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The Biology of Anxiety: Understanding What’s Happening Inside Your Brain and Body

Anxiety can feel like an unpredictable storm—a sudden tightening of your chest, racing thoughts, or a looming sense of dread. But what if I told you that anxiety isn’t just in your head? It’s rooted in biology—a mix of brain chemistry, hormones, and evolutionary survival mechanisms. Understanding this can be empowering, helping you make sense of what you’re feeling and why. Let’s dive into the science behind anxiety to help you reclaim control.

The Brain’s Alarm System: Your Amygdala at Work

Imagine you’re walking through the woods and hear the snap of a twig. Instantly, your body goes on high alert. Your heart races, your breathing quickens, and your muscles tense. This is your amygdala—the brain’s fear center—taking charge.

The amygdala is a small almond-shaped structure deep in the brain that acts like an alarm system. It’s always scanning your environment for threats, triggering the fight-or-flight response when danger is detected. While this response is essential for survival, it becomes problematic when your amygdala is overactive, interpreting everyday stressors—like a crowded grocery store or a presentation at work—as threats.

In people with anxiety, the amygdala tends to overreact. This heightened sensitivity can make you feel like danger is everywhere, even when you’re safe. This is why you are not ‘responsible’ about how you feel with anxiety and when people say, ‘just snap out of it’, they are not helping.

The Fight-or-Flight Response: A Hormonal Surge

When your amygdala senses danger, it sends a distress signal to another part of your brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus then activates your body’s stress response, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream.

Adrenaline is what makes your heart pound and your palms sweat. It prepares your body to either fight or flee by increasing your energy and focus. Cortisol, on the other hand, keeps you on high alert, ensuring you stay vigilant until the perceived threat has passed.

While these hormones are useful in short bursts, prolonged exposure—like in chronic anxiety—can be harmful. High cortisol levels over time can disrupt your sleep, weaken your immune system, and even affect memory and concentration. This is why intervening in anxiety that has become a medium or long term factor in your life is important. Whilst anxiety cannot harm you, over time, it can affect other elements such as blood pressure and energy levels.

The Role of Neurotransmitters in Anxiety

Neurotransmitters are the brain’s chemical messengers, and they play a significant role in regulating mood and anxiety. Three key players in anxiety are:

1.GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid): Think of GABA as your brain’s “calm down” signal. It slows down brain activity and helps you feel relaxed. In people with anxiety, GABA levels are often lower, making it harder to quiet anxious thoughts.

2.Serotonin: Often called the “feel-good” chemical, serotonin helps regulate mood, sleep, and appetite. Low serotonin levels have been linked to anxiety disorders, which is why many anti-anxiety medications aim to increase serotonin availability in the brain.

3.Norepinephrine: This chemical is part of the stress response, amplifying alertness and focus. When norepinephrine levels are too high, it can contribute to feelings of restlessness and panic.

The Vicious Cycle of Avoidance and Anxiety

Biologically, your brain is wired to protect you. If something makes you feel anxious—like attending a social gathering—your instinct might be to avoid it. And when you do, your brain rewards you with a sense of relief.

But here’s the catch: Avoidance reinforces the amygdala’s belief that the situation was dangerous, making you even more anxious the next time. Over time, this cycle can shrink your world, leaving you feeling trapped.

Why Understanding the Biology of Anxiety Matters

Knowing that anxiety has a biological basis can reduce self-blame. It’s not a personal weakness; it’s your brain and body doing their job—albeit a bit too enthusiastically. This understanding also opens the door to evidence-based strategies for managing anxiety, many of which target these biological processes.

5 Simple Strategies to Calm Your Anxious Brain

1.Deep Breathing to Soothe the Amygdala

Slow, deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which counters the fight-or-flight response. Try this: Inhale deeply through your nose for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and exhale slowly through your mouth for 6 seconds.

