things you  think you’re going to be able to   do this you’re going to fail and  then this is what’s going to happen   and the sky is going to fall so getting that  inner critic under control is really important  
00:40:41
in 15 we talk about listening without  defensiveness because defensiveness is a   anxiety anger threat reaction when people feel  like they’re being criticized or when people   feel like others don’t necessarily agree with  them the automatic reaction for a lot of people  
00:41:05
is to feel threatened and to get defensive  so we talk about how to hear other people’s   opinions maintain your own boundaries and not  get defensive you don’t have to agree with them   but it’s important to be able to listen and then  finally in unit 16 we talk about assertiveness  
00:41:26
in order to feel safe and empowered which is what  you need to do to feel not threatened to feel less   anxious it’s important to be able to assertively  communicate your thoughts wants and needs   so we talk about any barriers to assertiveness  and how to assertively communicate what you  
00:41:48
need to others while still respecting  their boundaries and maintaining yours that gives you a general overview of the types  of things that i go through in a 12 to 16 week   treatment program with somebody who presents with  generalized anxiety now remember every individual  
00:42:13
is different so i may add things like a unit on  abandonment anxiety or a unit on grief and loss   for people based on what their the themes of their  anxiety triggers are but the skills that i have   already gone over the skills that i’ve highlighted  in this presentation i think are essential  

This after skool presentation was  written and narrated by eternalized [Music] Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw how the modern  materialistic world of money pleasure Fame and  
00:00:18
power did not lead to happiness but rather an  increasing sense of meaninglessness anxiety   suffering and loneliness he sought to bring  our attention back to the search of our soul   and to restore our connection with herself  our innermost Sanctuary life is a journey  
00:00:34
of discovering ourself which is our true and  complete personality consisting of both our   conscious and unconscious lives this is what Jung  calls the individuation process our journey of   psychological maturation it is the indestructible  Foundation that supports us when we can no longer  
00:00:53
support ourselves like a rock that the waves keep  crashing over standing unmoved despite the Raging   of the sea to be in contact with this deeper part  of ourselves is to be in a state of Tranquility   undisturbed by wild emotional fluctuations the  goal in life is not not Perfection but wholeness  
00:01:12
for Jung there are two stages of life that  are part of individuation the first half of   life is oriented towards the outer  world work education relationships   Etc we must throw ourselves into the fire of life  and expose ourselves to daily life and hard work  
00:01:30
which solidifies our personality natural life is  the nourishing soul of the soil which provides a   rich source of nutrients that heals us this is  why contact with nature is important we mustn’t   get lost in abstract thinking to the detriment  of practical life it is the body the feeling the  
00:01:49
instinct which connects us with the soil in his  old age Jung continued to Value this way of life   he wrote I have done without electricity and  tend the fireplace and stove myself evenings   I light the old lamps there’s no running water  and I pump the water from the well I chop the  
00:02:08
wood and cook the food these simple acts make  and simple and how difficult it is to be simple   this anchoring in reality is a prerequisite for  the second half of life where our Focus shifts   to our inner World our quest for individuation and  this is the phase of Life Jung is mostly concerned  
00:02:29
with the realm of the unconscious the world of  the inner life is as infinite as the world of   the outer life man lives in Two Worlds many people  however have neglected this part of themselves and   only remain half alive they are unprepared by  the natural transition into the second half of  
00:02:48
life and fall into a mid-life crisis because they  have not learned to align Both Worlds when we are   confronted with the real and crushing problems of  life we desperately search for our soul we realize   that the values we have learned from society  provides no help to us Conformity is the great  
00:03:06
destroyer of self-hurt the opposite to courage in  our society is not cowardice it is Conformity we   are often persuaded to take the Apparently easier  Road of merging with the crowd and forgetting   ourselves it requires courage to stand against  the crowd a person can be surrounded by a crowd of  
00:03:25
people and yet feel completely alone because he’s  alienated from himself the search for the soul   is a solitary task and when we avoid the soul it  keeps on stirring it disturbs us makes us restless   and gives us no peace however these problems are  important they are incentives for us to undertake  
00:03:47
Soul work without the trials and tribulations of  life we aren’t likely to summon the determination   to overcome the indifference of daily life  people will do anything no matter how absurd   to avoid facing their own soul the gate that  leads to destruction is Broad and many answers  
00:04:07
through it but the gateway to peace is narrow  and on me answers safe through Affliction of the   Soul it is wise to nourish the soul otherwise  you’ll breed dragons and devils in your heart   every psychic advance of man arises from the  suffering of the Soul embrace your grief for  
00:04:26
there your soul will grow like the Primitive  indigenous tribesmen Jung recognized that the   loss of Soul leads to a sense of meaninglessness  in life when a tribe of people lose their feeling   that their way of life is worthwhile they may  stop reproducing or in large numbers simply lie  
00:04:44
down and die besides streams full of fish food is  not the primary nourishment of man in place of our   current banana life Jung would ask us to embark  on a great adventure of self-knowledge which comes   upon investigating once in a world the unconscious  realm and for yum this is the true journey of life  
00:05:07
without the soul the body is dead and without  the body the soul is unreal the soul is the   home of our Supreme values Dreams Are The Guiding  words of the Soul we must carry them in our heart   and go back and forth over them in our mind like  the words of the person dearest to us the dream  
00:05:27
is a little hidden door in the innermost and  most secret recesses of the Soul opening into   that Cosmic night which was psyche long  before there was any ego consciousness   apart from dreams Jung developed the technique of  active imagination where you have a dialogue with  
00:05:45
different parts of yourself that live in the  unconscious it is similar to Dreaming except   that you are fully awake and conscious during the  experience he discovered this technique when he   experienced The Dark Knight of the Soul or what  he calls his confrontation with the unconscious  
00:06:02
a midlife existential catastrophe in which he  was overwhelmed with visions and plunged into   unknown depths it was as though he experienced  a psychological death and he decided that outer   death is better than inner death for that reason  he turned away and sought the place of the inner  
00:06:22
life and thus began his search for his soul  this led to one of the greatest contributions   to mankind the red book Jung wrote my soul my  soul where are you do you hear me I speak I call   you are you there I have returned I am here again  I’ve shaken the dust of all the land from my feet  
00:06:45
and I’ve come to you I am with you after long  years of long wandering I’ve come to you again   there is only one way to the soul and that is  your way there is only one salvation and that   is your salvation if the path before you is clear  you’re probably on someone else’s each one must  
00:07:06
go his own way hence look into yourself for you  must fulfill the way that is in you when we are   in contact with our inner self we are more likely  to experience synchronicities that is Meaningful   patterns in life where the inner world is seen  to have a correspondence in external reality  
00:07:26
the first step towards individuation is the  integration of the Shadow this is not our enemy   but our Ally it contains pure gold waiting to be  integrated into our personality it becomes dark   only when it is ignored we must learn to watch  our emotional impulses and be aware of projecting  
00:07:46
our own problems onto other innocent people it is  only after the encounter with a shadow that we can   move on to the deepest part of the Soul which  Jung calls the Anima the female psychological   tendencies in man and the Animus the male  psychological tendencies in women these are the  
00:08:05
contrasexual soul images in our psyche while the  integration of the Shadow is The Apprentice piece   the soul image is the Masterpiece the integration  of the anima is done through taking seriously the   feelings moods and fantasies of the unconscious  and bringing them into reality through creative  
00:08:25
work such as painting writing sculpture or musical  composition the anima is the source of life and   when it is not integrated we feel lifeless and  depressed it enriches our life by making the   unconscious contents conscious the animus on the  other hand is the source of meaning it gives our  
00:08:46
unconscious content meaning in the outer World  it endows a woman with qualities of initiative   courage objectivity and spiritual wisdom avoiding  cold and destructive Reflections or hidden   convictions about how life ought to be as if stuck  in a cocoon of dreamy thoughts which cuts a woman  
00:09:05
off from the reality of life the integration  of the Soul image is what caused a path to the   most fundamental figure the self wholeness can  only be achieved through a union of opposites in   which our light and dark side are united Jung’s  individuation process is analogous to the great  
00:09:26
work of the Alchemists where the Philosopher’s  Stone is a symbol of the self which is found   within oneself for Jung the task of alchemy  is psychological it is the art of expanding   consciousness of self-realization when we have  lost our way or do not know what to do with our  
00:09:46
