Can getting rid of your emotional constipation help with anxiety? And what do you need to do?

With the world being what it is today, most people have experienced anxiety to a greater or lesser extent. And while there are many possible approaches, not many of them deal with what happens at an energy level when we experience anxiety.

Drawing from my own experience, I would describe anxiety as a kind of clawing, niggling feeling that may or may not make sense consciously. Sometimes I knew I was anxious and I understood why, and other times I had no clue why I was feeling that way and that only made it worse because there was nothing I could do to ‘reason it away’.

I’ve also experienced the kind of anxiety that hits you like a freight train and completely shuts off your power of speech, your ability to think and even your ability to move.

When the body is in severe anxiety your energy field will tend to react by catapulting your consciousness out of the body to a safe distance where you can observe what’s going on. This way you don’t have to be fully present with what may be a painful or traumatic experience.

So, when, consciously or unconsciously, you don’t feel safe or comfortable in the physical body, you retreat to where you can view things from a different perspective.

This can be a very useful tool and people do this, often without really being conscious of it, when small things happen to upset them.

The trouble comes when you are spending large chunks of time, ungrounded and ‘away’ from your body. The nature of grounding and being connected to the earth and your physical vehicle is something that can actually help you feel safe and secure, so it’s a bit of a catch 22.

When you are more grounded and in your body, it helps you feel less tired, have more energy and, here is the important part, process emotions out of the body. You have to be in it to win it!

If you’re not in your body then you can’t process the energy (feelings) coming into it well enough to transmute them and pass them out of your system.

It is a bit like being constipated. All the food hanging around in your gut just creates more toxicity and while it’s sitting around, it gets less and less hydrated which makes it more difficult to pass out anyway. This is very similar to how it is when we don’t effectively process our emotions. This means they stack up in the body and could be a reason why you experience anxiety as there is a huge backlog and nowhere for it to go.

So having established that it’s ok and normal to ‘pop out’ of our bodies occasionally, we need to be mindful that in order to process the feelings that build up during our everyday lives we need to be back in our bodies.

Processing our feelings can sound like a scary thing, but it doesn’t have to be a painful experience. If you wish, you can sit mindfully and be present with feelings or memories in order to transmute them, but that isn’t appropriate, or desirable, for everyone.

Luckily there are many ways to process our ‘stuff’. Music is a very popular way to process. Only you know what kind of music will help you at that particular moment, but it can be extremely cathartic and helpful.

If you can play an instrument, so much the better, as this is linked with physical movement which is another way to move stuck energy out of the body.

Singing is also very powerful as using your voice in that way sends vibrations throughout your energy (and physical) body which can help break up congested energy.

As I said before, physical movement is also beneficial. You can walk, run, play sports, dance – anything really. Some activities allow more expression, such as dance, and that expression can be very cathartic, but just the physical act of moving on its own is helpful for the body.

After all, our lymph system relies on our motor movements to move fluid round the body and one of its jobs is to help remove waste from our cells. Something very similar is happening at an energy level when you move.

Self-care activities such as taking a warm bath, writing things out in a journal, having a massage, or taking some time out, can also be helpful when dealing with anxiety. Time out is very important to reengage with our bodies and is helpful, not only for the energy body but also for the physical system.

What you don’t want to do is shove your unprocessed feelings in a corner and refuse to look at them. But if that is the case right now, don’t panic! There can be very good reasons why you’d want to do that and if you need to, it’s totally fine for a while.

Just be aware that’s what you’re doing. Tell yourself, ‘I’m not looking at that right now – but I’ll come back to it.’ It’s ok, so long as you don’t forget about it forever.

Give yourself as much time as you need, but then remember to come back to it. And eat the elephant in small bites if you have to – there’s no need to rush.

Just a little bit at a time, can make you feel so much better and that should help to alleviate the feelings of anxiety AND give you a lot more energy. Give it a try and see how it goes!

How to deal with the emotional effects of Lockdown – what to do with all that ‘excess baggage’!

So what else could there be to blog about, than the current global situation? We’ll all be having different experiences depending on our circumstances, but one thing we’ll have in common is that even the more fortunate of us who are able to ride out the lock down comfortably, will still find our ‘stuff’ coming up. There are various reasons for this.

Firstly stuff comes up when we stop and look around and have some time to think. That is happening for a lot of people at the moment.

