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Breathing Exercises

Last week we talked about how one of the best things you can do when you experience anxiety is to take a deep breath. Today we want to expand on this idea and go over some simple breathing exercises. They are easy to do and can be done anytime, anywhere, which makes them a great tool for your tool-belt.

When you become anxious about something, the first thing that happens physically is that your heart rate increases. You can become panicked, which can make it harder to focus, difficult to breathe, and feel impossible to calm down. Breathing techniques work in several ways. They help you take a moment, refocus, and eventually calm down. By slowing and calming your breaths, you can help lower your heart rate to a reasonable level, and ultimately lower your blood pressure as well.

Once you get your breathing under control, you are able to calm down and figure out what steps to take next. By paying attention to your breaths, you help calm down your nervous system. That is why these simple exercises work so well and are worth trying.

Breath Counting

While none of the breathing exercises that we are about to share are complicated, the simplest one is breath counting. Take slow breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Start counting each breath out. Once you get to twenty, you should feel calmer.

Box Breathing A technique we use regularly is called box breathing. Picture tracing a box in your mind while taking deep breaths in and out. You can even use your finger to trace a box as you take your breaths to help you focus more and take your mind off of what is creating anxiety for you at that moment. You breathe in for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, breathe it out for four more seconds, hold again for four, and then start over until you feel your heart rate regulating.

Breathing Rhythm Another good exercise is to find a calm, breathing rhythm. Start by breathing in through your nose for four seconds. Hold your breath for two seconds, then slowly exhale through the mouth for six seconds. After a minute two, you should start to feel calmer. Keeping this steady, slow rhythm of breathing, you will notice your stress and anxiety melt away.

Breath Walking

Breath walking may be new to you, but it can help promote ease. The concept here is to go on a walk, out in nature each day, even for a few minutes. Getting out and away from stressors can be just what our brain needs sometimes. Step out into nature with no electronics. Turn off music, set your ringer on silent, and walk, paying attention to the world around you. Concentrate on your breath as you move and walk. Work to calm any fast-paced or out of rhythm breathing. Notice the sounds and nature around you, and let go of the stress of the day through your breath. You will find yourself healthier and happier at the end of the walk, and as the walk progresses.

Abdominal Breathing Another great technique, if you have the opportunity to sit or lay down, is to practice abdominal breathing. Find a comfortable spot, relax, and place one hand on your stomach. Breathe in and focus your mind on the feeling of your stomach rising. Slowly breathe back out and pay attention to how your hand lowers again. Keep your breathes slow and steady, focusing your mind on your abdomen. You can even teach this practice to your kids by putting a stuffed animal on their stomach and asking them to slowing make the animal go up and down by breathing slowly, in and out. If lying down isn't an option, you can focus your mind on how the air feels flowing in through your nose and out through your mouth.

It is helpful to practice these breathing techniques before you find yourself in stressful or anxious situations. Make it a habit to practice them daily, so you're comfortable with the exercises when you need them. Practice and then implement any of these techniques whenever you feel anxious. They are a great way to calm down almost instantly. They can also be helpful when you are having a hard time falling asleep. Practice your breathing exercises in bed, and it won't take long before you start drifting off to sleep.

As you start putting these daily breathing practices into your life, you will begin to notice a change for the better. Feeling more confident in your ability to calm your anxiety can be motivating and encouraging. Start slow and let the process work. It's all about allowing the process to develop in your life at your own pace.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/10/21/Breathing-Exercises

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Anxiety and Ways to Cope

Today we want to talk a little bit about the difference between being anxious a having a full-blown, debilitating anxiety attack. We have mentioned before that feeling anxious is a natural reaction to a perceived threat. Sometimes the fear of the unknown can cause it; sometimes, we're afraid that we'll embarrass ourselves or that we disappoint our loved ones. It's often not a problem. It can be uncomfortable, but it can also be an excellent motivator to work harder, study more, or keep moving forward.

Occasional feelings of anxiety are not a problem because if you view it as an emotion that you can move through.

