Self-compassion and self-soothing techniques are crucial in managing anxiety.
Questioning anxious thoughts and using different voices can help separate ourselves from distortions.
Deep dives
Understanding Anxiety
In this podcast episode, anxiety is explored as a common emotion that many people struggle with. The speaker, Andrea Walter, shares her personal experiences with anxiety and discusses the physical and mental manifestations of this emotion. She explains that anxiety is often characterized by worrisome thoughts and sensations such as pit in the stomach, tightness in the chest, shaking, nausea, headaches, and fatigue. Andrea emphasizes the importance of self-compassion and self-soothing techniques in managing anxiety. She suggests tools like deep breathing, exercise, self-havening, and mindfulness to calm the nervous system and bring one's focus back to the present moment.
Separating Thoughts from Reality
Andrea highlights the need to question our anxious thoughts and differentiate them from reality. She introduces the concept of 'The Work' by Byron Katie, which involves asking four questions to challenge the validity of our anxious thoughts. By examining whether a thought is true, absolutely certain, and how it makes us feel, we can start to separate ourselves from these distortions. Through this process, we can learn to react to our thoughts with self-compassion and kindness, rather than getting caught in their grip. Andrea also encourages using different voices or tones when talking back to anxious thoughts and finding strategies that resonate for each individual.
Embracing Sensations and Mindfulness
Andrea emphasizes the importance of observing and accepting anxious sensations in the body without judgment. She suggests the practice of mindfulness, which involves paying attention to the present moment and sensory experiences. By focusing on what we see, hear, touch, and feel in our bodies, we can anchor ourselves in the present and shift our attention away from anxious thoughts. Andrea also introduces the concept of 'strong, soft, silly, and silent' voices to talk back to anxious thoughts and offers the technique of self-havening, which involves gentle touch on specific parts of the body to induce calmness.
Building a Tool Kit for Anxiety
Andrea advises creating a personalized tool kit to manage anxiety, consisting of techniques and strategies that resonate with each individual. She recommends practicing these tools regularly to become familiar with them and make them second nature. To remember to use the tool kit during anxious moments, she suggests placing reminders in accessible places and setting alerts on devices. Andrea concludes by emphasizing that practicing self-compassion, questioning anxious thoughts, and implementing self-soothing techniques can lead to a reduction in anxiety over time.
Many of the most painful or troubling emotions we experience are reactions to events that have actually happened - but one powerful and sometimes paralyzing feeling can be provoked by things as yet to occur. Say hello to anxiety.
Psychotherapist and meditation teacher Andrea Wachter spent much of her life being stalked by the physical and mental manifestations of anxiety - the brain fog and the pit of the stomach dread of something bad looming on the horizon. She's amassed a wealth of strategies to overcome the thoughts and sensations that make up anxiety and she explains them to Dr Laurie Santos.