The one thing that creates anxiety that no one talks about

If you suffer from anxiety, you know how absolutely maddening it is!!

31% of adults and adolescents reported experiencing an anxiety disorder in the past year. 

Anxiety can be caused by a number of things: stress, trauma, developmental/attachment trauma, food sensitivities, inflammation in the body, viruses, or too much Vata in your body, which can be a result of all the above or the primary part of your constitution. (I will talk about this in my  next blog post.)

We live in a stressed out society where most of the people have a significant amount of stress hormones pumping through their veins on a very regular basis. 

Our lifestyles of being overscheduled, overstimulated, and living outside of the rhythms of nature all add to the accumulation of stress hormones in our bodies. 

While I see all of this taking a toll on my clients, one thing I see quite often is the tendency for people to live out of alignment with themselves. 

They don’t listen, can’t hear, and are disconnected from their inner voice.

When you are disconnected from your inner voice and live in a way that is at odds with yourself, it creates imbalance, and for some…anxiety. 

You might do this when you stay in a job that isn’t a good fit, continue in relationships that aren’t supportive, or push yourself to do things you know aren’t good for you (this could be anything from a yoga class that is too intense to eating a bucket of ice cream).

You are at odds with yourself when you eat too much or too little, don’t spend time in nature, rush through life, or live according to someone else’s rules and ideals.  

Unfortunately, most of this decision making comes from faulty thinking, which is fueled by unmet emotional needs and your brain’s desire to survive…which is understandable. So be kind to yourself. 

You are just doing your best to make it in this crazy, stressed out world.

So treating anxiety is a delicate and ideally a multifaceted  process, part of it being increasing self-awareness and living more authentically. 

True healing means uncovering unmet emotional needs and discovering your inner voice. Both have been stifled and suppressed for too long.

This might scare the hell out of you. 

The realization that you may have created a life that is out of balance and out of alignment…and to feel better you have to completely dismantle what you have built…and do it quickly!!!

A terrifying prospect.

Your nervous system cannot handle moving too fast or making big changes.

What it can handle is beginning the listening process with tiny and simple steps.

It’s a process. 

If you start a yoga class and you can’t touch your toes, you have the option of attempting to force it but it would hurt really badly if you did! And you would likely never go back to yoga.

Learning to listen to your inner voice is like learning to touch your toes: it takes time, patience, practice, making mistakes, and being very, very gentle with yourself.

When you begin to tune into your inner voice, you start to live in greater alignment with your true needs.

Your nervous system settles when it is rooted in knowing you have your own back.

So, you become less anxious, more calm, your mind is more peaceful and it is easier to remember you are ok, no matter what.