{"id":1795,"date":"2022-08-15T13:54:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T03:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindbodyfoodinstitute.com\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:51:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:51:31","slug":"reduce-anxiety-with-this-4-step-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindbodyfoodinstitute.com\/reduce-anxiety-with-this-4-step-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Reduce Anxiety with this 4 Step Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Reducing anxiety is a top priority for many, but even with plenty of tools and practices to employ, knowing what anxiety is helps to first understand why and how these practices can help reduce anxiety before it truly takes hold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A simple definition is that anxiety is caused by an overload of fear, worry and doubt in the thinking mind, which activates the autonomic nervous system\u2019s sympathetic branch of \u2018fight or flight’ responses.<\/p>\n

Repetitive stimulus (thoughts<\/i>, perceptions, memories, fears)<\/em> can eventually overstimulate the sympathetic branch, causing it to become sensitive and easily activated, even when it’s not necessary.<\/p>\n

As we become sensitive to these unconscious and habitual patterns driving our fear-based reactions, the sympathetic system remains on \u2018high alert\u2019, thereby becoming conditioned to react with hyperactivity in response to triggers that we sense or feel are similar to the originating event, intense memory, or fear perception.<\/p>\n

The more our autonomic nervous system learns to mobilise energy to thoughts of past experiences or future fears, the less logic and reasoning we have access to. This is because our prefrontal cortex goes offline when lower brain regions, involved in safety and survival responses, are active. With enough repetition, our system defaults to the same conditioned responses, driven by the threat perception of the overstimulated Amygdala (threat perception centre). This in turn prolongs and exacerbates our experience of stress, anxiety, and feeling stuck in place (freeze-shutdown).<\/p>\n

The quickest way to step out of this pattern is by learning how to pull your mind out of past rumination or future catastrophizing and bring yourself back into the safety of present moment awareness.<\/p>\n

Utilising the breath and our five senses can bring our prefrontal cortex – our conscious, problem-solving mind – back online to exert top down control and help create a sense of safety within our neurophysiology.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The easiest and most effective ways to do this is by recognising signs of stress \u2013 rapid shallow breathing into the chest, holding your breath, heat rising in the head or neck, nervous energy, queasy stomach \u2013 and immediately taking conscious control of your breathing.<\/i><\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When you continually develop awareness of the early warning signs, you can practice effectively disrupting the old pattern and bringing awareness and acceptance through your breath.<\/p>

There are various breathing techniques such as box breathing (counting in for four, holding for four, out for four, holding for four), double inhale\/long exhale, and yoga nidra.<\/p>

However, the easiest technique to employ is simply conscious, focused diaphragmatic\u00a0breathing\u00a0\u2013 also known as \u2018belly breathing\u2019 where the breath is drawn down into the lungs, expanding the diaphragm and massaging vital organs. This is designed to replace ineffective shallow breathing into the chest, which mimics fear and shock by short, sharp inhales not producing enough fresh oxygen for calm, clear thinking.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reduce anxiety now in 4 simple steps:<\/h4>
  1. Breathe in deeply, down into the belly. Keep your shoulders relaxed and still \u2013 they aren\u2019t needed for breathing.<\/li>
  2. Exhale slowly to even your inhale. It\u2019s often helpful to count your breath in and out to ensure a slow, even cycle that directs your focus away from the stressful or worrying reactive thoughts that are manifesting in your body and into the positive effects of conscious and mindful breathing.<\/li>
  3. Tune into your senses and notice what connects you to the support of the ground…