On the other end of the spectrum, when anxiety isn't managed in a healthy way, anxiety attacks can occur. For some people, anxiety can spiral out of control, and their bodies release so many stress hormones that they experience anything from total isolation to frequent panic attacks. It is also often accompanied by severe physical symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, migraines, etc.

Treating these types of severe anxiety attacks is outside of the scope of this post. If you suspect you're suffering from this, please seek professional helpimmediately.

What we can address is the stuff in the middle. For example, if you find yourself worried and anxious frequently without it being a serious medical problem. Also, If your anxiety is impacting your sleep or ability to relax and enjoy life with your loved ones, we hope this post can help.

If at any time you feel yourself spiraling out of control and towards a severe anxiety attack, don't hesitate to seek help.

For the next few blog posts, we're going to give you some tips on how to relax, put your thoughts into perspective, and calm down your nervous system. This can change your attitude from constant worry and fear, to looking forward to what the future brings.

However you stumbled across this blog post, think about what made what is bringing you here today. What made you seek out more information about the difference between anxiety and anxiety attacks? Think about how often you feel anxious on a given day, week, or even a month. Where do you think you fall between the spectrum of feeling a little anxious now and then, and debilitating, chronic anxiety?

Whether you feel like you need help or not, we could all benefit from a little less stress & anxiety and more relaxation.

Don't Panic – Take A Deep Breath

Getting hit by anxiety can be confusing, frustrating, and feel out of control. It can be frightening, and your first instinct may be to panic and worry, which can make the anxiety that much worse. Panicking doesn't help the situation, but when you feel heightened, it can be challenging to tell our brains that we're okay. Here is something you can do and our first tip for dealing with anxiety: take a deep breath.

The moment you feel anxiety, the best thing you can do is take some deep breaths. This will calm you down, get oxygen to your brain, and start to send the message that you're safe.

Fear and anxiety are not always as serious as we may think. When you are in actual danger, the feeling of fight or flight can save your life. However, when anxiety strikes, it's hard to understand the difference between reality and fantasy. A fast-beating heart, increased breathing, and a big boost of adrenalin are all things you can experience when you feel anxious. When you experience fear and anxiety about public speaking, bills you need to pay, or going on a blind date, those responses aren't helpful.

Secondly, when we are in this fight or flight state, it's hard to look at the situation rationally. It's difficult to objectively judge danger and make rational decisions when one feels anxious and stressed out. Everything feels much worse than it is when you are in this state of mind. Furthermore, when you are constantly in this state of mind, it is physically exhausting. If you're tired all the time, getting in tune with your anxiety levels is a great first step in feeling rested. That's why it's essential to start by doing what you can to calm down.

This is why our first tip for calming your anxiety to simply take a deep breath.

You can take deep breaths anywhere, anytime. When you feel anxiety rise, stand or sit comfortably, close your eyes if possible, and slowly breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Repeat this practice a few times until you can feel yourself starting to calm down. We'll be talking more about breathing exercises in our next post, but this is a great way to start.

As with most things, this becomes easier and more natural, the more you practice. Taking time to notice your anxiety and breathe through it is a habit that will need to be formed, but it will become second nature with time. Let in the habit of closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths whenever you start to feel a little anxious or wound up. It also helps do this breathing exercise when you first wake up, before you start work, and even before bed. Start practicing and keep up with it until it becomes a habit.

Going forward, whenever you get anxious or fearful, your first reaction should be to stop and take a deep breath. After you calm your breathing, you should be able to look at the situation more clearly and be able to judge if there is something rational to your worry. You'll also find yourself calm and collected enough to start making a plan and working through whatever issues arise, instead of merely reacting from a feeling of anxiety.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/10/14/Anxiety-and-Ways-to-Cope

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Food Fuels

Food is your body's fuel. What you eat can significantly impact the way you feel. For example, sugar can give you a quick high but fizzles out before you know it, leading to what you know as a sugar crash. Eating fruits and vegetables provides a longer-lasting source of energy.

Certain foods and your anxiety levels are connected, for better and for worse.

