Relaxation Techniques for Anxiety

To start easing your anxiety naturally, learning some relaxation techniques for anxiety is a good place to start.

For many of us, anxiety comes and goes. We often think of it as being a normal part of life. But for some, anxiety is overwhelming and a constant, daily battle.

Whether it is occasional or constant affliction, dealing and coping effectively with anxiety is important for our psychological well-being.

While prescription medication seems to offer solution for some people, drugs can make the problem worse. Rather than offering any any lasting solution, you can grow dependent on such drugs and can suffer side-effects – it can be difficult to free yourself of them once you go down that road.

Relaxation techniques can be very effective and do not pose any side effects. So, as an initial step towards easing anxiety, it’s something that could be very beneficial.

Try implementing the following relaxation techniques to overcome your anxiety:

Progressive Relaxation Technique

Progressive relaxation is the most popular studied type of relaxation therapy. It involves mentally moving around muscle groups in the body by tensing then relaxing each muscle in sequence.

One method of progressive relaxation is to begin with tensing and relaxing the muscles in your toes and progressively move upwards towards your neck and head. You can also start with your head and neck and progressively work down to your toes. Do this for 5 seconds and then relax for 30 seconds before repeating again.

Because anxious people are tense throughout the day, they often do not consciously think about and distinguish what a tense muscle feels like. The idea is, by purposefully tensing and relaxing the muscles in this way, you’re teaching the brain to distinguish between a tensed and a completely relaxed muscle feels like. You can then learn to know when you’re become tense during the day.

Progressive relaxation is based on the notion that mind follows the body, thus, when you relax your body, your mind also relaxes and anxiety is reduced.

Set aside 10-15 minutes a day, twice a day ideally, to practice this technique. In the beginning, you should be practicing it when you are in a calm state. Once you’re competent with the technique, you will find it easier to use when you are in an anxious state

Applied Relaxation Technique

This technique builds on progressive relaxation. For effective results, you need to relax your muscles systematically. Then cut out the tensing phase and move directly to relaxing each muscle. Next, you learn how to associate a particular cue, for instance ‘calmness now’ with a state of relaxation.

Eventually, when you feel at ease with this technique, you can practice your applied relaxation technique in real world whenever anxiety manifests. This technique also follows the notion that mind follows body

Autogenic training Technique

Autogenic training (AT) is an relaxation exercise that teaches your body to react towards verbal commands. These commands inform your body to relax and control your heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, and body temperature.

The goal of AT is to attain deep relaxation and reduce anxiety. After you learn the exercise, you can apply it anytime you need to deal with anxiety symptoms.

How to Practice Autogenic Training

Step 1: Find a quiet place and lie on the floor or recline in a chair.

Step 2: Loosen any tight clothing, remove contacts or glasses and rest your hands on your lap.

Step 3: Take a few, deep, slow and even breaths and deeply utter, “I am completely calm.”

Step 4: Pay attention to your arms. Slowly and quietly repeat six times, “My arms are very heavy.” then slowly say, “I am completely calm.”

Step 5: Bring your attention back to your arms. Slowly and quietly repeat the mantra six times, “my arms are very warm.” then slowly say, “I am completely calm.”

Repeat this for every muscle in the body.

Guided Imagery Meditation Technique

Meditation has long been associated with reducing stress and anxiety. It is a wonderful technique to implement that has been clinically proven to ease anxiety. Meditation works by helping curtail the cycle of negative thoughts thus enabling you to effectively manage your feelings.

We often experience anxiety because we fixate on our past or future. During meditation, you intentionally focus on the here and now. This helps you become present.

Meditation also helps with anxiety because it calms the overactive brain. When you’re anxious, your mind is like a hamster on a wheel: constantly running off thoughts but not really getting anywhere. Moreover, meditation cultivates an attitude of nonjudgmental acceptance, which in many instances, is a major anxiety trigger.

Accepting the existence of problems without overanalyzing them has never been easy. However, through meditation, you understand that the goal is not to get to a point where your life is free from problems, but accepting and letting go of these problems.

How to meditate

Start by comfortably sitting down in a quiet place with your eyes closed, and focus on your breath. As you meditate, feel the motion of your breath inhaling and exhaling. Feel your belly and chest expand and contract. With every inhale, allow yourself to relax deeply. Slowly begin to release any tension you feel in your body with every exhale. When new thoughts rise up, identify them, and without being judgmental let them go.

Guided Imagery Technique

Guided imagery is a technique used to help your body enter a relaxed state. In this technique, you simply close your eyes and imagine the sounds and sight of a place you find relaxing.

How to Practice Guided Imagery

Step 1: Sit in a comfortable place, free from distraction, and take a few breaths.

Step 2: Visualize yourself lying on a calm, beautiful, and secluded beach. In your mind, see the soft white sand and crystal-clear waters moving at the lap of the shore. See a clear blue sky above you and palm trees swaying in the breeze behind you.

Step 3: As you breathe in, smell the scent of the tropical flowers and ocean. Notice sounds of the waves and the birds nestled in the palm trees behind you. Feel the warm sand underneath you and the rays of the sun on your skin. Notice the taste of your soft tropical drink as you bring it to your mouth and take a sip.

Step 4: Linger in this scene and notice how calm and relaxed you feel. Enjoy the relaxed feeling as it spreads throughout your whole body, starting from your head to your toes and notice the anxiety ebb away.

Breathing Meditation

Learning this technique can help you relax irrespective of where you are since all you need is a few moments to perform the technique. The key to proper deep breathing is to breathe from your abdomen in order to get as much fresh air into your lungs as you possibly can. It works in the sense that the more oxygen you get, the less the tension, shortness of breath and anxious you feel. Here is how to do it:

Step 1: Start by sitting comfortably while your back is straight then place one hand on your chest and another hand on your stomach. Then breathe in through the nose. As you do this, make sure that the hand on your stomach rises more than the hand placed on your chest.

Step 2: Then exhale through your mouth ensuring to push out as much air as you possibly can while you contract your abdominal muscles. As you will notice, the hand on your stomach should fall more than the hand placed on your chest while exhaling.

Step 3: Continue breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth then try inhaling enough just to make sure that the lower abdomen rises and falls. You can then count to 5 while you exhale.

Tip: In case, you are unable to breathe while seated, you can try breathing while you are lying on the floor. Simply place a book on the stomach then inhale, if the book rises when each time you breathe in and falls when you breathe out, then you are doing great! You could combine this with music and aromatherapy for extra effectiveness.

Bear in mind that relaxation techniques are skills. Just like any other skill, your ability to relax at command improves with practice. Give yourself the time and space to practice these techniques until they become second nature to you.

If one particular technique just isn’t working for you, try another one and go from there!