Freedom From Anxiety

Freedom From Anxiety

  • Understanding Anxiety
    • Anxiety is maladaptive when it causes suffering.
      • 85% of the things that we worry about never come true.
      • Stimulus --> bodily reaction --> mental reaction --> fear --> rumination --> more fear
    • Remedy for trance of fear: mindfulness
      • Trance of fear: when fear response is greater than the threat at hand, resulting in unproductive response to threat, anxiety paralysis
      • Mindfulness wakes us up from trance of fear.
    • Perfectionism engenders anxiety.
    • Not about eliminating anxiety, but living with ease and understanding in the face of it.
    • Slippery slope strategies for coping with anxiety:
      • Distraction
      • Obsession
      • Control others
      • Self-blame
  • Bringing Mindfulness to Anxiety
    • Quality of awareness to meet the anxiety as it is.  Do feel it, do hold it.  Bring warmth and openness to what is.
    • Use RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Non-identify)
      • R (Recognize): labeling and noticing what is happening takes reaction from amygdala to prefrontal cortex; this is calming.  "This is fear" reduces reactivity, recognizes logic, space, awareness.
      • A (Allow): bringing acceptance to the anxiety, letting it be here
      • I (Investigate): examining, where do I feel this in my body?  My feelings?  My thoughts?
      • N (Non-Identify): disidentification: "this is fear"; not me or mine; gives us space
    • Noticing you are on a thought train allows you to get off.  Or, let it go by without getting on.
    • There is often something deeper underlying our anxiety; bringing mindfulness can reveal this.
    • We cannot get rid of causes of anxiety, but we can bring awareness and choose to be with what arises.
    • Anxiety needs a future.  Am I okay right now?
    • We assume that fear will control us, but it doesn't need to and it doesn't!  We always have options; notice, how am I right now?  Am I okay in this moment?
    • Non-identification is freedom.
      • "This is not me; this is not mine."
      • Opportunity to get space.
      • "I am not my anxiety."
      • Emotions are like weather.  Impermanent, non-self, always changing.
    • When meeting anxiety: stay centered and connected, let the anxiety be heard, and offer caring acceptance.  Choose to watch the train go by with a smile.
    • Ability to be with life as it is will naturally allow us to accept anxiety with kindness.
  • Practices
    • Toolbox: Mindfulness for Anxiety
      • Look at patterns in our worries; triggers?  Catastrophizing?
      • Ask:
        • "Is what I'm worrying about really true?"
        • "What do I believe anxiety and worry gives me?"
          • Look at the wisdom underneath the worry.
        • "How can I preserve the wisdom without feeding the anxiety?"
      • Exercises:
        • Designate time to problem solve regarding worry (ex: ~10 min/day)
        • Write down worries, whether they are true, and wisdom I can extract
        • Notice "this is worry" early to stop the train
      • Ask:
        • "What will 'solve' my worries?"
          • ex: equanimity, balance, self-care
          • Seeing how you can provide this for yourself.
    • In-the-Moment
      • When you feel anxiety:
        • Breathe, feel the ground
        • Recognize, "This is anxiety"
        • Ask, "Am I okay right now?"
        • Investigate: "Is this true?  What is the wisdom?"
        • Non-identify: "This is not me, this is not mine."




Notes from MARC Day of Mindfulness: "Freedom From Anxiety," led by Diana Winston, February 10, 2018.

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