Anxiety Slayer™ with Shann and Ananga

#484: This week we’re talking about words to ban from your self-talk to remain free from anxiety.

The words you speak become the house you live in. — Hafiz

Language is the painter of our psychological experiences. If we think and talk hope, we will feel hope. But if our thoughts and dialogue are rooted in anxiety and fear, that is how we feel. We will feel anxious, we will behave anxiously and we will further grow anxiety because we are feeding it at the root.

Resources for this episode:

HOW TO CALM YOUR FRAGILE MIND: Finding freedom from unwanted thoughts

We often receive questions in our inbox asking us to teach more about working with unwanted thoughts and painful emotions. And also receive regular requests for more information on Ayurveda and its teachings on calming the mind - this is the course where we go in-depth into both subjects.

Discover how to use your senses to calm your mind

Feel the Emotional Stress Release Technique dissolving worry from the forefront of your mind

Follow a guided EFT Tapping Practice for honoring and soothing your emotions

Experience our Guided Ayurvedic Meditation for finding peace in the present moment

I listened to a sample of How to Calm Your Fragile Mind. I cried. I cried because it made more sense than any medical practitioner I’ve met in my 38 years. Your words instantly helped. Thank you. - Nadene

Special offer: Save 25% through the end of February with the coupon code: peace

Visit anxietyslayer.teachable.com to know more

#483 We're talking about how to manage anxiety when facing a serious medical test, like a biopsy or blood test and how to support yourself getting through the test and while waiting for results.

#482 We're talking about what to do when you experience an anxiety relapse.

Points covered in this episode include:

• What causes someone to experience an anxiety relapse?

Did you know that if you become a patron for Anxiety Slayer with Shann and Ananga, you'll immediately get 24 patron-only posts?

#481: Today it’s our pleasure to introduce you to NYT Best-selling author and speaker, Neil Pasricha.

Neil thinks, writes, and speaks about living intentionally. All of his current work focuses on the themes of gratitude, happiness, failure, resilience, and trust.  

Neil is the author of six books including The Book of Awesome, a spinning Rolodex of simple pleasures based on his award-winning blog 1000 Awesome Things, and his new book, You Are Awesome, How to Navigate Change, wrestle with Failure, and live an intentional life. Neil’s books are New York Times bestsellers and have sold millions of copies across dozens of languages. 

Points covered in this podcast

Why do we need to learn resilience?

How can your nine steps or directional arrows help us cultivate resilience?

What can we do to support our children and adolescents who are struggling at an astronomical rate with anxiety and panic attacks?

If there was ONE thing our listeners could do today to start living more intentionally, what do you recommend?

Get your copy of You Are Awesome at neil.blog or wherever books are sold. You Are Awesome is packed with research-based strategies, tools, and lessons to move from thin-skinned to thick-skinned, failure-prone to failure-proof, and anxious… to awesome

You can also The Book of Awesome for free when you share your email at 1000 awesome things.

Thanks for listening to Anxiety Slayer.

#479: We are sharing 2 anxiety relief practices to help you feel more calm and relaxed in 2020.

We are responding to a listener question asking what helps when anxiety leads to feeling housebound or agoraphobic.

Get your FREE Anxiety Slayer Starter Course with 4 guided anxiety relief exercises today anxietyslayer.com

For the month of December, we're revisiting our most popular episodes and interviews from 2019. We've been receiving a lot of messages from members of our community who are finding anxiety is affecting their sleep, so in this week's podcast replay, we're sharing one of our guided relaxations for anxiety-free sleep from our popular Sleep Album. 

Thanks for listening.

Get your FREE Anxiety Slayer Starter Course with 4 guided anxiety relief exercises today anxietyslayer.com

Today Shann has the pleasure of sharing our most popular interview in 2019.

We begin our conversation by talking about the origin of mindfulness and Marc's inspiration for writing his new book and the delve into the following topics. 

• How Marc's book can support business leaders who struggle with anxiety.

You can get a copy of Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader at Amazon and wherever books are sold.

#476: We’re covering five common causes of anxiety to be mindful of. Listen in to know the triggers to look out for and how to stop them from escalating your anxiety.

Ayurveda (India’s ancient science of life) teaches that the over-stimulation of the nervous system is the leading underlying cause of anxiety.

Too much incoming information overloads our nervous system. Social media, news, intense movies, noise, change.

Many of us live with constant noise and visual stimulation, even when we’re in bed trying to sleep there may be the rumble of traffic or aircraft or some other noise – these things are agitating to our nervous systems, and our nervous system becomes overwhelmed and overtaxed, and then we start to experience anxiety.

Ayurveda teaches that the mind is very sensitive and easily disturbed.

That is true for all of us; it is the nature of the mind to be disturbed. Accepting that fact and knowing how to help the mind feel safe and calm is one of the great lessons of personal development.

Find out about getting support for calming anxiety with an Ayurvedic lifestyle consultation with Ananga

Caffeine is a primary culprit in provoking anxiety.

Symptoms caused by caffeine include:

• sleep disturbance

feeling wired, anxious, or shaky

Coffee doesn’t give energy, it sets off a reaction in the body that provokes stress hormones to provide a burst of alertness.

Caffeine jolts the body into flight or fight mode.

Most relevant for Anxiety Slayer listeners to note is that caffeine can spark anxiety episodes because it can make us feel like we’re having an episode.

The physical responses to caffeine can feel the same as the symptoms of anxiety.

For example:

• increased heart rate

Look out for caffeine in over-the-counter medications, as well as in coffee and energy drinks.

When unwanted thoughts arise, they often trigger an anxiety story in our head - something we fear, something we want to avoid at all costs, but the mind gets hold of the thought and starts expanding it into anxious predictions and possible outcomes and we get dragged along for the ride.

What helps? We need to be mindfully engaged in whatever we’re doing. Even if it’s chopping vegetables, washing dishes, taking a shower, whatever the activity is, we need to practice being present in the moment.

(again from Ayurveda) Change can increase anxiety. Especially for the vata body type. We become unsettled and ungrounded when our days are disordered and erratic.

What helps?

Set yourself a daily routine and follow it as much as possible: Try and get up and go to bed at the same time each day Eat regular meals - this will also help keep your blood sugar steady

Eat breakfast: Favor a warm nourishing breakfast like oatmeal made with almond milk with some chopped dates and cinnamon.

Bring Warmth into your day: warm baths soft, warm bed

Practice replacing the need to be perfect and simply show up in your best light.

Please stop being too hard on yourself

What helps?

Replace your expectations with invitations and intentions

Self-compassion - Be gentle and loving with yourself

Do you dread upcoming social events?

Are you missing out on time with your family, or friends because you feel out-of-place in social situations?

We understand, Ananga suffered from severe social anxiety as a youth and Shann often experienced stress and social anxiety as a public speaker. In this course, we share the techniques we used to overcome social anxiety. And how you can too.