life we can only surrender to the higher wisdom of  the self our constant inner companion through life   Jung did not see himself as a Healer but as  someone who could guide you to heal yourself The   Cure ought to grow naturally out of the Wounded  individual this search for herself allows for  
00:10:07
empathy Mutual understanding and they desire  to become an ally in other people’s Journeys   towards psychological maturation thus we improve  our relationship with ourselves with others and   with nature life is not a problem to be solved but  a mystery to be experienced we do not require any  
00:10:28
esoteric knowledge to be in contact with herself  anyone can take the time to look within to reflect   on life’s meaning to give time and attention  to values interests and activities that bring   joy and fulfillment to one’s personal life who  looks outside dreams who looks inside awakes
00:10:54
if you are interested in learning more about  the works of Jung head over to my channel   eternalized where I have explained these Concepts  more in depth thank you for watching foreign [Music]

[Music] we have three types of stress that we  process in the physical body we have physical   stress that’s like trauma accidents injuries  Falls and then you have chemical stress like   toxins or pesticides or pollutants or viruses or  bacteria or hangovers or nutritional deficiencies  
00:00:27
and then you have emotional stress right and  emotional stress could be family tragedies   car accidents second mortgages single parenting  401ks you know whatever that is but each one of   those things physical chemical or emotional knock  the body out of homeostasis out of Regulation out  
00:00:46
of balance the innate capacity of the body when  it’s not overstressed is that it wants to always   return back and regulate it wants to return back  to homeostasis it wants to return back to order   and that’s inate in us that’s an automatic  process that’s running through the autonomic  
00:01:03
nervous system so we could say the job of the  autonomic nervous system is to create balance   and Regulation and homeostasis and it’s automatic  and that part of the brain sits under the thinking   neocortex and it’s called the chemical brain  or the emotional brain or the lyic brain or the  
00:01:18
mamelon brain and it has all of those functions  that make blood sugar balanced hormone levels   digestive enzymes it’s it’s it’s it’s doing  what it can to take the body and constantly   repair it and regenerate it and move it back into  balance all of those stressors knock the brain and  
00:01:36
body out of balance and the innate mechanism the  stress response brings it back to balance well it   just makes sense if you keep knocking it out of  balance over and over again and you keep moving   it out of homeostasis that imbalance is going to  become the new balance and now you’re headed for  
00:01:52
disease because that autonomic automatic system  can’t regulate order in the body so a system then   is compromised the system breaks down and so if  it’s physical trauma you know your body can heal   if you rest it if it’s chemical imbalance you  take your uh Pharmaceuticals or you take your  
00:02:12
nutriceuticals your vitamins your minerals your  herbs you intermittent fast you do anything you   can to get the body back so that it’s using more  energy for growth and repair but the big factor   is emotional stress 75 to 90% of every person  that walks into a Healthcare facility in the  
00:02:31
Western World walks in because of psychological  or emotional stress pretty much four out of   five people what’s really causing their health  condition is that they’re emotionally stressed   and emotionally out of balance okay so what are  the emotions that are connected to the stress  
00:02:47
hormones it’s anger it’s hatred it’s frustration  it’s competition it’s control it’s judgment it’s   Envy it’s jealousy it’s insecurity it’s fear it’s  anxiety it’s worry it’s angst it’s uh hopelessness   it’s powerlessness it’s guilt it shame its  unworthiness you know and psychology calls these  
00:03:08
normal human States Of Consciousness these are  Altered States Of Consciousness so our response   to someone or something in in our environment or  our response to our own thought an image of what   could happen in the future a memory of the past  could actually cause chemicals to be secreted  
00:03:26
from the brain that causes the body to actually  believe it’s living in that same environment of   fear or danger right so that thought when you’re  seeing that thought in your mind or remembering   that image it’s the image and the emotion it’s  the thought and the feeling it’s the stimulus and  
00:03:45
response that’s immediately conditioning the body  into that state of imbalance so it’s a scientific   fact that the long-term effects of the hormones of  stress push the genetic buttons and create disease   if you can turn on that stress response just by  thought alone your thoughts are literally going  
00:04:01
to make you sick that’s the greatest example of  the Mind Body Connection so the next fundamental   question is okay if our thoughts could make us  sick is it possible that my thoughts could make   me well well if that’s the case then then I’m  going to have to manage my attention and I’m  
00:04:17
going to have to manage my energy because where I  place my attention is where I place my energy and   I’m going to have to inhibit that thought that has  conditioned the body to subconsciously be the mind   and the body is so objective that it does not know  the difference between the real life experience  
00:04:35
that’s creating that emotion and the emotion that  person is fabricating by thought alone to the body   it’s exactly the same so the body’s believing  it’s being chased by a predator the body is   believing it’s in an offensive situation where it  has to attack the body’s believing it’s constantly  
00:04:50
needing to be ready and it’s it’s constantly out  of homeostasis is constantly out of balance it’s   in emergency it’s in fight ORF flight it’s a  different system the autonomic nervous system   where you’re stepping on the gas where you’re  you’re mobilizing enormous amounts of energy  
00:05:04
for some threat some Danger real or imagined  but that thought and that feeling the image the   emotion the stimulus response is conditioning the  body to automatically be the mind of that emotion   now the body becomes conditioned and addicted  now this gets to be a problem because people  
00:05:20
get addicted to their own thoughts and they become  addicted to the life they don’t even like because   the response to the coworker to the boss to the  ex is actually giving them Rush of energy A Rush   of agine and they’re they’re associating that Rush  of energy with some problem or condition in their  
00:05:35
life and now come time to change and manage  your attention and manage your emotion it’s   no different than Breaking addiction to anything  there’s Cravings the body wants to return back to   how it’s been conditioned into the familiar past  into the gnome the body starts saying to the mind  
00:05:53
you can it’s too hard you’ll never change this  is too uncomfortable I don’t like this go back   to make the same Choice do the same thing create  the same experience feel the same emotion so you   can return back to the known and that’s how people  seamlessly return back to that same identity so we  
00:06:09
only accept believe and surrender to the thoughts  that are equal to our emotional state we’ll never   accept believe and surrender any thoughts that are  not equal to your emotional state so you could say   I’m abundant I’m Eternal I’ll live forever I’m  healthy and wealthy and if you’re programmed your  
00:06:26
body into that emotional state it’s going to say  you you’re not that take a person whose identity   is resentment and their identity is anger and and  frustration and betrayal and you ask them why are   you this way and they’ll say I’m this way because  of this event that happened to me 15 years ago  
00:06:44
strong are the emotion we feel from some event the  more altered we feel inside of us the more that   chemical continuity is disrupted from something  that surprises us that alters our state the more   the brain freezes a frame and takes a snapshot  that’s called a memory but the problem is that we  
00:06:58
think about that event over and over again after  it happens we’re producing the same chemistry in   the brain and body as if the event was occurring  and so the body is conditioned literally into   the past so you say a person’s resentful about  everything they’re seeing their life through the  
00:07:15
lens of resentment and frustration and anger  and everything’s upsetting them well that’s a   self-fulfilling prophecy you say okay now it’s an  addiction you got to change that and the person   goes oh okay that makes sense and now now you got  to get out of the bleachers on the playing field  
00:07:29
say okay these emotions could literally have  something to do with my health just saying if   I stop feeling these emotions what if I start  feeling these emotions okay what would be the   emotions that would make me happy these emotions  are making me feel really bad the memories are  
00:07:47
making me feel really bad can I remember a  future how would I feel if my future could   happen I got to trade those emotions for different  emotions well if I’ve been practicing feeling   these emotions and I’ve conditioned my body be the  mind it’s going to take some time for me to start  
00:08:03
making different chemistry with the intention of  making that chemistry getting my body back into   homeostasis and balance work on my breath when I  breathe I change my state practice breathing work   with your body so it can start to relax so that  it feels safe enough to feel something other than  
00:08:21
that again and if it takes you 3 weeks it would be  worth it so then person then starts okay I really   know how to feel gratitude okay well maybe start  going out and giving and give to people I promise   you start giving you start feeling grateful and  then start practicing feeling gratitude teach  
00:08:40
your body just for 15 minutes a day what it would  like to feel gratitude what would be like and our   data shows that you take someone to do that  for four days three times a day they make a   immunoglobulin called immunoglobulin a it’s your  body’s natural flu shot it’s the greatest immune  
00:08:59
