Learn the 3 simple steps that will instantly help lower anxiety levels, especially during these times.

From living in a state of anxiousness through different phases of my life, especially throughout my teens where I struggled with OCD, lacking in confidence and not really knowing who I was… I mean who knows who they truly are when they are younger?

I wanted to truly understand what was going on within that was creating those emotions. I always thought that something external had the answer for me whether it was achieving something, getting into a new sport, going out more often, learning new skills. You name it, I’ve tried to search for the answers externally but nothing and no-one had the answers for me. I even saw a therapist, which I have done through good times and also ‘not so good times’ as it was perceived to be.

There were moments in which I truly wanted to grasp exactly what it was that created these feelings, such as increased heart rate, increased body temperature, headaches and the dreaded feeling of no way out, which I know many people experience.

So I explored in more depth, some new concepts and teachings which I put into daily practice, to help me find a deeper meaning within myself and to help lower levels of anxiety. These are steps and practices I’m going to share with you to help you during these times of current circumstances of the unknown, being in self-isolation.

“Sometimes, when you hit low points in life, it is a blessing in disguise to tell you that something needs to change. It gives you the inclination to do that, and guess what? Not only will your life improve, your perspective changes and relationships improve.”

I could list 10 things to help lower levels of anxiety, stress and feeling disconnected.
However, these are my top three:

1. Being in the ‘Present Moment’

There are two things that will make you unhappy in life, wanna know what they are? 

Getting what you want and not getting what you want.

What do I mean by not getting what you want?

You become in some way disappointed, frustrated and unfulfilled by not getting what you want. You then search for something else that you become attached to and if you don’t get that, you repeat this cycle. Easier enough to get your head round.

What do I mean by getting what you want?

This stems from always trying to achieve something, or to rush and complete a project, to buy the latest this and the latest that. You’ll be able to relate to this – have you ever bought the latest iPhone and then after a day or two, the novelty wears off and you become unfulfilled again and you ask yourself: ‘What’s the next thing I can buy now?’

It’s an on-going cycle which points out something here:

Be grateful and appreciative what you have at this moment in time.

This present moment is really all we have. We become so caught up in the mind which can at times be negative – you know that voice that tells you that you can’t do something and that you start to believe it? This thought and voice creates a negative emotion inside which then can be expressed out in the form of anger, irritation and brings down your level of energy vibration.

So what can you do about this? It’s simple.

Bring awareness to your current state of emotions through your body. Ask yourself, ‘Am I feeling tense? Where am I feeling tense? Is my heart beating faster than usual?’

This is the first step to becoming ‘present’ – by bringing awareness to the emotion in your body. Now, just accept it, let it be and don’t attach any thoughts to it. Reconnect to your body, feel the cells throughout your whole body come to life again. Disconnect from your mind and just be ‘in the moment’.

Yes we have things that we plan for in the future and goals to achieve but remember becoming as present as possible during the steps it takes you to get there, you’ll be able to think clearly, positively and mostly be even more productive. Enjoy the essence of this step and apply this to everyday life. Not just when you feel anxious but even during mundane tasks – engage with your body and not your thoughts.

Once you’ve mastered awareness, I bring you onto my next step:- Breathing.

2. Breathing is a Form of Meditation

One of the main things that helped me lower my anxiety levels was becoming conscious of my breath. Breathing into your body to desensitise any emotions that you have brought awareness to (above step), is key to help lowering levels of anxiety. By doing this, you’re effectively switching your nervous system from a sympathetic state (stressed state) to a parasympathetic state (relaxed state).

We’re conditioned to breathe into our chest, we’re creatures of habit and I know that you just checked, ha. Bring attention to breathing into your diaphragm, so allow your stomach to inflate on the inhalation of the breathe and deflate on the exhalation. This is the key to breathing. When you feel levels of anxiety creeping in, perform 10 breaths just like this and I can guarantee that you’ll feel the difference in doing so. 

Now go and make this a conscious habit and not just when anxiety creeps in. This step is a form of meditation.

To back-up step 1 and 2, I’ve dug out a couple of research studies to demonstrate that these have improvements not only anxiety levels but also result in a decrease of compulsions in OCD.

Studies have shown that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) may have a beneficial effect on anxiety symptoms in Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and may also improve stress reactivity and coping as measured in a laboratory stress challenge (Hoge et al. 2014).

Another study, conducted in 2013 (Wahl, 2013) researched how effective mindfulness strategies and meditation strategies compared to the use of distraction techniques in 30 participants with OCD, who were doing brief exposure to their unwanted thoughts. The summary of these findings showed that those who used mindfulness skills (i.e. letting thoughts come and go without judgment) felt less of an urge to react to thoughts with compulsions in comparison to distraction techniques (trying to think of something else), which saw no change to react to compulsions.

3. Connecting With Nature

One of the things I’m truly grateful for is having the opportunity on a daily basis to have the time to be out in natural environments – even if its just a 30 minute walk, I make sure I do it. Something which nature provides us, is time to reconnect with ourselves, to reflect and mostly to escape from the ‘noise’ of the world.

When you bring awareness to each step you take, take notice of the wind and the beautiful sounds that nature brings like the birds whistling. All this is a practice of being ‘present’. If it’s sunny as well, you should make the time to be outside, Vitamin D is essential for your immune system and makes you feel awesome.

Martyn & Brymer (2014) revealed from quantitative results, that connection to nature was significantly related to lower levels of overall anxiety, state cognitive and trait cognitive anxiety. Qualitative results revealed seven themes: relaxation, time-out, enjoyment, connection, expanse, sensory engagement and a healthy perspective. Taken together, these findings suggest that being more connected to nature can help lower anxiety.

Summary

Be present as much as you can. When stressful situations arise and of course they will, you will have a better perspective of the situation and probably won’t make it much of a deal as you previously would have.

“The past has been and gone, the future isn’t there yet, the present is all we have.”

Have you noticed that these 3 practices are all linked together?

When anxiety creeps in, perform the breathing cycle as mentioned in step 2.

Be out in nature as much as possible and find joy in just being, not so much thinking about time, especially now, since most people have a lot of free time.

Please note that these experiences and practices have allowed me to become free of OCD and anxiety and more recently a greater understanding of why, on a much deeper level. This has taken years of practice which I’ve not only used for myself but also my clients.

Conor Morrison

Be Inspired Coaching for – Liberation – Strength – Compassion