Here at New Leaf Counseling, we have listed some examples below to discover the relationship between them. Each individual responds differently to certain ingredients in food; here is some basic information to know about the link between what you eat and how you feel.

If you want to enhance the effects nutritional changes can have on anxious feelings, it is essential to have a healthy, balanced diet.

If you know that your eating habits could benefit from some adjustments, that is an excellent place to start. Gradually begin substituting options that are good for you. By eliminating just one unhealthy habit like drinking soda every day, you will start to notice a change in the way your body and mind feels. Try fruit-infused water instead of soda to see what happens. If you miss the carbonation, try flavored sparkling water. It is a better alternative to sugary drinks and also provides much-needed hydration to your body because dehydration can mess with your mood.

Also, complex carbohydrates are a far better option than white, starchy ones. Complex carbs increase your brain's serotonin levels. Serotonin is known as the chemical in your brain that makes you feel good- it offers a calming effect which a good thing. Whole-grain bread, oatmeal, and quinoa are complex carbohydrates that you could try incorporating into your nutrition.

An anxiety-busting strategy is to eat a breakfast that's high in protein.

By starting your day this way, it gives you higher energy levels and steady blood sugar. It will also make you feel fuller for longer, which will help eliminate the desire to binge on snacks that might not fuel your brain and body. Eggs and or peanut butter in your morning smoothing are great protein boosters!

Omega-3 fatty acids can aid in lowering both depression and anxiety. Try a light lunch of salmon or avocado salad. Tryptophan is an ingredient in turkey that makes you feel sleepy; it's also a soothing ingredient because it stimulates the production of feel-good brain chemicals. Therefore, having it for lunch could be a significant cause of that overtired feeling you get in the afternoon. Nuts, cheese, bananas, milk, and chicken are also high in tryptophan.

Vitamin B helps to reduce anxiety symptoms. Eat leafy greens, legumes, beef, chicken, citrus fruits, rice, and eggs for energy and relief if feeling anxious.

There are things you can remove from your diet as well to avoid feeling anxious. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that inhibits your serotonin production, which is the chemical that promotes happy feelings. It is also a diuretic that will send you running to the bathroom more often. Frequent bathroom trips can increase your chances of dehydration, and we've already talked about how that can negatively affect mood. Next up, sugar.

Due to quick absorption into the bloodstream and surge of insulin production, your candy fix could be hurting your energy levels.

Finally, alcohol can seem like a helpful way to escape bad feelings at the end of a long day; it's counterproductive to indulge because alcohol is a depressant. A glass of wine can be enjoyable, limit your intake, and don't overdo it.

These tips will hopefully prepare you to modify your diet to lower anxiety.

Balance is key when you want to maintain a particular way of eating. That's why it is essential to view food as fuel instead of labeling it as good or bad.

Load up on the veggies for a burst of energy daily but don't say no to the cake at your best friends birthday party either! Ask your doctor before making significant changes to your daily food intake or if you have any concerns.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/10/01/Food-Fuels

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Declutter Your Head and Home

We want to share another tool with you today that you can add to your toolbox for dealing with anxiety. Today, here at New Leaf, we are going to be talking about mental clutter and the negative effects it can have the anxiety it can cause you to feel. By becoming aware of what mental clutter is and using a simple but effective strategy to "declutter" our mind, we can reduce anxiety.

What Is Mental Clutter?

Mental clutter is all of the random stuff in your head that you're keeping track of. It could be appointments, things you need to do, and that never-ending list of projects you want to tackle eventually. We all have mental clutter, but when we let it become too much, it can add to how anxious we feel.

By just becoming aware of the clutter of thoughts in your head, you're already one step into clearing it out. Pay attention to when random thoughts pop in your head. Sometimes it's in the middle of the day while you're busy working on something completely unrelated. Frequently, they pop up at night when you're trying to relax or go to sleep. Become aware of them, so that you can then start to tackle the next step, dealing with mental clutter.