2.Move Your Body

Physical activity reduces cortisol levels and increases endorphins, the body’s natural mood boosters. Even a brisk 10-minute walk can help calm your brain.

3.Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Tense and release different muscle groups in your body, starting from your toes and working up to your head. This reduces physical tension and sends calming signals to your brain.

4.Challenge Anxious Thoughts

When your mind spirals into worst-case scenarios, ask yourself: “What’s the evidence for this thought? Is it really true?” Reframing your thoughts can help deactivate the amygdala.

5.Seek Professional Help

Therapy, especially Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), is highly effective for anxiety. It teaches you to identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns, rewiring your brain over time.

Take the First Step Towards Relief

Understanding the biology of anxiety is the first step in taking back control. But you don’t have to stop here. With the right tools and support, you can retrain your brain to respond to stress in healthier ways.

As a counselor specializing in anxiety and OCD, I’m here to help you navigate this journey. Together, we’ll explore strategies tailored to your unique needs, empowering you to live with greater calm and confidence.

Ready to take the next step? Contact me today to schedule a free consultation. Let’s work together to quiet the storm of anxiety and create a life you can fully live.

How to Reduce a Panic Attack: Practical Strategies That Work

A panic attack can feel overwhelming and all-consuming, but the good news is that it’s possible to manage and reduce its intensity with the right tools. As a counsellor specializing in anxiety and OCD, I’ve worked with many clients to develop effective strategies for managing panic attacks. Below, I’ll share a range of practical techniques that you or your loved ones can use to regain control during an attack.

Understanding Panic Attacks

Before diving into strategies, it’s essential to understand what’s happening during a panic attack. These episodes are often marked by intense fear, rapid heartbeat, sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness, and a sense of losing control or impending doom. While they can be distressing, they’re not dangerous and typically peak within 10-20 minutes.

The key to managing a panic attack is grounding yourself in the present and calming your body and mind. Let’s explore how.

1. Ground Yourself in the Present

Grounding techniques can anchor your mind and help you regain focus during a panic attack:

•      Try the 5-4-3-2-1 Method: Identify five things you see, four things you feel, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you taste. This technique brings your attention to the here and now.

•      Focus on your surroundings: Describe details about your environment, such as colors, shapes, or objects, to redirect your thoughts.

•      Carry a grounding object: A small, familiar item like a stone, stress ball, or textured fabric can provide a comforting focus.

2. Use Breathing Exercises

Rapid, shallow breathing often accompanies panic attacks, making it crucial to slow down your breathing.

•      Diaphragmatic Breathing: Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold for 4, and exhale through your mouth for 6. This activates the body’s relaxation response.

•      Box Breathing: Inhale for 4 counts, hold your breath for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts, and pause for 4 counts before repeating.

3. Relax Your Muscles- Progressive Muscle Relaxation

When panic strikes, your body might feel tense. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) can help:

•      Tense each muscle group for 5-10 seconds, then slowly release the tension. Start with your toes and work upward to your head.

4. Practice Positive Self-Talk

During a panic attack, your thoughts can spiral into fear-driven patterns. Counter this with reassuring phrases:

•      “This feeling is temporary and will pass soon.”

•      “I’ve been through panic attacks before, and I know I can handle this.”

5. Use Distractions

Engaging your mind in something repetitive or logical can interrupt the panic cycle:

•      Count backward from 100 by sevens.

•      Name items in a specific category, such as types of fruit or cities.

•      Recite song lyrics, affirmations, or a favourite poem.

6. Accept the Experience – It Will Pass

Fighting the panic often amplifies it. Instead, practice accepting it:

•      Acknowledge what’s happening: “I’m feeling scared, and that’s okay.”

•      Remind yourself: “This is just a wave of discomfort, and it will pass.”

7. Seek a Safe Space

If possible, move to a quiet and comfortable environment where you feel more secure.

