Although most of us can’t avoid ALL of the things that cause stress in our lives, there is plenty that we can do to reduce the feelings of anxiety that we experience from it. Calming our anxiety is important for reasons other than just bringing us general peace of mind, it is also important for our overall health and well-being. While, consistently being stressed and anxious can have negative affects on our bodies, including but not limited to:
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- Weakening our immune system
- Creating hormone imbalances
- Impacting our sleep
- Causing weight fluctuations
Fortunately, there are plenty of natural and effective remedies to reduce our stress levels and minimize their effect on our body.
Meditation
Meditation is a powerful technique used to bring our focus inward in order to slow and calm the mind. Although meditation can seem intimidating when developing your practice, once you find stillness in the simplicity, great peace can be achieved. Meditations lead in guided formats, like sound healings, are a great way to embark on your meditation journey or deepen your current practice.
Proper Breathing
Stop what you’re doing and focus on how you’re breathing right now. If you are like the majority of Americans, while we look through social media and complete their tasks at work, our breathing is becoming impaired. As we take a small breathy inhale, we follow it up with a short and very shallow exhale. The problem is that this form of shallow breathing causes an excess of CO2 in the body which has been shown to make us feel an increase in anxiety. In fact, you can even see a chronic increase in the stress hormone, cortisol, when someone breathes like this. Meanwhile, practices of intentional breathing like meditation, yoga or guided breathwork workshops are great ways to reteach ourselves how to breathe properly.
Vibration
Using vibration is a great way to be guided into a peaceful state of mind. The vibration from instruments like:
- Tuning forks
- Gongs
- Sound bowls
… emit frequencies that help you transition into a meditative and zenful state with ease.
Body Work
It’s true what they say, our issues get stuck in our tissues. The soft tissues in our bodies include our muscles, fascia, and skin. We can assist these physical blocks with body work like massage or Reiki to better dissipate and reduce anxiety.
Are you ready to finally prioritize your peace and put more effort towards reducing your stress and anxiety? Check out Shanti Sound in Scottdale for sound baths and other classes that are great for reducing anxiety!