How To Reduce Mental Clutter

Now that you've become aware of your mental clutter, it's time to start reducing and eliminating it. The tools to do this are simple; all you need is a pen and a notebook. You're going to do a "brain dump which is the mental equivalent of dumping the contents of your closet in the floor so you can decide what to keep, what to donate, and what to throw out. Start by writing down every random thought you have from what you're cooking for dinner tonight to that trip your family is taking in 10 months. Write down everything you need to remember, appointments you need to keep, etc. Write down all the projects you want to tackle and the goals you want to accomplish. Don't edit, don't judge, write it all down. Don't stop until you can't think of anything else.

This process can be mentally exhausting, but also incredibly freeing and one of the best ways to reduce anxiety and stress. Simply writing it all down will get it out of your head and make you feel less mentally cluttered. You can start going through your long list, prioritizing the importance of them and start making a plan for how you want to check things off your list. I promise you'll feel calmer once you do this.

Declutter Your Home

In addition to mental clutter, a cluttered and disorganized environment can have a significant impact on the amount of anxiety you feel. When things around us aren't in order, it can cause our minds to feel just as scattered. Feelings of helplessness, anxiety, and stress can result when our surroundings are a mess. Many of us don't realize how much a disorganized environment can affect us in all areas of our lives. A messy space can cause your senses to be overstimulated. Your brain can get overloaded with too many stimuli, primarily of visual means.

When your brain tries to take in and process all of this information, it can become overwhelmed by trying to manage the unnecessary stimuli. When there's clutter, most of the items are probably not necessary. When your brain is overworked and can stress you out through excess stuff, you won't feel relaxed. Our minds need to have a sense of closure to move from an alert phase. When your brain is overstimulated and on-edge for extended periods, you're bound to feel anxious or nervous, not to mention sensitive, flustered, and overwhelmed. A messy space is also emotionally frustrating because it can lead to wasted time and lost items.

Cleaning up messes may seem overwhelming and impossible, but when you look at it in stages, you can break down the problem to where it won't feel as big. You can also manage this by assigning tasks to roommates or family so that everyone shares in the load- it doesn't have to be all on yourself. If you live alone, break the job down into segments.

Breaking down a daunting job will make it seem more doable. You don't have to do all of the laundry, start one load. Your kitchen doesn't have to be spotless immediately, try to start with one task, like the dishes. Clean one room or even one section of your space at a time; this approach calms your mind by communicating that there's an end in sight. You'll be surprised, once you get started, to see that end approaching as you tackle it all in baby steps.

Declutter now to make your cleaning and maintaining clean easier in the future. Create piles for things you plan to keep and donate. Breaking things down always makes them seem more manageable and increases your motivation to get started and keep going.

When you declutter your home and mind, you will notice immense relief. The reward will be lower levels of anxiety and the way you feel when the job is done, and you can relax. We'd love to hear ideas for how you declutter your home and head! Comment below and follow us on Instagram for more tips to reduce anxiety along with other helpful information.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/09/17/Declutter-Your-Head-and-Home

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Self-Care

Self Care is a major topic of conversation these days but what exactly is it? Is self-care treating yourself to your favorite coffee shop drink or slice of cake? Is it getting your nails done, buying a new outfit? Is it finding quiet time for just you and your thoughts? People have a lot of thoughts on what exactly is self care and what it is not. Here at New Leaf Counseling, we have decided to break down for you what we think falls under the umbrella of self care and ways you can practice it.

Proper self care plays a vital role in low stress and anxiety. It can improve your mood and your relationship with yourself. Self care is not selfish and it is not forced.

The point of practicing self care is to do things that bring you life and refuel you.

It can be practical and doesn’t have to cost money. Think of it as taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others.

Some helpful questions to ask yourself when preparing to practice self care include, what is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time but haven’t been able to because of busy schedules? What is something I enjoy doing- not a task or something I need to get done? This is an important question because choosing self care means making a conscious choice to actively fight against anxious cycles that our brain can spiral into when we start thinking about duties and tasks for the day.

By proactively taking time to engage in something to take your mind off of the anxiety, you’re purposefully shutting down the fight or flight response of your brain.