Remember

Panic attacks can be terrifying, but they don’t have to control your life. By using grounding techniques, calming strategies, and self-compassion, you can manage these episodes more effectively.  Do reach out to me if you would like to discuss anything related to anxiety and panic attacks.

One of the things that I repeatedly hear from clients that I work with and who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), is that the thoughts or ruminations that they have are ‘frightening’, ‘upsetting’ and ‘distressing’. There is no doubt that the OCD related thoughts that they have cause them a great deal of distress and individuals think that because they ‘think’ these thoughts, it must be a reflection of who they are.

The pain and distress that many feel brings about a sense of self-stigmatisation, isolation and self-blame, as though there is something that is inherently wrong with individuals who have OCD. The reality is that OCD is a deeply distressing condition and one that is complex, but for many who have OCD, it is not that they are their distressing thoughts. They may think that, but it is essential that therapists make that distinction – a separation between the OCD and the character of the individual.

Let me go back to the point I made that many clients whom I work with and who have OCD naturally believe that because they think something, it is a reflection of who they are. In fact, the opposite is true. In other words, the reason that so many people with OCD feel distress and emotional pain from their OCD related ruminations, is precisely because they are not what their thoughts are. This is something that is essential to bring out in therapy work and which is a start in the therapeutic healing journey.  So, for those having thoughts related to moral issues and concerns, the reasons that they are having the intrusive thoughts is precisely because they have a moral fabric and framework. Their OCD ruminations are therefore ego-dystonic and go against who are what they are. When this is brought up in therapy and counselling work, I have seen clients literally give off a sigh of relief and seen them sit back into the sofa as though the tension that they had built up over time has instantaneously eroded.

Let me give you other examples of how OCD related ruminations and thoughts are ego-dystonic. Some of my clients have had the stereotypical ‘OCD-related cleaning’ form of the disorder. The core underlying premise driving their form of OCD has been that they may be responsible for spreading germs or bacteria to others and they must clean certain things in a ritualistic fashion so that they are not responsible for harm to others. I have heard them suggest that they are ‘not good’ and that they may ‘have done bad’ by not cleaning something in a certain way. What they carry – is a form of self-blame that reduces their sense of self, their ego, their self-control and their self-confidence in themselves. It also makes them feel that they are responsible and thereby, bad people.

The fact is that this could not be further from the truth. It is precisely because they have a strong moral framework that causes these individuals distress and the fact that they recognise that they have a strong moral sense of social responsibility, also underpins the fact that they are the least likely to spread germs or bacteria in a wilful or harmful way. Once again, when I have explored this with clients, I have seen how any anxiety has drained away from them towards the end of the session.

In summary, OCD is the root of intrusive thoughts that are the mirror opposite of the values and beliefs of individuals and against what they hold dearly. If anything, this is something that is central to explore right at the start of therapy work.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is something that is being discussed more as society finally starts to place mental health ‘front and centre’ in our lives. Thankfully, we are finally linking our mental and physical health together when treatments have historically separated them.

In this blog, I wanted to talk about the sense of ‘responsibility’ that many people with various forms of OCD feel. When I speak of responsibility, it is not so much a sense of being responsible to themselves, through cleaning items – for example. It is more a deep and acute sense of responsibility that people who experience OCD feel about ensuring that others are not affected, hurt or harmed. This is where the basis of the anxiety reaction sits when they think of this possible situation. (I also need to add that OCD is an anxiety condition and that at its root, is the inability for people with the condition to be at ease with uncertainty and there is a tendency for ‘black and white’ thinking and absolute surety, which we all know is not possible with many things in life. Allied to this is a sense that the severity and likelihood of threat to others or to the individual is far greater that it is and with a corresponding under-estimation of a sense that they will be able to get through the thought and the situation. This is also where the anxiety ‘overwhelm’ is felt).

