Are out-of-the-blue episodes of anxiety amounting to sheer terror at times spinning your life out of control? Are you frustrated with the restrictions on what you do, and how you do things? Do you know what part you play in these symptoms?

Although chronic anxiety is exhausting and one of the most crippling emotional-psychological problems to face, one often receives very little understanding from others. Some will say: 'Just pull yourself together'.

21st-century-life demands that we routinely counter the many sources of stress such as noise, information overload or being pressed for time. We are all in need of de-stressing, chilling out, calming down - if we want to have fulfilling lives free from anxiety.

Learn these techniques to prevent the destructive impact of anxiety, so next time you wonder whether it will ever end, you'll answer: "Yes!"

What is anxiety

• Definition: A physical arousal that constitutes feeling extremely tense physically that correlated with an emotional somatic feeling of doom, being very worried, panic, terror or dread felt in the pit of the stomach and an overall feeling of failure.
• Symptoms: High levels of anxiety leads to numerous physical and emotional problems such as tension in the neck, back, jaw, racing pulse, heart thumping, dizzy, dry throat, sweating hands, shortness of breath, lack of concentration, difficulty to sleep, waking up tired, overwrought, going into survival mode, loss of appetite, mood swings, grumpiness, negativity, exhaustion, plummeting self-esteem, sexual problems, relationship difficulties, self-neglect, severe shyness, insomnia, overeating, undesired weight loss, headaches, persistent low-level aches and pains, tendency to coughs and colds, bad skin, skin rashes, bad breath, body odour, excessive sweating, joint pain and ulcers.
• Millions: It may make you feel a little bit better to know that millions of people worldwide share levels of anxiety they don’t approve of. Anxiety is also often hidden and not recognised.
• Profile: Typically, people with anxiety are as interesting, exciting, creative and special as those who seem to breeze through life. They may also be above average in intelligence, highly sensitive, hyper-aware, perfectionist, loyal, loving and forgiving and have humility which is conspicuously missing in the ultra confident.
• Individual: There doesn't seem to be one particular way to manage feelings of anxiety that works for every person There are many techniques, most of them will be effective.
• Compromises: It is unpleasant to collapse, hyperventilate or to be rushed off in an ambulance when all you did was wait in the queue, watch a movie or going shopping. People often try to avoid becoming anxious, by limiting themselves by only going out to quiet places, by sitting in the aisle at the movies, or by just not going out at all.
• Problematic: If you’re anxious to the point of panicking about going out, then your anxiety needs to be managed.
• Intelligence: Intelligence can be used negatively to keep your anxiety going or positively to eliminate anxiety’s negative impact on your life.
• The panic cycle: By fearing one’s admittedly frightening and unpleasant anticipatory anxiety, one might tense up against it, and thus one's adrenaline-induced symptoms will only intensify.
• Sources of anxiety:
  • Panic trick: Panic tricks you into thinking you’re in danger and that's how it perpetuates itself. The thought that I am in danger is just another symptom of anxiety, not a realistic appraisal of reality.
  • Performance: When high performance is a vital part of one's life, anxiety is very common.
  • Fake problems: Chronic tension may stem from psychological or other causes, in stead of a real problem.
  • Worrying: Worries may hum along in the background and suffocate your mental and emotional life.
  • What if: What-if means "let's pretend something bad!" Anxiety attacks are almost always accompanied by some what-if?, because what you fear is not actually happening! You have to imagine losing control, going crazy, dying, etc. That's why people think "what if...?".
  • Distress: By constantly thinking distressing thoughts one generates tension and sick feelings, one destroys concentration and the capacity to enjoy to the good things in life.
  • Re-planning: Worry may disguise itself as making a plan, which will be reviewed constantly and constant reassurance will be sought. Good plans don't need constant review!
  • Over-stimulated: Every single image you see and hear every day is a stimulant - a form of stress to be processed by your brain. Even the most beautiful and wonderfully enjoyable stimulants puts stress on your human system.

Techniques

Use the following techniques to slow down or stop feelings of anxiety and get a chance to cool off, to rest, to calm down, to feel more in control and be mindful of the present:

• Physical wellbeing: Ensure that you rest and get enough sleep, and be aware of hormonal changes.
• Exercise: Burn off some adrenalin by doing some cardiovascular exercise like running, walking, climbing stairs or dancing, instead of standing rigidly with your muscles tensed and holding your breath. It is also essential to do aerobic exercises to reduce shortness of breath.
• Posture: Take note of your posture and try to improve your it in order to regain a sense of control over your body
• Healthy diet: Eat healthy, eliminating the foods which increase anxiety and stress. Include natural supplements proven to increase a state of calm.
• Diaphragmatic breathing: Breathe stress and anxiety out of your life with conscious, deep breathing for about 1 minute at a time, 10-15 times per day eg. when waiting in a line etc.
• Pranayama breathing: Count rhythmically or recite positive affirmations as a simple mantra timed against your breathing, for 5 minutes each day.
• Bed-time breathing: Ly down in bed, with one hand on your chest, the other on your abdomen. Alternately take a breath into your upper chest and then breathing into your abdomen. For the first two breaths, breathe as slow and deep as you can.
• Awareness: Close your eyes - notice how your breath feels, how your heart beats, what sensations you can feel in your body, what you can hear or smell or feel through your skin. Shift awareness between all these things.
• Planning: Plan instead of worry. Planning fundamentals are the following: Concretely identifying the requirements and challenges, write out a list of possible solutions, choose an option, write out an action plan.
• Trust your plan: Having a plan is concrete reassurance, which prevents endless cycles of replanning and reassurance-seeking - say to yourself: “Stop! I have a plan!”
• Worrying time: Worrying about some worries the right way can help eliminate energy-draining patterns of unnecessary worrying. Cover all the bases by worrying about the issue thoroughly within a time limit of 10-20 mins and do what must be done at the present time. Diarise when it’ll be necessary to worry about that worry again. When the worry arise, say: “Stop! I already worried”
• Worry-stoppers: Make a list of these possible diversions and divert your thoughts as quickly as possible to an activity on your list.
• Interruptions: Interrupt old habitual worry patterns every time you catch yourself doing it - it will take persistence to wear it down! Use a command as a punishment and a distracter. Say softly “Stop” and use visual imagery.
• Rewards: Memorise a set of statements in which you offer reassurance, self-acceptance and assertiveness after you have managed to stop worrying.
• Having fun: Prescribe yourself to play and have fun - relearn the fun things you forgot doing to increase good feelings and discharge tension.
• Invitation: Invite peaceful thoughts into your mind and focus on them, especially at night before you drift off into sleep.
• Juggling a ball: Throw a ball from hand to hand until the feelings of anxiety reduces to a zero - knitting also works. Stop and be aware that the returning feeling of anxiety is weaker than what it was. Repeat these two steps a few times and do this exercise daily. Anxiety originates from one side of the brain, so when you use both sides, you teach your brain to change direction and calm down, you will notice your anxiety levels will reduce.
• Locus of control: When you realise that you can control certain aspects of the world – internal or external – it gives you an internal locus of control and from that you learn that you can ignore physical sensations, stop making the catastrophic interpretations that bring on anxiety.
• Anger: Find the connection between your conscious and unconscious anger and your anxiety. Write as many answers as single words or brief phrases to this question, “If I were angry, what might I be angry about?”.
• Relax: Learn to identify and relax the parts of your body that get most tense during an anxiety attack. First tense and then relax the muscles of your jaw, neck, shoulders, back and legs.
• Anchor: Once you’re in a state of total relaxation, anchor this feeling with a physical signal to your subconscious mind, so that whenever you use that signal, you’ll return to that sublimely relaxed state.
• Meditation: Make time every day to meditate - recharge your energy and inner peace, preferably in a quiet place and alone.
• Acceptance: Take pleasure in accepting that you don’t have to be perfect - this will diminish your fear and anxiety.
• Positive: Enjoy a renewed sense that you are able to manage life and stop thinking that life is one long series of catastrophes.
• Self-confidence: Increase your self-esteem by discovering and focusing on your strengths - not your anxiety symptoms.
• Assertiveness: Discover how to respond more and more calmly and confidently to the people, things and situations that were causing anxiety.
• Readiness: Learn which techniques suite you best for doing immediately when you feel an anxiety attack coming on.
• Acknowledge: Acknowledge the present reality - I am afraid. Don't ignore it, or pretend it's not there or command yourself to stop thinking about it.
• Accept: Accept what's happening - I accept that I am afraid. It is acceptable, cause it will not kill you or make you crazy. The more acceptance you give, the sooner you will recover. It's okay to be afraid. So what? I'll get afraid and then I will calm down again.
• Unacceptable: It is not acceptable if someone points a gun at you - then you have to do whatever you can to change that - like run, hide, fight, yell, bribe, or beg.
• Identify: Is this discomfort or danger? Do something to make yourself more comfortable.
• Postpone: Postpone your decisions until you regain your ability to think, remember and concentrate before you do anything.
• Options: Stay in the situation but keep your options open, so you don't feel trapped.
• Anxiety diary: Make an entry into a panic diary whenever you have a episode in order to help you figure out how to respond better next time. Even just writing the diary will help you calm down - then you become the observer and not the victim.
• Observe: Observe how the anxiety works and how you respond to it.
• Comfortable: Make yourself as comfortable as possible, while you wait for the anxiety to end, without trying to make the anxiety subside.
• Self-talk: Silently talk to yourself about what is happening and what you need to do.
• Present moment: Focus on the present moment - people become anxious when they imagine something bad happening in the future or past, and are not focussing on the present moment.
• Resume: Bring your focus back to what you were doing prior to the anxiety attack.
• Persevere: It's not unusual or dangerous to experience another wave of anxiety after you've calmed down - just continue to make yourself comfortable.
• Positive: See an anxiety attack as a good chance to practice your coping techniques!
• Finally: Remember that your anxiety attack will end regardless of how you respond, just make yourself as comfortable as possible.

Other approaches:

• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
• Guided meditations: Listen to meditation CD's on a daily basis.
• Emotional Freedom Techniques™ (EFT): This is an excellent treatment for anxiety. It will be useful to buy some training DVDs and practice daily.
• Silva UltraMind System: This method is useful to do after you have released yourself from anxiety.
• Medications: Some people improve very quickly by using medications, whilst others will have tried several medications and find no benefit whatsoever.
• Alpha Stim SCS: Experiments and trials demonstrated good results, but these devices are expensive and you may want to try out the other methods first.