Expand

 

If we look at anxiousness as trapped or undischarged energy is there a way to help release it?  We can certainly try!  

 

One technique I used in my therapy practice very often with my clients was to try to expand the anxiety – yes actually try to make it worse.  I realize this sounds counter to our goal of eliminating and/or soothing the discomfort.  But if you think about what happens when we first feel the anxiety start to surge – we constrict, tighten and contract our bodies in an attempt to stop the flow, stop the process.  In that attempt are we actually stopping it's release as well?  What if we took a different approach allowing ourselves to feel the sensations expanding instead of constricting, feeling the surge of release as the energy moves through and out of our bodies? 

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I am in no way minimizing the terror anxiousness can bring with it.  What I am proposing is permission. Permission to feel your body again, permission to TAKE CONTROL, permission to release, permission to heal.  It will take practice and courage yet with patience it can be a useful tool for those battling anxiousness and panic.  

 

So the next time these feelings and sensations surge – first allow it and feel it. Then try to expand it using your breath as you imagine it getting bigger and more intense.

 

Continue using your breath to give it motion and fluidity.  Simply be aware of it's direction.  Be aware of any areas in your body that might be constricted and open them with your breath.  Deeply breathe into those areas expanding as you allow for the creation of  a pathway of release.  

 

And finally rest – feel the sensation of the release.  This is what healing feels like!

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