The thing that counsellors and therapists need to point out to people with OCD is that the basis of such thinking is premised on unhelpful thinking patterns which are sometimes called ‘cognitive distortions’ – you can see why I think that ‘unhelpful thinking patterns’ is a much better term. Working with individuals to help them understand what the patterns of unhelpful thinking are and letting them come to a place where they can recognise and pick out what they are doing, is essential to the start of the process of getting them to have some distance between themselves and the OCD. Furthermore another essential in the treatment of OCD in therapy is to work with the client to see and understand that the OCD generated thoughts or cognitions do not represent who they are, their morals or their values. So getting the client to start to develop that cognitive distance is key. 

What Can Counsellors or Therapists do?

Exploring with clients how ‘responsibility’ shows up in their OCD is something that is a ‘must do’ within therapy work. In particular, exploring how the obsessional thinking is related to how it may affect other people. For example, I worked with a client whom I will call ‘James’ to protect his identity. James had ‘Cleaning OCD’ and that meant that he would endlessly wash his hands, wash the taps, throw his soap away and wash the walls and then wash his hands again. These cycles could go on for hours and he said that he lost between 4-6 hours a day in the bathroom. He also urinated and defecated less since that would double the hours in the toilet and he had abdominal pains which was not surprising since his body wanted to excrete toxins and digested food and he was fighting against the urge to ‘go’. So, there were long term wider health implications that the OCD was stimulating and creating, which James recognised.

However, one of the drivers of his compulsions for washing and cleaning, was that he had to be sure (notice the 100% surety element here), that he would not be a carrier of germs and bacteria that could lead to someone getting sick and ultimately dying. This driver was leading James to unhelpful thinking styles that were founded on catastrophising, fortune telling and black and white thinking to name a few. By explaining to James that one of the things that OCD does it to significantly exacerbate the ‘responsibility’ element that they feel, this started to give him some insight into this area that was driving the anxiety response. As suggested, I also worked with him to recognise the immediacy of his automatic thoughts which were based on unhelpful thinking styles.

Further sessions with James explored his core beliefs, ‘sitting with and going through the ‘anxiety cycle’ and curve, and helping him to feel safe, secure and held so that he could feel that he could go through the anxiety cycle and right the way through to when his body would start to relax; for this is when the emotional and psychological ‘reset’ in thinking would occur.

So, to summarise, counsellors or therapists should actively be aware of the ‘responsibility’ guilt that is exacerbated by OCD. It is a part of the work that needs airing and reflecting on in therapy sessions with clients who have anxiety and OCD.

Agoraphobia, characterized by a deep fear of situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable, can be a debilitating condition. It often leads to avoidance behaviors, isolating individuals in their homes and cutting them off from the world. However, there is a powerful tool that can help people reclaim their lives: mindfulness. This ancient practice, rooted in the present moment, offers profound benefits for those struggling with agoraphobia. By cultivating mindfulness, individuals can begin to break free from the chains of fear and anxiety, finding a sense of calm and control in their lives.

Understanding Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is not just a fear of open spaces, as commonly misunderstood. It’s an anxiety disorder that can make any situation feel unsafe, particularly those where the person feels trapped or helpless. This could be anything from being in a crowded shopping mall to simply stepping outside the front door. The fear can be so intense that it leads to panic attacks, which further reinforces the avoidance of certain places or situations.

Living with agoraphobia can feel like being trapped in a mental prison. The world outside becomes a source of fear rather than enjoyment. Daily activities that most people take for granted, such as going to work, socializing, or even running errands, can feel overwhelmingly stressful. The constant anticipation of anxiety or panic attacks creates a vicious cycle, where the fear of fear itself becomes the primary driver of behavior.

The Role of Mindfulness in Managing Agoraphobia

Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and without judgment. It involves being aware of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment, moment by moment. For someone with agoraphobia, mindfulness can be a powerful ally in breaking the cycle of fear and avoidance.

