A
Ashira
Guest
Continuing the discussion from Struggling with despair and fear about health:
Hi there. I feel your pain. I too have suffered with severe anxiety the past couple of years. In my case there were a couple of events/stressors which triggered it off, (and I fed the anxiety by focusing on fearful thoughts) but now even though it appears those stressors/threats are no longer present, my amygdala (the fight and flight centre in the brain) has been overworked and increased in size, to the point were seemingly harmless thoughts and situations can trigger it to send out those same wretched symptoms of anxiety. I have however, found some useful tools to reduce the symptoms and cope better which has improved both my sleep quality and overall health. A good priest who happens to also be quite health conscious emphasised to me the importance of breathing slowly and deliberately when you have anxiety, as your respiratory system is the primary feedback loop to the brain for regulating the central nervous system. When you are anxious, your breath becomes shallow and quick, or you will hold your breath altogether. In the army, soldiers are taught to breathe in a particular way in order to prevent panic attacks and to calm the amygdala and central nervous system. I cannot stress enough the impact that doing mindful meditation whilst consciously focusing on calming and slowing down the breath has had on my mental and physical health. Whilst doing this, I like to close my eyes and simply envision Christ standing directly in front of me in a beautiful garden filled with light- with His arms outstretched to me. He does not speak, and neither to I, He is simply there, being with me and loving me, and rather than thinking, I consciously try to quiet my racing mind (stop thinking basically) and just ‘be’ with Him and breathe in His goodness, peace and love. I do this for 20 minutes at the start of every day, and 20 minutes at the end of my day, but you can do it for just 5-10 minutes, whenever you find the time to be alone and close your eyes. I have started doing my Christian Meditation with the help of the Equisync program, which feeds peaceful theta and delta waves to your brain via peaceful harmonies, accompanied by your choice of rainfall, birdsong, gentle ocean waves etc. I strongly recommend you look into this.
Keep up your regular prayers, but keep in mind that anxiety is a symptom of an overactive mind and amygdala. When we pray in a conventional manner, sometimes our mind can tend to race, and we do a lot of unloading, venting, pleading, begging etc, but not a whole lot of listening to God. With Christian meditation, we have the opportunity to quiet our mind long enough to actually hear God speak, and it is incredible how much my intuition and other mental faculties have improved since practicing this inner silence. Like the Benedictine Monks of old!!!
Hi there. I feel your pain. I too have suffered with severe anxiety the past couple of years. In my case there were a couple of events/stressors which triggered it off, (and I fed the anxiety by focusing on fearful thoughts) but now even though it appears those stressors/threats are no longer present, my amygdala (the fight and flight centre in the brain) has been overworked and increased in size, to the point were seemingly harmless thoughts and situations can trigger it to send out those same wretched symptoms of anxiety. I have however, found some useful tools to reduce the symptoms and cope better which has improved both my sleep quality and overall health. A good priest who happens to also be quite health conscious emphasised to me the importance of breathing slowly and deliberately when you have anxiety, as your respiratory system is the primary feedback loop to the brain for regulating the central nervous system. When you are anxious, your breath becomes shallow and quick, or you will hold your breath altogether. In the army, soldiers are taught to breathe in a particular way in order to prevent panic attacks and to calm the amygdala and central nervous system. I cannot stress enough the impact that doing mindful meditation whilst consciously focusing on calming and slowing down the breath has had on my mental and physical health. Whilst doing this, I like to close my eyes and simply envision Christ standing directly in front of me in a beautiful garden filled with light- with His arms outstretched to me. He does not speak, and neither to I, He is simply there, being with me and loving me, and rather than thinking, I consciously try to quiet my racing mind (stop thinking basically) and just ‘be’ with Him and breathe in His goodness, peace and love. I do this for 20 minutes at the start of every day, and 20 minutes at the end of my day, but you can do it for just 5-10 minutes, whenever you find the time to be alone and close your eyes. I have started doing my Christian Meditation with the help of the Equisync program, which feeds peaceful theta and delta waves to your brain via peaceful harmonies, accompanied by your choice of rainfall, birdsong, gentle ocean waves etc. I strongly recommend you look into this.
Keep up your regular prayers, but keep in mind that anxiety is a symptom of an overactive mind and amygdala. When we pray in a conventional manner, sometimes our mind can tend to race, and we do a lot of unloading, venting, pleading, begging etc, but not a whole lot of listening to God. With Christian meditation, we have the opportunity to quiet our mind long enough to actually hear God speak, and it is incredible how much my intuition and other mental faculties have improved since practicing this inner silence. Like the Benedictine Monks of old!!!
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