What is Anxiety?

Think about it: you still have your job, but several of your colleagues have lost theirs so you are having to work that little bit harder perhaps, juggle and prioritise more. Perhaps on its own that would be ok, but you listen to the news and you pick up the fear on other people's faces and you spend a lot of energy worrying about your own job. And you worry about your partner's job or perhaps you live on your own, and how on earth will you cope if you lose your job (s)? Then you get sick, and have to have a little time off work, this makes you even more anxious and worried. Now you can't get to sleep very well, and you get anxious about not getting enough sleep .... and on it goes.

The primary emotion behind anxiety is fear. We worry about what might happen (whether these worries are realistic or imagined) and become fearful, apprehensive and overwhelmed. Whilst this is a normal reaction to threatening or dangerous situations, most of our anxiety is in the mind i.e. imagined dangers that actually have a low chance of happening.

Nevertheless, our bodies feel the effects of what our mind is worrying about: heart rate goes up, digestive system slows down (IBS, constipation), breathing is shallow, clammy hands, breathlessness, chest pains, headaches (the list is long!). The chemistry of our bodies is altered: more adrenaline/noradrenaline and cortisol are sent out (the stress hormones), and our body's pH balance is altered. These chemical changes are picked up by chemoreceptors and nerve signals are sent to the brain which increase the feelings of anxiety and panic. In this way, we can get stuck in a vicious cycle of anxiety.

Some of us are more vulnerable to anxiety than others: personality, upbringing, beliefs and values all are important. But we can change this. We can learn how to change our minds (thinking and beliefs) through techniques drawn from cognitive behavioural modalities such as neurolinguistic programming (NLP). And we can learn how to change our bodies to change our minds - by doing yoga.

More on yoga for anxiety in the next blog post.