chemical we have 50% increase in the subjects we  studied in 4 days immunoglobulin went up 50% in 4   days where is that chemistry coming from they’re  not taking anything it’s coming from within them   right what is the emotional signature of gratitude  when you receive something or you just receive  
00:09:18
something when something wonderful happened to  you or something wonderful is happening to you   you feel grateful so now if you’re in a state  of gratitude it makes total sense then you will   accept believe and surrender the thoughts that  are equal to that emotional state and you could  
00:09:32
actually program your autonomic nervous system  to make the pharmacy of chemicals that causes   growth and repair to happen in the body and that’s  exactly what we’re discovering so then when people   understand why they’re doing it the how gets  easier so you can assign meaning to the task  
00:09:47
and switch on the prefrontal cortex and when you  switch on that prefrontal cortex it wants to get   an outcome it doesn’t want to mess around it wants  the outcome you’re doing it for the outcome and   that’s kind of a strong intention and a change in  energy or an emotional state and that’s changing  
00:10:03
your state of being and when you change your state  of being like that every day get ready because   you’re going to start having synchronicities and  coincidences and weird things start happening in   your life to prove to you that you’re actually the  creator of your life instead of the victim of your

Hello everybody and welcome to this video anxiety  meditations i am your host dr dawn elise snipes anxiety often occurs when we feel unsafe or  powerless it increases your stress chemicals   kicks off that hpa axis or the fight or flight  response and you start to have tunnel vision  
00:00:21
and become more reactive and impulsive so  anxiety can be a problem now remember anxiety   is a feeling it’s a normal feeling that tells  you that hey there might be something to be   aware of there might be a threat it doesn’t  mean there is a threat the anxiety is just  
00:00:41
telling you to check and see if there’s a threat  meditation can help calm your stress response so   you can think more clearly about what to do to  improve the next moment so if you look around   and you decide you know what there’s really not  a threat or whatever it is that is threatening  
00:00:59
i have no control over like you know a pandemic  or something then meditation can help you   calm or or tamp down that stress response  so you’re not burning up tons and tons of   energy and feeling anxious like you’re going  to crawl out of your skin all the time it’s  
00:01:21
important before you begin any sort of meditation  to examine your surroundings and make sure you are   safe from interruptions you don’t want to  get into this nice relaxed state and all   of a sudden have your phone go off or the  dog bark get into a situation where you are
00:01:39
protected from interruption where you feel  safe in your environment you have the door   shut you may have the blinds drawn whatever it  is that makes you feel the most safe and secure   if you’re not comfortable closing your eyes some  people have trauma histories and they are not  
00:01:56
comfortable closing their eyes and that’s cool  if you’re not then pick a stationary object in   the room to focus on when i do meditations i love  focusing on the a candle flame just that’s always   been something that has um attracted my focus so  candle flames work for me you can pick a spot on  
00:02:19
the wall you can pick a vase whatever it is you  want just make sure it’s not something that’s   going to move around that you’ve got a track  you want to make sure it stays right there the next thing you need to do once you feel  like you’re in a safe environment think of an  
00:02:36
empowering mantra that you’re going to repeat to  yourself and depending on what is triggering your   anxiety you may have several different mantras  that you rotate through depending on the type of   anxiety if you are facing some sort of adversity  you can tell yourself i’ve got this or this too  
00:02:55
shall pass you know maybe you are getting ready to  go take a your graduate entrance exams or you are   going on a job interview or you are experiencing  some something distressful maybe you and your best   friend got into a disagreement and there’s tension  right there so this too shall pass can work  
00:03:18
another set if it has to do more with failure  you can remind yourself progress not perfection   nobody’s perfect and it’s important to strive for  progress not perfection to learn from our failures   or just i can succeed if you are afraid of failure  and you’re getting ready to do something just  
00:03:39
telling yourself i can succeed i may not succeed  at everything but i can’t succeed now obviously   i’m elaborating on some of these you want to pick  something that is not more than a few words to   repeat to yourself if your  anxiety has to do with rejection  
00:03:58
you may say to yourself something like it’s not  about me or i am enough if you have anxiety about   uncertainty you don’t know what’s going to happen  next you can tell yourself something like stay   open to options or i’m not alone and i’m not  alone really appeals to people who don’t like  
00:04:21
uncertainty they like control but knowing that  they’re not alone knowing that they’ve got   support people to help them through something  that is uncertain can be very reassuring   now you can come up with your own mantras these  were just a few that i i pulled out for you  
00:04:39
to give you an idea of think something  that you might want to say to yourself   look at the root of whatever’s causing your  anxiety pick a mantra make sure you’re in   a safe place with time and practice you’ll  be able to trigger the relaxation response  
00:04:55
with your mantra and a deep breath or two so you  may not have to go through the entire meditation   which is really awesome so when if you get used  to it you may be able to approach adversity   and take a deep breath tell yourself i’ve got  this and exhale and do that a couple of more times  
00:05:17
and feel relaxed it can help you get grounded  once your body’s recognized that okay when we   start saying this it’s time to relax you may think  that’s a little corny but think about other times   in your past when somebody has said something  that has just a word has triggered a response  
00:05:36
when i used to teach at uf i would tell my class  okay clear your desk it’s time to take a pop quiz   and those words would strike fear in the majority  of the people in my class and that would trigger   their fight or flight response now obviously  we want to do the opposite here my point is  
00:05:56
that something as simple as a word can trigger a  fight or flight response or a relaxation response   so i’m going to tell you what we’re going  to do and then we’re going to start doing it   you’re going to start by sitting comfortably  you know you’re in a safe environment you’ve  
00:06:15
picked your mantra then you get comfortable  sitting ideally both feet on the ground you   know in a relaxed position begin by focusing  on your breath you’re gonna breathe in for four   hold for four and breathe out for four you’re  gonna do that twice and then you’re going to  
00:06:34
continue to breathe in for four hold for four  and exhale for four but you’re when you do this   then you’re going to start noticing your belly  expand and deflate so the first thing you just   want to focus on your breath and then you want  to start focusing on your breath and your body  
00:06:51
the next step is to notice the cool  refreshing air as it passes through your nose   feel it moving through your entire  body you’re going to do that twice   finally you’re going to as you breathe in you’re  going to repeat your mantra and sit with it while  
00:07:09
you hold your breath for that four and as you  exhale you’re gonna feel the bad energy and worry   leaving your body you’re going to repeat this 10  times then just sit with this feeling for a few   minutes noticing how relaxed your body feels  it’s that simple you’re going to gradually  
00:07:29
work up to ramp up to focusing on your on your  mantra and relaxing your anxiety but the first   thing you got to do is start with your breath  i’m going to walk you through this mantra and   it will take about 10 minutes so go  ahead and sit down and get comfortable
00:07:50
begin by focusing on your  breath breathe in for four   three hold for four two three and exhale for four three four let’s do that again breathe in  for four two three four hold for four two  
00:08:17
three and exhale for four now when you breathe in for  four notice your belly expand hold for four
00:08:36
and exhale for four feeling your belly deflate again breathe in and notice your belly expand hold for 4. and exhale for four
00:09:00
now as you breathe in for four notice the cool  refreshing air as it passes through your nose   feel it moving throughout  your entire body hold for four and exhale for four
00:09:21
again inhale noticing the cool  air as it passes through your nose   and feel it moving through your entire body hold for four
00:09:35
and exhale or four now as you breathe in repeat your mantra breathe in for four tell yourself  that it’s okay that you’ve got this
00:09:55
hold for four as you exhale feel the bad energy  and worry leaving your body let’s breathe in again repeat  your mantra to yourself
00:10:16
hold and exhale feeling the energy the bad  energy and worry leaving your body breathe in again repeat your mantra really  believing what you’re telling yourself
00:10:42
and exhale feeling the worry and  the bad energy leaving your body breathe in repeat your mantra feel the positivity  and the strength feeling your body hold and exhale feeling the bad  energy and worry leaving
00:11:13
breathe in again repeat your mantra notice  how you’re starting to feel more calm sit with this feeling of calmness as you   hold your breath and then exhale feeling  the bad energy worry leaving your body
00:11:37
breathing again repeating your  mantra believing your mantra feeling that breath you took absorbing  all of the negative energy and exhale breathe in again repeat your mantra
00:12:05
sit with this feeling of calm and strength   feeling the breath absorbing  all of the bad energy and exhale breathe in repeat your mantra
00:12:32
really believe how strong and safe you are  feel that oxygen absorbing the bad energy   and exhale feeling the bad energy and worry  leaving your body breathe in repeat your mantra repeat your mantra again  
