Coping With Stress & Anxiety

Basic Guideline for Coping With Stress and Anxiety

Here are a few guidelines you can use now to help alleviate your anxiety:

  • Recognize and admit that you are feeling stressed and anxious.
  • Become aware of your bodily symptoms. Don’t let them scare you, let them talk to you.
  • Try to pinpoint what you were anxious about. What happened yesterday? What were you thinking about, before you went to bed? If you can’t pinpoint it, don’t worry about it and move on.
  • Give yourself permission to feel anxious about whatever it is that is bothering you. “Of course I feel anxious about this problem, anyone would. but how much anxiety is too much?
  • If you do know what it is that is bothering you, what can you do to eliminate or minimize, the situation in some way so that it isn’t so stressful?
  • Must importantly, how can you react differently so you won’t be so affected by this situation.
  • Listen to the dialogue within yourself. Are you filling yourself full of negative thoughts about a certain situation~ what could you say to yourself that would feel more comforting.
  • Are you overwhelming yourself with “shoulds” and high expectations? If so, which ones would you eliminate?
  • Are you blaming someone else for your anxieties, unhappiness, poor health, lack of success or whatever? How can you take responsibility for yourself and make some positive changes?
  • Give yourself positive reinforcement for even the smallest accomplishments.

From the view of Yoga these principles serve in some ways as simple coping mechanisms. Other suggestions may be the beginning of your road to transformation and growth. Stress can be an opportunity that impels us to see beyond our present ways of experiencing things and find new and more creative ways to be. Enjoy the journey as best you can as you move forward!