Anxiety is a feeling of fear of loss or hurt and “uneasy anticipation,” often when the threat cannot be judged correctly. Is it any wonder that the world we live in causes anxiety? The real issue is terror and survival and the deprivation of love. Anxiety can be brought on by fear of the known or unknown. It can occur when we are out of harmony within ourselves and with the people and things around us. It can also be related to emotions of separation as well as respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders.
Some sort of trauma while in the womb may be a factor in this struggle with anxiety. Heredity, a major stress in life, physical illness or medication can all contribute to anxiety. Oriental medicine considers anxiety a kidney deficiency as well as heart fire condition. Nourish the kidneys and calm the heart.
How Do You Know If You Have Anxiety?
Anxiety can cause shortness of breath, heart palpitations, chest tightness, trembling, sweating, dizziness, numbness, shaking, and muscular tension. In the case of panic attacks, a person may feel as if they’re dying or going crazy. Though the panic attack rarely lasts longer than ten minutes, it can be very disabling. Anxiety can even prevent one from having the ability to carry on with life’s chores.
What Can You Do To Treat Anxiety?
1. Breathe Deeply
Feed your brain the life force of oxygen that it thrives on. Deep diaphragmatic breathing can actually help relieve anxiety. Oriental medicine states that “anxiety blocks energy and injures the lungs.” The kidneys are associated with states of anxiety. Anxiety can also be a factor of stagnation in the liver and spleen deficiency. It can weaken the body’s protective shield, making us vulnerable to outside forces. Most people already know that excessive anxiety can contribute to an irritable bowel.
2. Eat Healthy
Refrain from drinking stimulants like caffeine, sugar, and fruit juice that rev you up and put your body into panic-alert overtime. Eat more oatmeal and yogurt, both high in calming calcium. Eat lots of lettuce to reduce anxiety. Eat whole grains such as buckwheat, millet, quinoa, and brown rice. Vegetables such as sweet potatoes and yams are also good. Keep blood sugar on an even keel instead of a sugar-powered roller coaster. Experts on phobias say that the physiological symptoms of panic attacks closely mimic those of a hypoglycemic reaction.
Excess copper in one’s body, (pipes, cookware) can be a contributing factor in anxiety. Yeast overgrowth can trigger anxiety, and excess anxiety leads to yeast overgrowth.
3. Take Care Of Your Kidneys
Keep the kidneys nourished and warm. You may want to make a belt to warm the kidneys to feel empowered. Drink soothing herbal teas, such as catnip, chamomile, lemon balm, oat straw, and passion flower.
- Hops And Valerian Tincture: Calms your being.
- Kava Kava Extract: Recently approved in Germany for its anti-anxiety effects.
- Hawthorn: Nourishes the physical and emotional heart and nettles the kidneys, which correlate to the emotion of fear.
- Siberian Ginseng: Helps the body adapt to stress.
- California Poppy: Cooling, calming, non-narcotic, and soothes the emotional body.
- St. John’s Wort: Stabilizes the nervous system.
- Wild Lettuce Extract: Calms anxiety.
- Calamus Root: Acts as a natural sedative.
- Wild Oat And Dong Quai: Alleviates acute anxiety.
4. Use Supplements
Calcium, magnesium as well as B complex deficiency can contribute to anxiety. The calming B vitamin inositol is found in our spinal cord, brain, and nerves. Inositol works as a cell messenger. It has been found to help panic disorders. Lecithin is also a good source of inositol. Very anxious people take 100 mg each morning. Another supplement to use is GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) which helps protect the brain from excitatory messages.
Try Homeopathic Remedies
- Aconitum: For a person who fears death, darkness, evil, and even crossing the street. Anguish, despair, restlessness, and franticness are also characteristic of the person who needs aconite.
- Argentum nitricum: For an impulsive person that has fear of impending events. Fears crowds and heights. May have panic attacks and diarrhea when anticipating circumstances.
- Arsenicum album: For one who is restless, fearful, and always in motion. Fatigued and fussy, high-strung and fault finding. Fears death, darkness, and incurable diseases. They may also be suspicious and demanding.
- Asafoetida: For an unstable and restless person.
- Cicuta virosa: To reduce anxiety and a feeling of discontentment.
- Gelsemium: For anxiety based on fear.
- Ignatia: For sadness leading to anxiety, depression, hysteria, and anger.
- Lachesis: For nighttime anxiety, jealousy, and suspicion. For people who believe they are being conspired against, need open air, and have a wild imagination.
- Natrum muriaticum: For one who is anxious about everything. Has fearful dreams, is introverted, and dislikes heat and noise, which worsen anxiety.
- Passiflora: For general anxiety.
Use Flower Essences
- Aspen flower essence: For the person who is fearful and anxious, yet doesn’t know why.
- Mimulus flower essence: For one who has anxiety about things not working out, like money concerns.
- Agrimony flower essence: For restlessness and inner anxiety.
Have a rescue remedy with you in several convenient places such as your briefcase, desk, purse, and glove compartment. Use it when the anxiety starts to come on. Two drops under the tongue is all it takes.
Other Ways To Calm Your Anxiety
1. Make An Anti-Anxiety Sachet
Make a sachet of something familiar from your childhood. Inhale the aroma deeply when feeling anxious. Inhale the anxiety-relieving essential oils of basil, bergamot, cedarwood, chamomile, cypress, geranium, jasmine, juniper, lavender, marjoram, melissa, neroli, petitgrain, rose, rosemary, sandalwood, and ylang ylang.
2. Tweak Your Environment And Routine
The color blue is tranquil and soothing to the spirit. Remember to breathe and feed your brain the oxygen it craves for serenity. Use prayer, visualizations, peaceful mantras, and yantras to calm the spirit.
Create a safe space. Avoid the dangerous. Soak in the bath and include essential oils, herbs or flower essences.
3. Try Massages And Other Calming Techniques
Massage can help release tension. Hold the thumb of one hand with the other as a calming technique. Rub the third eye chakra center to calm the shen. Holding one’s toes, especially the middle toe, helps to bring the energy down from the head and ground it.
4. Exercise As Much As Possible
Anxiety is a sign that the affected person still has the strength to struggle. Exercise is a good way to bring more oxygen into the body to reduce anxiety. Running is a suggested form of exercise for people with both fears of open (agoraphobia) and closed spaces (claustrophobia).
5. Try Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT teaches a person to view situations that tend to cause panic differently. A person may be gradually exposed to what frightens them with the help of a therapist.
Best wishes in overcoming that which makes you anxious!