Acts of self-care often involve your overall health like eating foods that fuel your body, exercising regularly and getting a proper amount of sleep.

With these basics in mind, self-care can be anything you enjoy if it leads you to feeling relaxed.

If you’re having a difficult time coming up with some ways to practice self care, here are a few practical suggestions: deliberately involve yourself in a fun activity that isn’t likely to lead to stress. Choose a much-loved hobby, a regular social night with good friends, an appointment to get your hair done, a shopping trip or even just some quiet time to read a book. You’ll be amazed at the difference doing nice things for yourself makes in your anxiety levels and your mindset.

Lastly, some helpful ways to ensure success in practicing self care are, make a “no” list, schedule time, and do it daily. A “no” list is simply a list of things you no longer want to do that will ease stress or anxiety in your life. This can range from, no longer checking you emails in the evening, turning your phone off for a certain amount of time, or not going to an event or gathering that you don’t want to attend.

Keep in mind, we make time for things that matter; you matter, make time for yourself!

This might mean that you have to set a reminder on your phone to go on a 15 minute walk every day or that you have to schedule a weekly night away to read, go to a movie, sit in silence, whatever will bring you joy. Lastly, commit to practicing self care daily. This may sound overwhelming but it can be simply taking 15 minutes by yourself to meditate, go for a jog or take a care ride with the windows down.

We hope this post encouraged you to practice self care and think through the things in your life that are stressing you out that you could say no to. Just remember, self care is ultimately about doing something that brings you joy or recharges you.

If it’s stressing you out, it’s probably safe to say it doesn’t fall under the self care category.

We’d love to hear about the ways you practice self care or new things you plan on trying after reading this post!

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/09/09/Self-Care

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Three Easy Tips to Help With Anxiety

There are many tips out there to help with anxiety. Some cost money, some feel overwhelming, and some are vague and leave you wondering if they helped at all. Here at New Leaf Counseling, we are going to be talking about three easy steps that are proven to help with anxiety that you can start today!

Get More Sleep

There can be several things that contribute to your anxiety. One is lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation can play a negative role in emotional processing. The ability to manage your emotions healthily is essential to keeping anxiety at bay. Sleep can affect your body and mood. The part of your brain that is responsible for protecting and helping you identify dangers is called the amygdala. It communicates threats to the prefrontal cortex, which then determines whether flight or fight is necessary. The amygdala and the prefrontal cortex typically work pretty well together.

However, when your brain is stimulated by lack of sleep, and you're under a period of distress, the emotional centers of the brain can take over. This cycle can lead to difficulty concentrating, increased irritation, slower reflexes, and higher anxiety levels.

There are some practices you can try that can contribute to more natural sleep and less insomnia if you have these issues. For example, avoid exercise before bed, as this can stimulate you. Try working out five or six hours before you want to go to bed. Also, when you eat your meals can contribute to your sleep. Spread out your meals and snacks throughout the day to avoid intense hunger or spikes in blood sugar and try not to eat three hours before bed. Spread out your meals and snacks throughout the day to prevent extreme hunger or spikes in blood sugar. These habits can help ease you into slumber when bedtime arrives.

When you settle in for the evening, set up your surroundings in a soothing way. Make your bedroom your nighttime sanctuary. Diffuse essential oils with calming scents like lavender, and play soft music or white noise- these will all calm your brain. Make sure your routine before sleep isn't stimulating, turn off your phone or put it in sleep mode about a half-hour ahead of time. If you can't sleep once you lie down, get up and read or drink some tea because tossing and turning can lead to more anxiety.

Peaceful sleep is always good for your body, mind, and soul. So give these suggestions a try if you're experiencing high levels of anxiety.

Quit Caffeine

In addition to more sleep, less caffeine can be a great aid in diminishing anxiety. Caffeine is a stimulant, so it makes sense that it could aggravate your already strong feelings of restlessness and agitation. The stimulant effects of caffeine can make anyone feel nervous, shaky, or anxious. These effects are especially true if you're not used to consuming it.