1. Reducing the Impact of Anxiety: Mindfulness helps individuals observe their anxiety without becoming overwhelmed by it. Instead of trying to suppress or fight anxious thoughts, mindfulness encourages acceptance of these thoughts as transient and not necessarily reflective of reality. By learning to observe anxiety from a distance, individuals can reduce its intensity and impact on their behavior.
2. Grounding in the Present Moment: Agoraphobia often involves catastrophic thinking—imagining the worst-case scenario in any situation. Mindfulness grounds individuals in the present moment, helping them to focus on what is actually happening rather than what might happen. This shift in focus can diminish the power of fear, making it easier to face situations that once felt terrifying.
3. Breaking the Cycle of Avoidance: Avoidance is a key component of agoraphobia, but it often reinforces the fear. Mindfulness encourages a gentle confrontation with feared situations. By gradually exposing oneself to anxiety-provoking situations while staying mindful, individuals can slowly desensitize themselves to these fears. Mindfulness provides the emotional resilience needed to take these steps, even if they are small at first.

Practical Mindfulness Techniques for Agoraphobia

Incorporating mindfulness into daily life doesn’t require a significant time commitment or any special equipment. Here are some practical mindfulness techniques that can be particularly helpful for those struggling with agoraphobia:

1. Mindful Breathing:
   • Begin by finding a quiet place where you can sit comfortably.
   • Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath.
   • Notice the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils, or the rise and fall of your chest.
   • If your mind starts to wander, gently bring your focus back to your breath without judgment.
   • Practice this for a few minutes each day to create a calming ritual that you can turn to when anxiety strikes.
2. Body Scan Meditation:
   • Lie down or sit comfortably and close your eyes.
   • Start by focusing on your toes, noticing any sensations, tension, or relaxation.
   • Slowly move your attention upward, scanning your body part by part, all the way to the top of your head.
   • This practice helps to connect with your body, releasing tension and grounding you in the present moment.
3. Mindful Walking:
   • Start by walking at a slow, comfortable pace, preferably in a safe, familiar environment.
   • Pay attention to the sensation of your feet touching the ground, the movement of your legs, and the rhythm of your breathing.
   • Notice the sights, sounds, and smells around you without getting caught up in them.
   • If anxiety arises, acknowledge it, and then gently bring your focus back to the physical sensations of walking.
4. Loving-Kindness Meditation:
   • Sit quietly and bring to mind someone you care about deeply.
   • Silently repeat phrases such as “May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe.”
   • Gradually extend these wishes to yourself and then to others, including people you might feel neutral or even negative towards.
   • This practice cultivates compassion and reduces the isolation that often accompanies agoraphobia.

Integrating Mindfulness into Daily Life

For mindfulness to be truly effective, it needs to become a regular part of life, rather than something only practiced in moments of crisis. Here are some tips for integrating mindfulness into daily routines:

1. Start Small: Begin with just a few minutes of mindfulness practice each day. As you become more comfortable, gradually increase the time. The key is consistency rather than duration.
2. Incorporate Mindfulness into Routine Activities: Try to bring a mindful awareness to everyday tasks, such as eating, washing dishes, or taking a shower. Focus on the sensory experiences and be fully present in whatever you are doing.
3. Use Reminders: Place reminders in your home, such as sticky notes or phone alerts, to prompt you to pause and take a few mindful breaths throughout the day.
4. Be Patient with Yourself: Progress may be slow, and there will be setbacks. It’s important to approach mindfulness with self-compassion. Each moment of awareness, no matter how brief, is a step towards healing.

Mindfulness as Part of a Comprehensive Treatment Plan

While mindfulness can be incredibly beneficial, it’s important to recognize that it’s just one tool in the journey to overcoming agoraphobia. For many people, a comprehensive treatment plan that includes therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes is necessary. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), in particular, works well alongside mindfulness, helping individuals challenge distorted thinking patterns and gradually confront their fears.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programs are also specifically designed to help people with anxiety disorders, including agoraphobia. These programs combine mindfulness meditation with gentle yoga and can be a great way to build a structured mindfulness practice with the support of a group.

