Practical tips to work through feelings of anxiety & overwhelm.

It can be challenging to move through anxiety and overwhelm. You might feel panicked, like you are drowning in endless tasks, you might feel breathless, and your mind just can’t think clearly, leaving you feeling stuck.

I’ve been there many a time when anxiety and overwhelm ruled my life.

From my experience, I can tell you that you don’t have to stay in this anxious and overwhelming state. You CAN move through it.

I put together some of the tools I personally used, and still use for how to physically move from that overwhelmed state and in to a calmer feeling. Think of it as a little mini-reset for your body and brain.

This little mini-reset only takes a few minutes to move through these feelings in to a calmer state of mind.

Stop

When you notice that you are feeling overwhelmed, breathing shallow or anxious: Stop. Physically. (if it is safe to do so).

Put a pause on whatever it is that you are doing. Stop the pushing, stop the cycle by physically stopping whatever it is you are doing.

Check in with your body

If you are feeling really jittery, or wired up, check in if movement is best for your body right now. Usually when you are feeling anxious, your body needs some movement before stillness. If not, then go to the next step now. But if you feel that movement would benefit you, then start with expending some energy safely. Some ways you can do this are:

• Shake your hands, then kick your feet out.

• Do you feel like doing some small jumps? Do that.

• Does your body need you to run up and down on the spot vigorously?

• Some starjumps? Punching the air?

• Tense your shoulders, then release.

• Figure out what helps you feel like you are moving stress out of your body safely.

• I like to jump on my rebounder and shake my hands at the same time.

This part is about moving the excess energy safely, the built up energy that needs to be released before we can invite stillness in to the body.

Keep on doing this or any other physical movement that your body needs, and when you feel ready, move on to the next step.

Take a breath & reconnect to your body

You can do this sitting, or standing or wherever you are.

If you feel ready to close your eyes, close your eyes. It might take a while before you feel ready to close your eyes down. Wherever you are at is ok. If you are not ready to close your eyes, move your eyes down and soften the eyelids to start to invite softness in to the body.

Now start to bring your attention to your breath. Just notice where it is at.

We are going to give your mind a focus by counting the inhales and exhales.

• Breathe in for four at your pace.

• Hold for four.

• Breathe out for six.

• Hold for four.

• Repeat.

It might be hard to do this initially, and that’s ok. Keep on going until your body starts to calm down. And then do it some more. When you feel ready, move on to the next step.

Note: You can change up the number of inhales and exhales, but keep the exhales longer than the inhales. An exhale breath longer than an inhale breath help to calm the nervous system.

Ground yourself

You can do this sitting, or standing.

Imagine the breath flowing from the head to the toes. This is more powerful if you use your hands.

So if you can,

• raise your hands above your head on the inhale

• and move them down to your feet on the exhale.

• Sync the breath with the hand movement.

As you are doing this, tune in to your breath and imagine your energy going in to the ground, creating an anchor for you. Repeat.

Repeat until you feel centred

Keep doing the grounding breath until you feel more centred, more like yourself again and your body feels looser and your breath calmer.

An invitation to get curious

When you are feeling more grounded, in this space, ask yourself: what is the most important thing I need to get done today?

Just one thing. You might want to close your eyes and place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart as you tune in to your centre.

When you receive your answer, keep this one thing as your focus for the day.

Honour your internal wisdom

Now follow up by asking, what do I not need to do today?‍ ‍What things can I drop until I feel more up to it?

It’s quite likely, that you don’t have to do it all today. Give yourself permission to slow down and keep your focus on the one thing. And if you do have lots of things that must get done today, then by doing this exercise, you are allowing yourself time to breath, to ground and centre before moving on to those tasks.

This sounds like a simple exercise, but it truly is powerful to help you shift your state from anxiety and overwhelm to calm and focus.

It will help you to focus on the things that truly really need your attention, and move on with your day with more ease. 💫

I hope you enjoyed this blog. If you feel like a friend might benefit from it, please feel free to share!