Loosen The Grip
I am not the kind of person who broods on unfulfilled past, or feels down for more than an hour. When I hit the blues, I usually leap into a rigorous yoga practice, go for a swim or remind myself to be grateful. But lately, I catch myself waking up in the middle of the night astonished at how my shoulders sieze up, my neck tightens, my pulse races, and my mind rumbles into the tasks I hadn’t finished. I can feel the breath constricting – the grip of anxiety with its tendrils entangling my whole body like a giant octopus. There is no real reason for this panic attack, but it’s consistent and so exhausting. It’s ironic because I daily coach people into thriving in joy and offer tips for relaxation and well-being, and here I am caught up in the net of one of the most modern afflictions of our times.
For the past couple of months I have struggled to untangle anxiety and understand the roots as I looked for ways to tame it. Some of my students believe that anxiety is not all negative and it keeps them alert and reminds them to check and double check their work, protecting them against a tendency to carelessness. In this respect anxiety can be a powerful teacher. It can show you where you are harboring stress or upholding unfiltered emotions. It signals the need for growth or some inner shift. Personally, I find that it is only when you begin to own your anxiety and not take pills to suppress it, only when you start to observe its flavors and patters, look at what might be setting it off, only then can you bring consciousness and find tangible ways to work with it. This isn’t always easy. Anxiety like stress is a derivative of fear.
According to the classical yogic scriptures fear is the main cause for suppressing our true identity and disconnecting from the natural flow of the Universe. This inevitably leads us to identify with a limited notion of who we are. Then we get hooked to some desires, while pushing others away. Craving and aversion lead us to fear of either not getting what we want or getting what we don’t want. We get wrapped into the negative state of anger, fear or anxiety, dwelling on old patterns of inward emotion. Chemically, hormones start to flood the body and the brain because there is not input from motion. As a result the pituitary gland is still. It receives info in a closed circuit, and doesn’t differentiate between what is happening inside or outside of self, so it starts making emergency preparations. As a result the adrenal glands flare up and bring the body into fight or flight. The immune system is instantly inhibited, unable to fend off against harmful cells and bacteria. Illness and malaise follows.
We feel threatened – our gut tightens, our neck spasms and we start to speak defensively. The source of anxiety is in our past, but the emotional reactivity operates in the present. Yet anxiety is also, paradoxically, mostly about the future. It is anticipatory in nature, but delusional. When we women worry about our upcoming mammogram routine we are not actually sick. Yoga, just like neuroscience teaches us that neuronal wiring does not discriminate between actual events and imaginary ones. So if we live in an environment that triggers fight or flight reactivity – we make it our reality. Also we tend to think that being anxious is being caring, and if we don’t worry, that means we are just insensitive. But in fact, anxiety is an addictive pattern. You just get habituated to being worried, and you find it helpful and obligatory. When the anxiety gets acute, the intense activity in our emotional brain can make it difficult to think creatively, much less change the situation we are in. So what does it take to loosen the hold of anxiety in our body and mind?
The crucial step is simply to become aware of it. You just notice what happens to your body, how your breath constricts and your mind sets of the emotional rollercoaster. You then see that most of your habitual anxiety comes from unprocessed emotions. Using the sensation of mindfulness you can detect the cause behind the pangs of anxiety, as notice that while you are becoming aware of these you are altering your habitual reactions to anxiety. Then you will find its tendrils starting to dissolve. Observing your body, thoughts, emotions allows you to detach from the cause of suffering and practice the ancient art of “cognitive reframing”. In the Yoga Sutra this process is known as “pratipaksha bhavana” or “practicing the opposite” – countering a negative feeling with a positive one.
Then you suddenly realize that there is nothing to really worry about, that all these negative emotions are in fact indoctrinated and interconnected replays of the past. The best way to process, heal and release the stuck energy is to move….get your body in motion, shake the negative emotions out, and induce an emotional meltdown. As you put the negative emotion into motion it becomes a positive attitude. It is the mental and physical fitness that activates the immune system to digest the funky vibes of negativity.
Most surprisingly, while disentangling consciously from the tendrils of anxiety I eventually noticed that at its very core anxiety is simply neutral “energy” that we often taint in dark shades. The more I became aware of the tension like an outside observer, the more I stopped resisting it, the faster my anxiety melted into its essence. When you use feelings of anxiety as a signal to let go, you begin to discover you own ways to free your primal energies from the gridlock of old mental and emotional patterning. You discover the greatest mysteries of the human body. All of our energies, even the most negative ones, that can be so painful and limiting well up from the source of life, and are in essence pure transformational energy. They whirl into the pool of shakti – the creative dancer in each one of us that has the power to transform any negative emotion into a positive force and add up to the radiance in this world.
Anti-anxiety Yoga Routine: Loosen The Grip (open level)
Performed and inspired by Yoga Alliance Certified Teacher Aga Totani
Performed and inspired by Yoga Alliance Certified Teacher Aga Totani
This Yogea routine brims with anxiety-busting poses to bring focus on the breath and draw the awareness into the body and out of the mind. The sequence starts with a standing breathing in motion to promote suppleness in the joints and relieves accumulated tension due to stress or worry. A gentle flow warm up sets all emotions in motion, as it increases flexibility in the spine while opening the shoulders and the hips and brushing negative thoughts aside. Balancing standing poses couple with kneeling lunge openers to dissolve into seated twists, forward and back bends adorned with soothing binds to reduce the heart rate, lower blood pressure and ease respiration. Joyful heart-openers end the sequence and pump up the whole body with motivation and happy anticipation. A supported inversion at the end allows you to shift the negative patterns into a healthy and positive attitude toward life, appreciating every emotion as an opportunity to grow.
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