If you suffer from agoraphobia and want to get involved in counselling and therapy work as one tool to help you through your agoraphobia, get in touch with us.

The ‘T’ Word – Trauma

Recent medical research has demonstrated to us that disorders such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder may well have a genetic component, an experiential one and an environmental component. This means that even if there is a genetic trait that predisposes someone to OCD, the experiences that people have and the environmental stresses that they go through are key triggers for the symptoms of OCD to start showing up in someone’s life.

One aspect of those environmental and experiential conditions is the issue of trauma that people may go through in their lives. Here, I am referring to the definition of trauma that the well-respected physician and psychotherapist, Dr Gabor Mate, summarised as being,

(Trauma) “is not what happens to you; it is what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you … It is not the blow on the head, but the concussion I get.”

So, we need to move away from thinking about trauma as just being a major life incident. The term trauma can take place around language that children hear, for example, where they may experience internal effects and changes that happen within their cognition (their thinking), as well as within their nervous system. So even incidents like this can create perceptions within the minds of young children where language may elicit fears about the world around them or around people that may be referenced in a conversation. The result is a change in thinking which elicits fear in a child and which subsequently results in a dysregulation of their emotions over time.

What I find with working with clients who have OCD is that the issue of trauma comes up time and time again. Some have a singular experience that they can remember which has left a lasting imprint in their memory and thinking, leading to an ‘old fear’ that has been with them for some time, whilst others can remember and point to multiple traumas that they endured  in their childhood and early adolescence.

The Trauma Link

Gabor also speaks repeatedly about trauma being a ‘disconnection’ with the self. A sense that the disconnection creates fear, a lack of grounded-ness and a sense that an individual cannot tap into resources within themselves that may help them to move past the trauma and the disconnection.

I find that working with people who have OCD brings up the resonance of the trauma that they previously experienced through thoughts, feelings, images and impulses which continue to repeatedly play on their minds. Within this state of disconnection with the self and with the ‘here and now’, (the present), clients find themselves in a historical place, focussed inwards and where they can palpably feel, think and go through the trauma experiences which affected them in their childhood or early adolescence. They remain in these cycles, feeling fear, apprehension and a sense of catastrophe whilst being unable to connect with any sense of resilience within themselves. This is the case since they have never had the chance to minimise, fully let go off these past traumas or even explore their sense of resilience for them to go through these events and situations.

Obsessions and Compulsions

We know that for many, there are mental ruminations and recurring thoughts that are deeply fearful and which trigger the amygdala and the ‘fight and flight’ response. The compulsions are a by-product of these mental obsessions, they are actions that are carried out by an individual to provide some temporary relief from the anxiety of the recurring thoughts. The problem is though, that compulsions keep the strength of the anxiety inducing obsessions going. They legitimise the strength of the obsessions, as though the obsessional thought is so ‘hot’ and problematic, that without the compulsion, something catastrophic may occur. In other words, the compulsions act much like a steam valve, supposedly letting off ‘steam’ and the anxieties that have pent up, though we know that compulsions ultimately strengthen and keep the whole process going.

As you are reading this, you might also sense something in the last sentence which feels superstitious or ‘magical’. In fact, you would be right and there are cognitive distortions in the thinking patterns of people with OCD. For example, someone with OCD may feel that if they don’t close a door seven times, something bad may happen against their loved ones and even the numbers chosen demonstrate a sense of the superstitious and of the magical; as though things could happen by association. Therapists obviously need to work with clients to explore the range of cognitive distortions that they have, the classifications of the distortions and to help the client get to a place where they accept that a behavioural change is needed going forward.

Exploring core beliefs that clients may also carry with them is essential and the two pieces of work – exploring core beliefs and explaining and exploring the cognitive distortions that they may have are essential work. Allied with this must be an agreed plan for exposure where the client exposes themselves to the very things that may be disturbing them. So, if they are scared of germs, therapists must work with their clients to expose themselves to situations where they are in close contact with things that may be slightly dirty or dusty.