00:13:04
sit with it while you hold your breath for a  minute let that air absorb all the bad energy   and as you exhale really feel your body relaxing  and melting into the chair that you’re sitting in one more time breathe in
00:13:27
repeat your mantra notice a sense of hope and  energy but also calmness sit with this for a minute
00:13:43
and exhale feeling the last little  bit of that worry leaving your body notice how relaxed your body feels now sit with  this feeling continue to repeat your mantra until you’re ready to start rejoining  your activities for the day there are  

00:00:03
Welcome everybody to this video on  cued progressive muscular relaxation   one of many techniques for meditation  to help cope with anxiety and depression   i’m your host dr donnelly snipes meditation and  cute progressive muscular relaxation can help  
00:00:20
calm your stress response so you can use energy to  improve the next moment instead of staying stuck   when you’re stressed you often tense your muscles  reducing blood flow increasing pain and fatigue   the goal of cute progressive muscular relaxation  is to help you become more aware of tension  
00:00:40
in your body and be able to release it in  the moment instead of letting it build up   cute progressive muscular relaxation can also  be helpful for people who have difficulty   sleeping because they can’t turn off their mind  
00:00:59
in cued progressive muscular relaxation  you’re going to move from the top of your head   to the tips of your toes imagining pushing  the stress and bad energy out of your body   try it with your arms in your upper arms tense  them as tight as you can possibly tense them
00:01:19
feel them being tight and then relax as you  relax feel the blood moving through your arms   and pushing out that bad  energy nourishing your muscles as with any meditation it’s important to examine  your surroundings and make sure you’re safe from  
00:01:40
interruption make sure you’re in an environment in  which you feel safe and can relax you’re not going   to be disturbed by the phone by the dog barking  by the ups man for cute progressive muscular   relaxation it is preferable to be able to lay down  but at least get comfortable wherever you’re at  
00:02:02
if you’re not comfortable closing your eyes  pick a stationary object in the room to focus   on it can be a vase a candle a spot on the wall  something that you can focus your attention on begin by turning attention to your body just kind  of do a scan notice where is their tension right  
00:02:25
now where is this their discomfort you may  not have even noticed it until you started   looking for it now focus on your breath  i want you to breathe in for four hold
00:02:45
exhale try that again breathe in hold and exhale now when you breathe  in notice your belly expand
00:03:10
hold as you exhale feel your belly  deflate and push out that   negative energy again breathe  in feeling your belly expand
00:03:25
hold and exhale feeling your belly deflate now when you breathe in notice the cool  refreshing air as it passes through your nose  
00:03:41
feel it moving through and  nourishing your entire body hold exhale
00:03:57
again breathe in feel the refreshing  air nourishing your body hold and exhale now each time you tense  a muscle group i want you to inhale   as you hold your muscles tense  you’re going to hold your breath  
00:04:23
as you exhale you’re going to tell yourself relax  and feel the negative energy leaving your body   we’ll start with the scalp imagine a  string pulling your ears back and your   eyebrows up tense that scalp  as hard as you can and inhale
00:04:46
hold that position hold your breath now exhale and relax feeling the negative energy  moving out of your scalp and down out your body tense your scalp again inhale holding your breath
00:05:19
exhale relax and feel the  negative energy leaving your body now move down to your face inhale  and squinch up your face really tight   as tight as you can and hold
00:05:43
exhale and relax your face feel the blood moving through  the skin on your cheeks inhale and tighten your face again hold
00:06:04
and exhale feeling your face relax move down to your jaw tighten your jaw  clench your teeth as you inhale and hold exhale and relax letting your jaw just  drop open inhale and tense your jaw
00:06:38
hold exhale and relax letting your jaw fall open now go  back up to your top of your head scan and feel the   blood moving through your scalp and your face  and your jaw and all of those muscles relaxing
00:07:01
inhale and pull your shoulders to your ears  tightening your neck and your shoulder muscles hold and relax
00:07:18
feel your shoulders dropping again inhale bring your  shoulders to your ears hold exhale and let those shoulders fall  and relax falling deeper into the chair  
00:07:45
now move back to your shoulder blades and  imagine you’re squeezing a pencil between   your shoulder blades as you inhale  and squeeze those shoulder blades hold
00:08:01
exhale and relax pull those shoulder blades back together  again squeezing as tight as you can   pushing all of that stress out of those muscles
00:08:21
exhale and relax feel the  tension leaving those muscles now move to your upper arms your biceps tighten  your upper arms as tight as you can hold exhale and relax feel all of that  energy moving towards your fingertips  
00:08:49
moving the bad energy away inhale  again tightening those upper arms hold and relax feeling the energy  move down to your fingertips
00:09:12
now tighten your fists inhale tighten your fists  and curl them up to tighten your forearm and   your fists really grab all that negative energy  that’s been pushed down there hold it and as you   exhale relax and feel the energy just  leaving your fingertips all the bad energy
00:09:43
let’s do that again inhale tighten your  fists and curl them up hold all that tension exhale relax and feel that negative energy being  pushed out as the blood is drawn to your fingers now tighten your shoulder blades  again because a lot of people store  
00:10:12
tension all the way up in  their upper back hold that exhale and relax now tighten your chest muscles  kind of like if you were the hulk  
00:10:37
tighten your chest muscles as you inhale and hold exhale and relax the chest muscles cover your heart we want to  disperse all of the stress from that area so  
00:11:03
inhale and tighten those  chest muscles again and hold feel like you’re grabbing all that  stress and all that negative energy exhale and relax
00:11:23
and feel the blood moving through that  area pushing out all of the tension move down to your stomach tighten your  stomach curl up like you’re curling into   a little ball tighten tightening your stomach  muscles as you inhale easier said than done
00:11:48
relax as you exhale again tighten those abdominal  muscles as you inhale and hold as you exhale start to relax  
00:12:09
you’ll feel the relaxation in your  stomach as well as your lower back now move down to your glutes or your  butt whatever you want to call it   tighten those muscles as tight as you can
00:12:27
inhale and hold exhale as you relax one more time inhale and tighten  those glutes as tight as you can
00:12:51
hold exhale and relax feeling the  blood coursing and pushing   that negative energy down towards your toes
00:13:09
tighten your thighs as you inhale hold and keep it tight exhale and relax again inhale and tighten those thighs  as tight as you can a little bit tighter
00:13:39
hold exhale and relax notice the feeling of warmth as  the blood moves the energy down towards your toes now tighten your calves as you  inhale by pointing your toes
00:14:04
hold exhale and relax start to feel the warmth moving  through your calves and into your toes
00:14:23
inhale and point your toes tightening  those calves as tight as you can exhale and relax now flex your feet as you inhale  tighten those shins as tight as you can
00:14:51
hold exhale and relax one more time inhale as you tighten  those shins flexing your feet and hold
00:15:17
exhale and relax you’ve pushed all  that energy down towards your toes   now inhale and curl your toes curl your feet up as  tiny as you can get them curling those toes tight hold and relax your feet exhale
00:15:49
inhale and curl your toes hold and relax
00:16:04
notice how calm and relaxed your body feels try to   make it relaxed even more try to make  it go even more limp as you inhale hold
00:16:25
exhale and relax feeling yourself sinking  deeper into your seat and last time inhale hold exhale feeling yourself  sinking deeper into your seat sit and notice how you feel

Hello everybody and welcome to this video anxiety  meditations i am your host dr dawn elise snipes anxiety often occurs when we feel unsafe or  powerless it increases your stress chemicals   kicks off that hpa axis or the fight or flight  response and you start to have tunnel vision  
00:00:21
and become more reactive and impulsive so  anxiety can be a problem now remember anxiety   is a feeling it’s a normal feeling that tells  you that hey there might be something to be   aware of there might be a threat it doesn’t  mean there is a threat the anxiety is just  
00:00:41
telling you to check and see if there’s a threat  meditation can help calm your stress response so   you can think more clearly about what to do to  improve the next moment so if you look around   and you decide you know what there’s really not  a threat or whatever it is that is threatening  
00:00:59
i have no control over like you know a pandemic  or something then meditation can help you   calm or or tamp down that stress response  so you’re not burning up tons and tons of   energy and feeling anxious like you’re going  to crawl out of your skin all the time it’s  
00:01:21
important before you begin any sort of meditation  to examine your surroundings and make sure you are   safe from interruptions you don’t want to  get into this nice relaxed state and all   of a sudden have your phone go off or the  dog bark get into a situation where you are
00:01:39
protected from interruption where you feel  safe in your environment you have the door   shut you may have the blinds drawn whatever it  is that makes you feel the most safe and secure   if you’re not comfortable closing your eyes some  people have trauma histories and they are not  
00:01:56
comfortable closing their eyes and that’s cool  if you’re not then pick a stationary object in   the room to focus on when i do meditations i love  focusing on the a candle flame just that’s always   been something that has um attracted my focus so  candle flames work for me you can pick a spot on  
