Feeling anxious? Shake it out...

[Person shaking their hair vigorously]

Sometimes breathing or meditating is what we THINK we need to do when we feel stressed and anxious. And this CAN be the right thing to do.

However, sometimes we are too much in our head to be able to sit still and clear our minds.

Saying 'calm down' to ourselves in these instances can be as helpful as someone telling you to calm down when you're angry...it might make things worse rather than better.

This is because anxiety is ENERGY...and this needs to go somewhere to dissipate. Your body has put itself into action setting and you're trying to fight that. This can result in you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, restless (and rubbish at meditating or breathing your way out of things).

Instead of trying to fight anxiety, it can sometimes be good to roll with it...and yes I mean literally ROLL if that works for you...and move. There are lots of ways of doing this. You might roll. do some dancing, shake your body, or do some exercise. you could also sing or hum your way out of it if that's more your thing. This type of activity helps to reduce the pressure built up by anxiety and get you to a space where you can start the down-regulating methods that didn't work in the high stress phase - breathing, meditating or gentle stretching.

Anxiety is a good example of the way that body and mind are connected - you're not JUST stuck in your head, you're also experiencing this in your body. Using your body as well as your brain can help you to deal with this quickly. Although maybe you'll want to think about where you are when you start your booty shaking dance!

Check out my instagram page for a demo of a simple way to quickly calm your nervous system

www.instagram.com/charlottelattin.wellbeing