Anxiety: Part One

Anxiety is a state of inner turmoil and tension coupled with fear, even dread of what might happen.

It can show up in really obvious way: pounding heartbeat, palpitations in the chest or belly, sweaty hands, tightness in the chest, restless sleep. Racing thoughts, panic attacks, overwhelm.

It can be subtle too: a sense of always rushing through your day, your breath disconnected from the belly and shallow. You might notice you’re carrying tension in the neck and shoulders, all the time.

You might feel very sensitive, fragile even. Your mood and internal state changes on a whim based on what’s happening around you, where you are, what people say or do.

So why is it become so common? Why does it go hand in hand with chronic illness, and more importantly how do you recover from it?

There’s a few reasons why Anxiety occurs.

1. Patterns of Disharmony:
   
   Every organ in the body has an effect on our mood, thoughts, emotions, even our dreams and behaviour.
   
   If there’s heat in the internal organs, particularly the gallbladder, liver, or stomach that sit underneath the heart this can affect the heart. A great way to think about heat is either inflammation or hyperactivity. Often this is created when our body is under some kind of continual stress or strain.
   This heat or agitation stimulates excessive thinking, heart rate increase, trouble sleeping, and an inability to feel grounded in our body.
   
   If there’s a deficiency of Yang-of vitality and warmth, the kidneys and heart become imbalanced. Instead of our bodies being at rest they’re constantly on edge, a nervous system constantly in flight or fight.
   
   In this pattern you’ll feel cold, fragile and feel very affected by the environment and people around you. You’re always on the edge of a burnout. You can feel tired and sluggish all day, then wired at night and can’t fall asleep.
   
   This is why in chronic illness (like Irritable Bowel Syndrome/IBS, Endometriosis etc) Anxiety can develop as part of a complex pattern of illness.

2. Emotional suppression: another perspective is that Anxiety is simply unexpressed emotions that haven’t been processed in the body.
   Emotions have to be felt on a physical level. If you ignore or suppress emotions they don’t disappear-they linger. At some point, sooner or later they need to come out, to be heard and felt.
   In my experience this is such a common finding in clients experiencing Anxiety-they’ve simply never been shown or supported in how to feel.

3. Not living in harmony with your body’s needs:
   
   Anxiety can be a little message to say ‘hey, what are you doing?’
   Fear in essence stops us in our tracks. We freeze when we encounter danger. If our body thinks we’re in danger-perhaps we should listen.
   Are you overstimulated or overstressed? Are you eating a balanced diet, moving your body and connecting with nature and loved ones, family and friends?
   Human beings are complex but I think we make it too complicated. Keep it simple-meet your body’s needs.
   Food, good air, sunlight, connection. A balance between work and play, exercise and stillness. Rest.
   

4. The health of the Gut: Chinese medicine has for thousands of years emphasised that a healthy digestive system is a foundation for physical, mental and emotional health.
   
   In recent years science has discovered that serotonin-a key hormone that is linked to mood, along with dopamine and endorphins, is produced in the gut (or around 95% of it).

   To be clear, I’m speaking here from own experience and understanding of anxiety. There’s no one answer for everyone, that’s why when working with clients experiencing Anxiety or mental health issues, I always take an individual and personalised approach.
   

I’ll continue talking about Anxiety-mainly how to process anxiety and find relief from it, in my next post. Until then take care!