00:02:19
the wall you can pick a vase whatever it is you  want just make sure it’s not something that’s   going to move around that you’ve got a track  you want to make sure it stays right there the next thing you need to do once you feel  like you’re in a safe environment think of an  
00:02:36
empowering mantra that you’re going to repeat to  yourself and depending on what is triggering your   anxiety you may have several different mantras  that you rotate through depending on the type of   anxiety if you are facing some sort of adversity  you can tell yourself i’ve got this or this too  
00:02:55
shall pass you know maybe you are getting ready to  go take a your graduate entrance exams or you are   going on a job interview or you are experiencing  some something distressful maybe you and your best   friend got into a disagreement and there’s tension  right there so this too shall pass can work  
00:03:18
another set if it has to do more with failure  you can remind yourself progress not perfection   nobody’s perfect and it’s important to strive for  progress not perfection to learn from our failures   or just i can succeed if you are afraid of failure  and you’re getting ready to do something just  
00:03:39
telling yourself i can succeed i may not succeed  at everything but i can’t succeed now obviously   i’m elaborating on some of these you want to pick  something that is not more than a few words to   repeat to yourself if your  anxiety has to do with rejection  
00:03:58
you may say to yourself something like it’s not  about me or i am enough if you have anxiety about   uncertainty you don’t know what’s going to happen  next you can tell yourself something like stay   open to options or i’m not alone and i’m not  alone really appeals to people who don’t like  
00:04:21
uncertainty they like control but knowing that  they’re not alone knowing that they’ve got   support people to help them through something  that is uncertain can be very reassuring   now you can come up with your own mantras these  were just a few that i i pulled out for you  
00:04:39
to give you an idea of think something  that you might want to say to yourself   look at the root of whatever’s causing your  anxiety pick a mantra make sure you’re in   a safe place with time and practice you’ll  be able to trigger the relaxation response  
00:04:55
with your mantra and a deep breath or two so you  may not have to go through the entire meditation   which is really awesome so when if you get used  to it you may be able to approach adversity   and take a deep breath tell yourself i’ve got  this and exhale and do that a couple of more times  
00:05:17
and feel relaxed it can help you get grounded  once your body’s recognized that okay when we   start saying this it’s time to relax you may think  that’s a little corny but think about other times   in your past when somebody has said something  that has just a word has triggered a response  
00:05:36
when i used to teach at uf i would tell my class  okay clear your desk it’s time to take a pop quiz   and those words would strike fear in the majority  of the people in my class and that would trigger   their fight or flight response now obviously  we want to do the opposite here my point is  
00:05:56
that something as simple as a word can trigger a  fight or flight response or a relaxation response   so i’m going to tell you what we’re going  to do and then we’re going to start doing it   you’re going to start by sitting comfortably  you know you’re in a safe environment you’ve  
00:06:15
picked your mantra then you get comfortable  sitting ideally both feet on the ground you   know in a relaxed position begin by focusing  on your breath you’re gonna breathe in for four   hold for four and breathe out for four you’re  gonna do that twice and then you’re going to  
00:06:34
continue to breathe in for four hold for four  and exhale for four but you’re when you do this   then you’re going to start noticing your belly  expand and deflate so the first thing you just   want to focus on your breath and then you want  to start focusing on your breath and your body  
00:06:51
the next step is to notice the cool  refreshing air as it passes through your nose   feel it moving through your entire  body you’re going to do that twice   finally you’re going to as you breathe in you’re  going to repeat your mantra and sit with it while  
00:07:09
you hold your breath for that four and as you  exhale you’re gonna feel the bad energy and worry   leaving your body you’re going to repeat this 10  times then just sit with this feeling for a few   minutes noticing how relaxed your body feels  it’s that simple you’re going to gradually  
00:07:29
work up to ramp up to focusing on your on your  mantra and relaxing your anxiety but the first   thing you got to do is start with your breath  i’m going to walk you through this mantra and   it will take about 10 minutes so go  ahead and sit down and get comfortable
00:07:50
begin by focusing on your  breath breathe in for four   three hold for four two three and exhale for four three four let’s do that again breathe in  for four two three four hold for four two  
00:08:17
three and exhale for four now when you breathe in for  four notice your belly expand hold for four
00:08:36
and exhale for four feeling your belly deflate again breathe in and notice your belly expand hold for 4. and exhale for four
00:09:00
now as you breathe in for four notice the cool  refreshing air as it passes through your nose   feel it moving throughout  your entire body hold for four and exhale for four
00:09:21
again inhale noticing the cool  air as it passes through your nose   and feel it moving through your entire body hold for four
00:09:35
and exhale or four now as you breathe in repeat your mantra breathe in for four tell yourself  that it’s okay that you’ve got this
00:09:55
hold for four as you exhale feel the bad energy  and worry leaving your body let’s breathe in again repeat  your mantra to yourself
00:10:16
hold and exhale feeling the energy the bad  energy and worry leaving your body breathe in again repeat your mantra really  believing what you’re telling yourself
00:10:42
and exhale feeling the worry and  the bad energy leaving your body breathe in repeat your mantra feel the positivity  and the strength feeling your body hold and exhale feeling the bad  energy and worry leaving
00:11:13
breathe in again repeat your mantra notice  how you’re starting to feel more calm sit with this feeling of calmness as you   hold your breath and then exhale feeling  the bad energy worry leaving your body
00:11:37
breathing again repeating your  mantra believing your mantra feeling that breath you took absorbing  all of the negative energy and exhale breathe in again repeat your mantra
00:12:05
sit with this feeling of calm and strength   feeling the breath absorbing  all of the bad energy and exhale breathe in repeat your mantra
00:12:32
really believe how strong and safe you are  feel that oxygen absorbing the bad energy   and exhale feeling the bad energy and worry  leaving your body breathe in repeat your mantra repeat your mantra again  
00:13:04
sit with it while you hold your breath for a  minute let that air absorb all the bad energy   and as you exhale really feel your body relaxing  and melting into the chair that you’re sitting in one more time breathe in
00:13:27
repeat your mantra notice a sense of hope and  energy but also calmness sit with this for a minute
00:13:43
and exhale feeling the last little  bit of that worry leaving your body notice how relaxed your body feels now sit with  this feeling continue to repeat your mantra until you’re ready to start rejoining  your activities for the day there are  

Unlimited CEUs are available for $59 at AllCEUs.com/Anxiety-CEU hey there everybody and welcome to this  presentation on nine tips to rewire your   anxious brain i’m your host dr dawn elise snipes  in this presentation we’re going to start by  
00:00:13
understanding a little bit more about what  anxiety is then we’ll talk about the influence   of experience and the stress response and we’ll  finish up by identifying those rewiring strategies anxiety is an emotional label we apply  to a particular set of physical reactions  
00:00:35
like rapid breathing and increased heart rate  that can be triggered by a variety of things   phys physical stress like exercise can trigger  the hpa axis which is our stress response system   threat can also trigger the hpa axis  our cognitions or our thoughts can also  
00:00:59
trigger this physiological reaction if we  tell ourselves there’s a impending danger   then it’s going to trigger that fight-or-flight  reaction relationship dynamics are another example   of something that can trigger a stress response  if someone starts interacting with you in a way  
00:01:23
that reminds you of an unpleasant interaction in  the past it’ll trigger that memory and your brain   may respond with activating that stress response  system anxiety is an emotion it is there to help   protect us the fight-or-flight system the anger  and anxiety are designed to give us energy to  
00:01:50
tell us that there might be a threat not that  there is a threat so this fight or flight system   is designed to help us survive it’s designed like  a fire alarm to alert us to the fact that there   might be a problem and i know i already said that  but it bears repeating anxiety is a feeling which  
00:02:14
may or may not be based on accurate facts feelings  are not facts feelings tell us to check the facts when you experience something that causes anxiety  your brain encodes it as a threat so think about   if you are walking down the street and an  aggressive dog just runs up to the fence and  
00:02:39
starts barking like crazy well if that’s your  first experience with a dog or if you felt too   threatened then your brain is going to encode  that and it’s going to make it really prominent   high winds are another example that i’ll use  throughout this presentation we live on a farm  
00:02:58
and we’ve had occasions where the winds have  gotten so high that is not that it has knocked   down significant portions of our fence which not  only is inconvenient but it means the animals can   escape and it is not a cheap endeavor in order to  repair the fence so whenever we have high winds  
00:03:22
there’s a part of me that may get a  little bit anxious that oh my gosh   i hope it doesn’t blow down the fence so we’ll  talk about how i’ve dealt with that over the years   it’s important to remember that in order to  protect us your brain gives more weight or  
