Part One: Review
Understanding Anxiety:
- Anxiety is fear based.
- Anxiety is a reaction to a fear. It’s the body’s natural response to a fearful situation.
- Stress is self limited. Where demands exceed what a person is capable of.
- Anxiety goes much deeper than stress, and has a prolonged effect.
- Anxiety can feel like you are drinking coffee all day long, and being on edge.
- Besides stress; hormones, a magnesium deficiency, lack of sleep, drug or alcohol use, and stimulants can also cause anxiety.
- Anxiety can cause: sleep disruptions, fatigue, exhaustion, compulsion, seclusion from society, and a rise in cortisol levels. Anxiety can also allow fears to strengthen.
- There are three levels of anxiety: mild, moderate, and severe.
Understanding Fear:
- There are two innate fears: fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.
- Phobias are considered “irrational fears” that can impair a person to function.
- There are five basic fears: the fear of dying, fear of mutilation, fear of autonomy, fear of separation, and fear of ego death.
Understanding Panic:
- Panic attacks can leave a person frightened, and feeling out of control.
- A few symptoms of a panic attack can be: a pounding heart, lightheadedness, nausea, and a tight chest.
- If you suffer from panic, you need to realize: you are overwhelmed, something is going on that needs to be addressed, you worry over things you have no control over, and you need to take time for yourself.
- The more attention you give to your anxiety, the more the mind will remind you it's there.
- A panic cycle can be created from the fear of having another panic attack.
- People in constant fear of something can develop the panic cycle.
Understanding Muscle Tension:
- Muscle tension is the state of which the muscles are semi-contracted.
- Muscle tension can be caused by overworked muscles and stress.
- Tension can occur in many parts of the body, including: the jaw, neck, shoulders, belly and hips.
- Stress is the key factor in creating muscle tension.
- If you become hyper stimulated, the body can be in a constant state of muscle tension. (The body is in constant “protection mode”.)
Understanding the "Fight or Flight" Response:
- The brain can’t differentiate between a random thought or an actual danger. But, it will respond by how severely you react to a situation.
- The “fight or flight” response is a totally normal reaction, that gives us the ability to stay and fight, or run.
- The “fight or flight” response is there to keep us protected.
- There are two aspects of the “fight or flight”: a material danger (real, physical danger) and a “danger in the mind”.
- When the "fight or flight" response gets activated, muscles will contract to shield the body from a possible danger.
Understanding the Mind and Trauma:
- We react, depending on how we are feeling at the time.
- The mind remembers everything, especially negative situations, and will use those negative situations later, by reminding us with muscle tension, if it feels a similar danger that it had before.
- A trauma is a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.
- Any situation can be deemed a trauma, depending on how harshly the body reacts at the time.
- "Where energy flows, the mind goes"
- The more attention you give something, the more the mind will settle into it.
Learning Acceptance:
- Acceptance is the willingness to tolerate what may be a difficult or unpleasant situation, without struggling with it.
- Learning acceptance of yourself, others, and situations, is the KEY to this process.
- We can’t change a person, or a situation, but we can alter how we REACT to each.
- Accepting a person does not mean you have to like the person. You are just accepting that person is the way he or she is, so you can move forward.
- It's one thing when we hold onto negative thoughts, it's another when we allow the thoughts to lead into a fear.
- It is important to realize how we are feeling, both physically and emotionally, during challenging times.
- Physical and emotional responses are tied together, and will have an affect on our overall wellbeing.
Understanding Health Anxiety:
- The more muscle tension, the more sensations will be felt in the body.
- The more sensations, the more we may place a direct focus on the sensations.
- Health anxiety is a common form of anxiety, where a person focuses too much on sensations of the body, expressing fear that something is wrong.
- Health anxiety leads into a fear of bad health, which leads into compulsive behavior.