Finally, it is essential that client’s are able to find an alternative powerful narrative to the one that they are telling themselves because of the trauma. For in the end, a relevant and powerful narrative which draws them in  and which weakens the thoughts and feelings that arise from the trauma, will give them a solid foundation to build from.

The ‘Coiled and Wound-Up’ Spring

Imagine waking up every morning feeling like a tight, wound-up spring. Every little thing, from the traffic to a missed notification, sent you spiralling into a whirlwind of anxiety. This was my reality for what felt like forever. Stress and anxiety was my constant companion, an uninvited guest who overstayed their welcome.

I tried everything to quiet the storm raging within me. Meditation apps promised serenity, but my mind raced faster than the guided voice. Yoga classes were supposed to ground me, but I found myself more focused on not falling over than finding inner peace. Pills offered a temporary escape, but the side effects and the feeling of dependence weren’t worth it.

It was a cold, rainy day when I decided enough was enough. I couldn’t let stress dictate my life anymore. I started small, with baby steps that felt almost insignificant. The first step was acknowledging my feelings through counselling and therapy. Instead of pushing them down, I worked with Fiyaz and with his therapeutic support, I started to label them. None of this was easy since I had suppressed my feelings for most of my life – I found my feelings too much to handle, too painful and so I subconsciously buried them in a place which I left locked.

Naming my emotions made things easier and gave me the chance to go on a journey to explore and work with my feelings.

“I’m feeling anxious,” I’d say to myself. This simple act gave my emotions a name, making them feel a little less overwhelming.

Breathing – Simple and Effective in Reducing Anxiety

Next came the power of deep breathing and how this can relax my nervous system. It sounded ridiculous, but it worked. I started with five minutes a day, focusing on inhaling slowly and deeply, then exhaling completely – making sure that I breathe out longer than I breath in. It was like giving my body a mini-vacation. Over time, I increased the duration, and the calming effect grew stronger. I later realised that this activates a part of my nervous system which helps to regulate levels of stress and fear.

I also discovered the joy of mindfulness. The word seems so detached, somewhat so simple and without the power to affect change. Yet, what I came to realise through my work in therapy was how powerful this process was in detaching me from what caused my stress and anxiety and exploring what my body and I needed and what ‘was us’, instead of the stresses of the world.

Also, it wasn’t about emptying my mind, but about observing my thoughts without judgment. I started paying attention to the sensations in my body, the sounds around me, and the taste of the food I was eating. It was like waking up from a daze and truly experiencing the world. I became aware of what was truly ‘me’ and what were ‘my anxious thoughts’ .

Movement, Diet & Boundaries

Physical activity became my secret weapon. I didn’t join a gym or start running marathons. I began with short walks in nature, feeling the sun on my face and the earth beneath my feet. It was amazing how a simple walk could clear my head and lift my mood.

Diet and sleep played a bigger role than I realized. Cutting back on caffeine and sugar helped stabilize my mood. Ensuring I got enough sleep was like recharging my batteries. I felt more alert and capable during the day.

One of the most surprising discoveries was the importance of setting boundaries. I learned to say no to commitments that overwhelmed me and to prioritize self-care. It felt selfish at first, but it was essential for my well-being.

It wasn’t a quick fix. There were setbacks, days when anxiety crept back in. But with each small victory, my confidence grew. The once-tight spring within me started to unwind. I began to enjoy life again, to feel present and connected.

Today, I’m not completely free from stress or anxiety. Life is full of ups and downs. But I have the tools to manage them. I know that calm is a choice, not a destination. It’s a journey, and I’m grateful for every step I’ve taken.

Remember, you don’t have to tackle everything at once. Start small. Be patient with yourself. And most importantly, be kind to yourself. You deserve to feel calm and centered.