00:03:39
more prominently displays information about  threats so instead of remembering the 15   nice dogs that you’ve met in your life it’s  going to remind you of that one aggressive dog   or instead of remembering the 50 times that we had  a storm come through that there was no damage my  
00:04:02
brain as soon as the wind starts picking up goes  to that one time well actually three times but   whatever those few times that the fence blew down  so probability is that nothing bad is going to   happen but my brain focuses on those distressful  events because it’s trying to keep me safe
00:04:28
when your brain perceives a threat based on  prior experience or lack of experience so if   you’ve never encountered a situation  many times that’s going to trigger a   feeling of anxiety in you because your brain’s  like i’ve got no data i don’t know what to expect  
00:04:46
so it could be bad it could be good but let’s just  err on the side of caution and be a little anxious   so it triggers the hpa axis which causes your  body to drop dump adrenaline we know that that’s   stimulating norepinephrine and glutamate those are  also stimulating and all of those things um work  
00:05:07
together as well as uh your thyroid causing  blood sugar to be dumped into the system to   create that feeling of anxiety when we are anxious  when our fight-or-flight system has kicked off   i mentioned earlier our heart rate increases our  breathing increases our gi tract says you know  
00:05:33
it’s not the time to rest and digest so let’s  clear out the system so a lot of times we get   stomach cramps or an uncomfortable feeling in  our belly all of that is just a normal reaction   to our body getting prepared in case we need  to fight or flee but we assume that since we’re  
00:05:57
feeling that way then there must be a problem and  we’ll talk about emotional reasoning in a minute   when we have this physical  reaction we start feeling   anxious thoughts about our ability to keep  ourselves safe and to cope with the situation  
00:06:15
can really affect whether it spirals and gets  worse into a panic attack or we’re able to cope   with it so if we start feeling anxious and we  believe that oh my gosh i’m feeling anxious this   is going to be out of control i’m going to feel  overwhelmed i’m powerless over these feelings  
00:06:36
then we’re going to have increased anxiety which  is going to cause more adrenaline more glutamate   more blood sugar to be dumped because our our  body’s going ooh there must be a big problem   if our feel thoughts on the other hand are  that of safety curiosity and empowerment  
00:06:56
i’m looking around i recognize that i’m pretty  safe and i think i can handle whatever life   throws at me okay so let me get curious i wonder  why i’m feeling pinky right now i wonder why i’m   feeling anxious right now so let me explore it  so i can figure out how to handle it that’s the  
00:07:16
empowerment part well when we approach a situation  like that then it promotes functional responding   we can assess the situation accurately and  decide is this something i need to address   or can i turn on that rest and digest  and down regulate my stress response
00:07:41
all right easier said than done so  when we talk about rewiring the brain   it’s important to start out with mindfulness and  i know we talk about mindfulness a lot but it’s so   important when you’re on autopilot then your brain  is just pulling from data that it already has  
00:07:59
and not taking into account anything in the  present mindfulness encourages us to become   aware of things we become mindful of what  i call our pacer triggers for anxiety that   means our physical triggers for anxiety when  i feel a particular way for example if you’ve  
00:08:19
got health anxiety then maybe if you have start  having pain that triggers anxiety in you okay   write it down what other physical sensations may  trigger anxiety in you maybe when your blood sugar   starts to get low you start to get really shaky  and you can’t necessarily differentiate that from  
00:08:43
a panic attack so you assume that if you’re shaky  it must mean a panic attack so write down shaky   that’s a trigger for anxiety um some people  tend to be more anxious in certain situations   when they have certain feelings if they feel  angry that also may trigger their anxiety in other  
00:09:08
videos we’ve talked about that as dirty discomfort  because we rarely have one isolated feeling   so if we get angry we may feel anxious that people  are going to get angry with us because we got   angry or if we feel depressed it may trigger our  anxiety that we’re never going to feel any better  
00:09:30
so what feelings what affects trigger your anxiety  and then cognitive what thoughts trigger your   anxiety when you’re having an anxious moment  what are you telling yourself and sometimes   you may not be aware of these right now so the  first part of rewiring your brain is starting  
00:09:51
to become mindful and become aware when i’m  feeling anxious what am i telling myself   when i’m feeling anxious what in the  environment might be triggering my anxiety   in the book the body keeps the score but um vessel  vander kulk talks about how a lot of times when  
00:10:13
we’ve experienced trauma we may re-experience  it not as a thought so much as a reaction   so if there are stimuli in the environment  sites smart smells sounds in the environment   that remind you of a past trauma it may trigger  your anxiety and you may have that anxious  
00:10:36
reaction and you don’t know where it’s coming from  it’s like oh i really don’t like how i’m feeling   and i don’t know why i’m feeling anxiety i’m  looking around and objectively everything’s fine   so it’ll be important to be aware of triggers  in your environment and start becoming aware of  
00:10:54
things that trigger reactions from the past so you  can process that and recognize in the present are   you safe and and not even necessarily related to  trauma i remember one of the places i worked was   the walls were kind of this pukey blue green color  and it felt very institutional and it felt very  
00:11:26
depressing and overly rigid and it  felt uncomfortable to be in there and   i couldn’t exactly tell you why and  to this day i can’t exactly tell you   why that color paint and the um environment  in that particular building triggered that  
00:11:48
feeling but it did and i recognized that  when i started when i see that color   it triggers a emotional reaction in me it’s  not anxiety but people may have similar   reactions when they see particular colors  or environments and relationally what people  
00:12:10
or interpersonal behaviors trigger anxiety in you  maybe particular people that you’ve interacted   with may trigger anxiety but also people that  look like those people can trigger anxiety in   you and it’s important to note that it could  be that they look physically like that person  
00:12:33
or it could be that they are in a similar  role so maybe all doctors trigger your anxiety it’s important as you become more aware of  your triggers to also encourage yourself   to open your mind and become aware of  facts in context in the present moment  
00:12:56
so i notice that when i’m in  this environment i feel icky facts in context in the present moment is  there something going on that is distressful   or is it triggering a reaction from the past you  know there are two completely different things
00:13:21
another important step is what i call reducing  stress sensitivity if your body machine   is hyperactive hyper vigilant then you may tend to  respond with anxiety more easily or more strongly   than if it’s not so what can we do in order  to create a sense of safety and empowerment  
00:13:48
well part of it is sleep when you are sleep  deprived your hpa axis becomes more active   which means and remember your hpa  axis is your stress response system   when that system is more active then you  are more likely to respond with more anxiety  
00:14:07
think about it when you’re sleep deprived is  it just as easy to deal with life on life’s   terms or do things stress you out more easily  i mean i think most of us have the answer there   good quality sleep is important also with that  recognize some of your natural rhythms in the  
00:14:28
morning there is the cortisol awakening response  and that is when your cortisol your stress hormone   and other uh hormones as well as your blood sugar  tend to be high your body is saying hey wake up   get ready for the day that is your body’s  um awakening response it’s not anxiety it’s  
00:14:52
not designed to make you feel stressed out it’s  designed theoretically to make you feel excited   but sometimes we label it  differently sometimes our system is overly eager and it secretes too much cortisol  and it’s important to to take a look at that  
00:15:13
so if you wake up in the morning and the first  thing is you feel anxious get curious examine   what thoughts am i having that  are contributing to this anxiety   what physical sensations did i not sleep well you  know what might be contributing to this besides  
00:15:31
something that’s actually threatening so sleep  is important pain management is important when   we’re in pain that triggers that stress response  system to stay more active the primitive parts   of our brain say hey if we’re in pain that means  we’re vulnerable which means we are in more danger  
00:15:55
from that hungry lion that might be chasing us  manage pain you may not be able to eliminate   it completely but be aware that pain may increase  your anxiety just because it triggers the hpa axis   pain may also trigger your anxiety because of  health anxiety and that’s a different video  
00:16:17
but being aware of that and  managing your pain can be helpful   nutrition is important if you’re eating a  lot of simple sugars then your blood sugar   is doing this and that can contribute to feelings  of anxiety and jitteriness same thing with if  
00:16:36
you drink a lot of coffee you can have surges  and crashes that can feel uh very anxiety like   getting enough protein throughout the  day to keep your blood sugar stable   can be really really helpful and paying attention  to insulin resistance is also important uh  
00:16:59
when we become more insulin resistant  than our body has more difficulty   managing our blood sugar to grossly  oversimplify it some people have found that dietary changes can help with their anxiety  additionally making sure that you’re getting  
