How Anxiety does not need to be Who you are...
If we consider a person experiencing anxiety through a Body Mind Worker perspective using the logical levels, it can help break it up a little bit.
In the logical levels everything below the line (environment, behaviour, capability), is more conscious, that is it is more easily observable to us and others, and it is usually in these areas that we attempt to create change. Everything above the line is more unconscious, so the things less visible to us, and the bits I concentrate on.
So when a person is experiencing negative thoughts or emotions, firstly consider their environment. Where are they? When is it? Who are they with? All of these factors could be either a cause of anxiety, or something that triggers those thought patterns that lead to anxiety.
Behaviour - so what behaviour are they demonstrating - this is usually the level that most people attempt to change. A person experiencing anxiety will demonstrate certain behaviours, this does not mean it defines who the person is, it just means this person in this context is behaving this way, at the moment.
Capabilities - we all have them! Sometimes they are tucked away or hard to access because of other things that are going on or things that have happened in the past. We all have capabilities we don’t access until we get some help. But also consider what capabilities that person has - which characteristics will help that person, and can support them through this. Becoming clear on your capabilities can in itself bring on a calmer state.
Then we go above the line - the more unconscious areas.
So whatever happens below the line, MAY affect what happens above, but what happens above the line WILL change everything below it. That is why I help people work on things above the line, and allow it to filter down.
Beliefs and Values, most of these were installed when we were very young. this may be beliefs about ourselves, beliefs about others, and how we decide what is right or wrong. For example some people may have the belief that every time they are in a social situation they become anxious, so guess what - that’s what happens!! Updating and changing the beliefs and values of someone experiencing anxiety will trickle down and affect their capabilities (give them more), their behaviour (help them change it) and notice how their environment changes.
Identity - who is that person being when they are having those thoughts and experiencing anxiety? Are there other contexts in their life - such as at work, where they are calm and confident. Do they need to upgrade their identify in the anxiety provoking context?
MANY people make the unfortunate mistake of taking on their axxiety as part of who they are, they would label themselves ’I AM an anxious person’.
Or maybe ‘I AM an anxiety fighter.’
However, using the logical levels we can see how we can upgrade that. If the person having the negative thoughts believes that part of their identity is to be anxious, then that may appear a massive and insurmountable thing to change. It will also then direct their beliefs and values, as well as directing their behaviour towards being anxious - not a good plan!
On the other hand, if we consider that the person’s identity is, for example ‘I AM Sarah’, and up until now part of my behaviours is that I experience feelings of anxiety in certain situations.
How does that feel differently?
Then we work on helping upgrade Sarah’s vision of herself, to upgrade her identity, which will allow her to change her beliefs, change her capabilities, adopt new and better behaviours, and change her environment.
Finally the big picture - what is the person’s mission or goal in life, which will impact on everything. Particularly if they don't have one! I can help you on your way to finding that too, as you do have all the answers in there somewhere!
In terms of thought patterns, people who are experiencing anxiety are behaving in what is known as a reactive state, so they are inside their own heads, running through many different possibilities of how things could go wrong, they decide how they feel based on the information they get from themselves, and are usually thinking about problems and how to avoid things and manage issues. Does that sound familiar?!
All of this will lead to feelings of DIS-ease, such as anxiety. So the best advice in those cases is to change your state, do something that gets you out of your head, if you aren’t stuck on the inside, you won’t be able to access those feelings of anxiety!
Body Mind Worker sessions aims to gently influence your system through the identification and adjustments of 'Emotional Memory Images' (EMI), as coined by French Neurologist Hyppolyte Bernheim. Working in this area will have a direct affect on the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, the amygdala and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) system.
The neurotransmitter norepinephrine and the neuromodulating hormone cortisol will be secreted into the system and communicate to these parts of the brain during the EMI episode. It is believed that it is long term exposure to Emotional Memory Images that is the basis for the myriad of health conditions that are impacting on society today: preventing the EMI from triggering means there can be no response by the brain, ergo no elevated cortisol levels.
If you are new to Body Mind Worker sessions and would like to learn how your mind works and break away from anxiety, book your first session at a full 40% off, click HERE
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