For others, who haven’t had a chance to stop and have to keep on working really hard in challenging and frightening circumstances, the stress, as you might expect, piles up and triggers their stuff that way.

The general energy of fear and uncertainty; fear of getting the virus, fear for friends and family who are vulnerable or working on the front line, fear over your job, whether you will be able to feed the family – all those are deeply rooted survival based fears and they will also bring up any emotional and mental issues you might have thought you’d buried!

Let’s face it. There might be escape from the virus but there’s no escaping the emergence of your stuff ! So I think it’s really important to talk about how best to deal with it.

Dan and I are lucky in that we are well placed to combat any emotional or mental patterns that jump up and bite us on the bum (and they have – don’t worry about that!) 😉 But what about everyone else who doesn’t have access to those techniques? Well – you will be pleased to hear that there are some simple things you can do that will help to dissipate and process whatever comes up.

Firstly and most importantly, when you are losing control, feeling fearful or panicky, or whatever is showing up, remember that it is vital information – about yourself and what is going on – that you might not always be aware of. As such, it is a golden opportunity and something that you can turn to your advantage.

Secondly – as with any issues – awareness is half the battle. Give the matter your conscious attention Instead of trying to ignore it or push it away, say, “Ok – I’m listening! What is it I need to know?”

So, you’ve realised that something useful has come up, and you’ve become aware of what that is about – for example, perhaps it has come up as an outburst of temper and when you look closely (giving it your attention) you realise that underneath the anger there is a feeling of fear.

The third step is to ask yourself questions. How am I feeling? Why do I think I am feeling that? Ideally, in order to get the best information back from that unlimited source of knowledge which you can call God, your higher self, or just your subconscious; try to put yourself into a quiet contemplative state. Obviously if it is straight after the temper tantrum or panic attack, that won’t work – give yourself some time to calm down and then come back to it later!

The best way to get an answer to your question is to detach. Don’t watch your every thought for a pearl of wisdom to float in! Just relax, sit back and don’t pay it too much attention. In contrast to the part where you need to give attention to your emotions, this is the part where it’s best not to watch the pot too much while it is boiling! 😉

It is fine to think of something else. You’ve posed the question to your mind, now let it get on with finding you the answer. While you are not occupied with waiting for an answer, you may well find one drifts into your mind. When I say answer, I don’t mean – “the meaning of life is 42” – it will probably just manifest as a comment. It is like holding a conversation with the inner you. The inner you will respond with some sort of comment – whether it is a flippant comment, a ‘nobody loves me’ comment, or ‘I don’t matter’ comment. It might sound negative but it is great information.

Then ask yourself – ‘I don’t matter? Why do I think I don’t matter?’ And then wait for the answer – you may be surprised!

In our healing sessions, we would normally work on these feelings energetically, by finding their root and performing clearing techniques. However, it can be done in a simple and natural way over time, just by becoming aware of what the feeling is and what is behind it. There is no better expert on you than you! – and the more you know yourself and know where your feelings come from, the more power you have to change.

Change is what the world needs right now – change for the better that is! So hard as it is at the moment, remember, you don’t have power over the world, but you do have the power to change yourself.

Compassion, flexibility, understanding and tolerance are central to healing the body and mind.

buddha

In Multi-Dimensional Healing we are always looking for another way if one way doesn’t work! The beauty of having two heads, which as everyone knows are better than one! 😉 is that we can come at the issue from different angles and what one person misses, the other will pick up. It is also a good way of double checking the crazy stuff – and there will always be the crazy stuff! With two of us we can more easily make sense of what otherwise seems to make none and find how to work with it to create change.

As it says above, when we have compassion, we can find another way… this is true. We work from a standpoint of zero judgement, no matter what the issues are that we are working on. We both come from a background that provided enormous challenges that had to be overcome, especially with regard to emotional issues, such as depression, anxiety, self-sabotage etc.

Many years ago, I suffered with something very similar to M.E. It didn’t have a name! And as many of you may have experienced, anything without a name doesn’t exist or is only in your mind and please just get over it!

There is better information and awareness today, but sufferers from illnesses like M.E. Fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety and other similar conditions still meet with disbelief, intolerance and even aggression. People don’t like what they don’t understand and these conditions are very difficult to understand if you haven’t been there yourself!

Fortunately we have! – so we are ready and willing to listen to whatever you have to say and find a way of getting to the heart of the matter in order to create change.