00:17:21
a relatively healthy diet so your body can make  the neuro chemicals it needs to like gaba in order   to moderate your anxiety can be important and  then reducing minimizing eliminating if possible   stimulants if you’re already anxious then adding  stimulants is just turning up the volume of that  
00:17:47
stress response system it’s giving it more energy  environmentally create safety in your environment   in your house in your car in your workspace so  you’re not hyper vigilant so you’re not on edge   a lot of the time turn down any unnecessary  sources of distress and develop a safety plan to  
00:18:13
identify aspects within your control to respond to  common threats if x happens then i will so going   back to the aggressive dog if the aggressive dog  charges me i will respond with pepper spray you   know maybe i have pepper spray that keeps me  safe when i’m on my when when i’m on my runs  
00:18:37
or if we get a bad storm and it does blow the  fence down then i will call my neighbor and i have   t posts that i can use in order to put the fence  back up so i have a plan that helps me feel   safer so i know that if this bad thing happens  i’m not saying that it will but if it happens  
00:19:02
i can cope with it it’s not going  to have catastrophic consequences many people with anxiety get caught  in the emotional reasoning trap   i feel anxious therefore something bad must  be getting ready to happen emotional reasoning  
00:19:21
causes you to seek out and focus on information  that confirms your feelings it’s not necessarily   confirming the facts it confirms your feelings  and it dismisses contradictory information if you   wake up and you’re having feeling anxious and you  say oh something bad’s going to happen today it’s  
00:19:43
it’s going to be an awful day then you’re going  to pay attention and you’re going to notice the   bad things that happen and you’re not going to pay  attention or notice as as much of the good things another example i feel anxious about this test  therefore i am going to fail so the person starts  
00:20:05
looking for confirmatory information they’re  taking the test and every time they get to a   question they don’t know they’re just like see  i knew i was going to fail and they can actually   create a confirmation bias they tell themselves  enough that they’re going to fail that they  
00:20:24
actually do fail or i feel vulnerable and  anxious in this relationship therefore this   person must intend to abandon me so i feel anxious  maybe based on prior abandonment experiences therefore i’m going to look for any clue anything  this person may do that may indicate that they’re  
00:20:48
getting ready to abandon me now i don’t know  for certain whether that’s what their behavior   actually means but i’m assuming based on other  people’s behaviors that that that’s what’s   going on here so there’s we’re not talking  about facts we’re talking about assumptions
00:21:10
examine your relationship with anxiety  and i know that sounds really weird   but anxiety is there to protect you think  about how it has protected you in the past   and in what ways is this current anxiety maybe  
00:21:28
dysfunctional but trying to protect you in  in the present you know it’s sort of that um   hyperactive or overprotective uh friend  that wants to make sure that you stay safe   how are you different now than you were in  the past what was dangerous or overwhelming or  
00:21:50
whatever in the past uh things that caused you  anxiety in the past how are you different how can   you handle them differently how are you safer and  more empowered or how is the situation different   now in the past than in the past maybe in past  situations people that you dealt with were unkind  
00:22:12
or caused you distress in some way how are these  people in the present different than those people sometimes that people find it helpful to treat  anxiety like a nervous friend think of piglet   from winnie the pooh and set good boundaries if  your nervous friend tells you that there might  
00:22:36
be a problem and they’re really anxious about  something okay thank you for alerting me i’ll   check it out just because they feel anxious  doesn’t mean you need to take the information   thank them for letting you know and  then figure out for yourself what you  
00:22:54
think and what your perception of the situation  is then be willing to explain to them why they   don’t need to be anxious in your perception or  why you don’t feel like you need to be anxious   so thank you for letting me know however these are  the actual facts in the situation as i see them  
00:23:15
how are you safe and empowered if they persist if  your your anxious friend persists in saying no you   need to be anxious you need to be anxious you can  also set boundaries and tell them to go home you   know and that’s where those cognitive boundaries  come in if you treat anxiety as something separate  
00:23:36
from you as a person or an entity separate from  you then you can more easily set boundaries it’s   hard to set boundaries with yourself sometimes  consider what are you afraid will happen   if you don’t dwell on anxiety all the time  if you’re not constantly scanning for the  
00:23:58
next shoe to drop what are you afraid will happen  think back to times when you haven’t been anxious   moments hours even not necessarily days or weeks  but moments or hours when you haven’t been anxious   has something bad happened a lot of people  are afraid if they let go of their anxiety  
00:24:21
then they’re going to be caught unawares by  something bad but think about it times when   you haven’t been hyper vigilant over anxious  when you’ve actually felt calm for a moment   did something bad happen and catch you unawares  a lot of times you’re going to be able to say no
00:24:46
so rewiring the brain develop distress  tolerance tools for emotional regulation   when you are in your fight-or-flight  mode your cognition is impaired you’re   not going to be able to effectively  evaluate the situation and alter  
00:25:08
your your brain’s shortcuts alter your brain’s  understanding of the situation when you’re in   fight or flight your brain is focused on just that  fight or flee not let’s check it out in order to   get into the place where you can effectively  evaluate what’s going on and potentially  
00:25:30
rewire what’s going on you need to be able to  get into what linehan called your wise mind   using distress tolerance tools like  distress tolerant thoughts telling yourself   that you won’t be consumed by anxiety or  that you are able to handle this situation  
00:25:53
activities like slow breathing breathe in for  four hold for four exhale for four hold for four   so that’s what we call square breathing or  engaging in relaxation activities or even exercise   i know that’s the opposite but sometimes when  your fight or flight system is revved and dumping  
00:26:17
energy some people find that the best way to  manage that is to actually start moving their body   in sync with their heart so if their heart is  beating fast then they start moving and then when   they stop moving their heart naturally decreases  they kind of get it recalibrated or re-synced  
00:26:39
between their their physiological  reaction and what their body is doing   guided imagery can be helpful as well as  sensations like sounds and smells and even   things that you feel like splashing cold water on  your face and i have lots of videos on distress  
00:26:58
tolerance tools on the youtube channel so  i’m not going to go into that a lot here   but it’s important to find tools that work  for you so you can get into your wise mind   and engage in using some of the following tools
00:27:15
when you’re confronted with a stressful  situation and you manually override your   stress response you use those distress  tolerance schools tools then your brain   actually says hmm wonder what’s going on here  i guess maybe i might not need to be nervous  
00:27:34
about this i’m not sure you manually  override it you get into your wise mind   you can start adjusting the beliefs and  your brain also associates that anxiety   formerly anxiety provoking situation with  low amounts of physiological distress
00:27:59
fcp is another technique that i really like   once you’re into your wise mind examine the  facts in the present context i feel anxious   okay that’s a fact i’m mindfully aware that i  feel anxious what thoughts are contributing to my  
00:28:19
feeling of anxiety what are the facts for  and against those thoughts in this context   at this time not when i was eight not last  week not three weeks from now but right now   in this context at this time what are the facts  for and against my belief that there is a threat  
00:28:42
what else might be contributing to my feeling  of anxiety did i have a little too much coffee   in the past few hours is my blood sugar  low am i under chronic stress so you know   i already was like that pressure cooker that  was at max capacity and this one thing that  
00:29:03
came at me normally wouldn’t bother me but  it’s just i don’t know how to deal with it   i don’t know that i have any more energy to deal  with it so i feel overwhelmed and i feel anxious   or as i mentioned earlier are there sensory  triggers around me right now that might be  
00:29:22
contributing to my feeling of anxiety there’s  no actual facts there’s no actual threat in the   environment but there’s sensory stimuli that are  triggering reactions based on prior experiences c stands for what’s within your control  we’ve already evaluated the facts we’ve  
00:29:47
identified what may be contributing to  what’s going on and if there’s a threat   what’s within your control what  can you do to address the situation   and if you do what’s within your control if  you do what you’re empowered to do what is the  
00:30:04
probability of the worst case scenario what is the  probability that catastrophe is going to happen   i have teenagers older children now and one  example can be letting them go out and drive   by themselves when they go out in the car by  themselves i feel anxious yes i do what thoughts  
00:30:28
are contributing to it they could get into a wreck  what are the facts for and against those thoughts   they have a license they are in a safe  vehicle so even if they do get into a wreck   it’s probably not going to be catastrophic  my daughter is a very good driver and
00:30:53
she’s been driving for years and never had an  accident so therefore um what are the facts   supporting my feeling my anxiety you know it do i  have information that says yeah it’s pretty likely   that she’s going to get into into an accident no  i don’t have that information so what is within  
00:31:19
my control with her driving with the exception  of taking away her keys not a lot therefore uh   i have to rely on her being smart and i cannot  control other drivers and i cannot control her   when she is out driving i did my best leading up  to this to make sure that she was a safe driver  
00:31:45
and and again what is the probability of  the worst case scenario the probability   of her getting into a catastrophic  car accident probably pretty small   she doesn’t drive on the interstates uh we  live in a very small town so there’s not a  
00:31:59
whole lot of traffic you know probability  of the worst case scenario is pretty slim another technique that can help in rewiring  is rewriting cognitions or your thoughts in   your core beliefs and i emphasize re-write and  rethinking about it is one thing but if you  
00:32:25
actually hand write it not type it hand write it  it solidifies the new memory or the restructured   memory in a different way than if you just  think it or even if you type it or talk about it when you start feeling anxious  write down what you’re thinking  
00:32:50
and then write down a restructured version or  a more accurate version of what you’re thinking   um all or nothing thinking this happens every time  every time there’s a storm the fence blows down   every time i get into a relationship i get  abandoned those are all or nothing thoughts  
00:33:16
so what are the exceptions write down the  exceptions to the rule um mental filtering   and that is when you focus only on the negative  so again you want to look for the positives   i’m always getting in trouble at work or at school  or my child is always getting in trouble at school  
00:33:40
look for the exceptions okay maybe they’ve  gotten in trouble a lot but not always so what’s   different during the times when they’re  not getting in trouble personalization   you know people don’t like me because i’m a  bad person or people are going to abandon me  
00:34:02
because i’m not lovable what are some alternate  explanations you know maybe it’s because they’ve   got stuff going on now that doesn’t necessarily  mean you’re not going to get abandoned   by a person but if you personalize it if you think  it’s about you then you expect that henceforth  
00:34:25
and forevermore everybody’s going to abandon  you because you’re the one that’s not lovable   if you look at the big picture find alternate  explanations why something may have happened   yes it’s unfortunate and you’ve got to  grieve that loss but you can also recognize
00:34:45
that that doesn’t always have to happen  magnification of the negative or minimization of   the positive look at the facts assuming or jumping  to conclusions without all of the information   or mind reading get the facts you don’t know  what somebody’s thinking if you’re anxious if  
00:35:07
you feel anxious that somebody’s angry with you  instead of assuming that you’re interpreting their   nonverbals correctly or their mood correctly  and it’s about you ask them get the facts   and availability is another thing that  contributes to anxiety we tend to remember and  
00:35:32
react based on the things that are either  most recent or most emotionally charged so   plane crashes for example we hear about plane  crashes on the news and those are devastating   those are very emotionally charged when we hear  about it we feel awful for those people and we  
00:35:54
may empathize and think how awful it would be to  be in that plane crash we don’t think about the   20 000 flights that took off that day that landed  successfully so it’s important to get the facts   if you start thinking flying is dangerous what  are the facts how many planes actually crash um  
00:36:17
driving you know how many cars actually crash how  many people you know actually have problems it’s   important to if there’s something that’s making  you anxious if there’s something you’re afraid of   get all of the facts about it snakes for example  you know when i was growing up a lot of people  
00:36:41
talked about how snakes were dangerous  and in my mind that’s all i heard   snakes are dangerous therefore all snakes  must be dangerous and that’s a false premise   when i started doing the research i learned  that yes there are six snakes in tennessee  
00:37:01
that are dangerous but there are literally  hundreds of other species that are not   so looking at the availability of  information i needed to broaden   my awareness of the whole picture not just  the sliver of information that i was presented
00:37:23
rewiring and retraining can also be done through  experience the first step is to be willing to   be open to the experience and challenge our  inaccurate beliefs which means i’ve got to be   able to look at the snake or whatever it is that’s  causing me anxiety use my distress tolerance  
00:37:42
skills to get into my wise mind and then examine  the accuracy of my facts in the current context   data collection can also be helpful write  it down again handwrite whenever possible   how often does this actually  happen how likely is it to happen  
00:38:06
does it happen literally every single  time so start keeping notes for the   storms i started keeping notes how frequently do  we have storms and how frequently during those   storms does my fence get blown down and the  preponderance of the time it didn’t happen uh  
00:38:32
so it’s important to get data to understand  how often does this happen versus how often   does it feel like it happens what are other  possible outcomes and how often do they happen   so let’s take relationships and abandonment  for example move away from the fence
00:38:54
how what are other possible  outcomes i get into a relationship   and it works out how often does that happen when how often does it happen that people get into  not necessarily just me that other people get into  
00:39:10
relationships that they get abandoned that other  people get into relationships and it works out   it’s important to recognize that how frequently you could expect something to  happen and how accurate are your expectations  
00:39:31
do you expect a gale-force wind and it’s only  a gentle breeze do you expect to fail a test   and okay you get a b minus what  were your expectations going into it   rewiring can also be done through guided imagery  envision yourself successfully navigating  
00:39:56
a concern that that you’re having going to  the doctor or asking somebody out on a date or   your kid going out driving and coming home safely  envision the positive scenario envision the   positive solution envision prior times when you’ve  experienced something similar and it’s gone okay  
00:40:20
remind yourself of other times when it’s gone  okay see that happening and repetition repeating   to yourself the distress tolerant thoughts  and those more accurate cognitions are really   helpful at reducing anxiety so instead of saying  everybody is dangerous or nobody is trustworthy  
00:40:45
repeating to yourself that some people are  untrustworthy and some people are trustworthy repetition repeating it to yourself over  and over again and stopping using the um   extreme or thoughts or the thoughts with the  cognitive distortions that trigger your anxiety  
00:41:12
can help you approach a situation and  feel more in control and empowered your brain learns from experience and uses  those experiences to help you predict the future   information from past experiences often only  provides part of the picture that is what happened  
00:41:33
in the past it doesn’t take into consideration  what’s going on right now when in fight or flight   cognition is impaired and prior information is  often unable to be modified to include new data   so if you expect something to be distressful and  you maintain your anxiety even if the situation  
00:41:54
ended up being no big deal your brain isn’t going  to process that because you were in that anxiety   haze if you will rewiring the brain requires  learning tools to calm the stress response   then identifying new information that may help  you feel safer more empowered that’s based in  
00:42:20
facts in the present context integrating that  new information training the brain to have new   expectations i’ve mentioned in other videos that  when i was very very little i had a bad experience   with a nurse giving me a shot and from then on  i was terrified of needles and i talked about  
00:42:47
it with my doctor one time when i was much much  older and she said i’m gonna give you the shot   trust me it’s not going to hurt and every  fiber of my being said oh she’s lying   but i did trust her and i was willing to be open  to a new experience and sure enough she gave  
00:43:11
me the shot and it didn’t hurt so now i go into  the doctor’s office different doctor now um and   i don’t automatically expect it to be painful  or distressful because i know that it i can get   shots without having it be be awful so i’ve  trained my brain to have new expectations  
00:43:37
now there are certain phlebotomists for  example that you may go to and you may   know from experience that they have difficulty  finding a vein so your anxiety may go up when you   see that particular phlebotomist whereas if you  see a different one who gets the vein every time  
00:44:01
you may not have any anxiety at all and in that  way you’ve trained your brain to be more selective   and not expect that every time you get your  blood drawn it’s going to be a painful situation   the brain’s desire for survival may cause  it to cling to the distressful expectations  
00:44:22
until it is proven wrong multiple  times you can’t just have this fear   and then have an experience that contradicts that  fear and your brain goes oh i was wrong never mind   your brain’s automatic response is to say maybe  that was just an exception let’s see if it happens  
00:44:44
again and so it may take several repetitions of  something several times experiencing something   or doing something like get public speaking  or asking somebody out on a date before it   doesn’t trigger the extreme anxiety response  so it takes practice what you want to look for  
00:45:07
is a reduction in the intensity of the anxiety  each time you repeat it now see if you feel   it feels a little bit easier each time i hope this  has given you a few tools to consider exploring in   rewiring your brain basically what you’re trying  to do is reprogram your brain by providing it