If you already have an anxiety disorder or are prone to the emotion, drinking excessive amounts of caffeinated beverages and such could throw you into a panic attack.

This substance in caffeine stimulates your central nervous system, speeding up bodily functions like metabolism. Some people can be very sensitive to caffeine. That ordinary small jump in heart rate that some people experience when they have a bit of caffeine can send someone that suffers from anxiety reeling. If you notice a jittery feeling, headache, intense fear, or any other negative sensations when you drink caffeine, try removing it from your diet. You may experience withdrawal symptoms but try to wait them out and notice if your anxiety lessens over time.

If you drink a lot of caffeine regularly, it's probably a good plan to lessen your daily caffeine intake slowly, rather than quitting cold turkey. Take notes daily detailing how you feel as you remove it from your system. These notes can be motivating when you see evidence that things are improving. If you find yourself wanting a coffee in the middle of the day, try a cold drink of water or eating an apple. You will be surprised how much those two things can take you out of an afternoon slump.

Practice Gratitude

Anxiety can have several physical symptoms, and it can wreak havoc on all areas of your life. Your mind plays an influential role in how anxiety starts and how it plays out. A lot of anxiety causes and intensifiers take place in the brain. Therefore, you can use mental strategies to control and tame this terrible beast. Our last tip on how to fight anxiety is to practice gratitude. There are many benefits of gratitude on the body and the mind.

Expressing gratitude can not only decrease physical pain and improve sleep, but it can lead to more optimistic thoughts, which influence more positive behaviors.

The connection between thoughts and the resulting actions or behaviors is strong. Gratitude has been proven to stimulate the hypothalamus. This region of the brain controls functions like metabolism, stress, and sleep. Also, being grateful can trigger parts of the brain that produce the feel-good neurochemical, dopamine. Positive behaviors can lead you to feel better about yourself and more productive. Forming a habit of gratitude begins a cycle that changes your perspective, causing you to feel more optimistic and thankful, which can lead to less negative emotions and anxiety.

Practicing gratitude is a habit that gets easier with practice. Once you start, you'll probably notice yourself looking on the bright side and feeling thankful for what you have far more frequently than you did in the past. One of the easiest ways to feel grateful is to thank someone. You could personally acknowledge when someone does something for you, or you could write a heartfelt note to a meaningful friend or loved one. Another strategy is to examine your week and take note of at least three things that went well.

When you make an effort to turn negative thinking around by recognizing the positive things, too, you'll see things aren't as bad as you initially thought. One last suggestion is to demonstrate acts of kindness. Take notes of who you can help this week. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, but helping others has a way of showing us just how many good things we possess. Who knew something as simple as being grateful could have such an effect on lessening anxiety?

Getting more sleep, eliminating caffeine, and practicing gratitude may not come quickly right away, but it's definitely worth the effort. If you continuously practice these things, you will soon notice a change in your anxiety levels. I

f you feel these tips are not helping, and your anxiety continues to increase, it might be time to seek professional help. Here at New Leaf Counseling; we're always here to help.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/08/29/Three-Easy-Tips-to-Help-With-Anxiety

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Calming Rituals

The best way to combat anxiety is finding ways to calm down, but that is easier said than done. Throughout this series on anxiety, we, here at New Leaf, are going to share various tips and ideas to aid you in self-regulation, calming down and meditating on the positive.

When you're already feeling anxious, it can be challenging to get yourself to a place where you can calm down.

It can be tough to find both the willpower and concentration to make it happen.

When you find yourself experiencing anxiety, you can practice what we call a calm down ritual.

Your ritual can be short or long and looks different for everyone because it's what you need it to be. It could look simple, like repeating a short mantra to yourself, in your head while doing some breathing exercises until you've calmed down. It can also be more detailed like getting home, diffusing a calming scent of essential oils, drinking herbal tea, while listening to calming music, sitting in your favorite chair, cozied up under a weighted blanket. This process is about what will work for you and your life depending on your age and stage

It is ideal to have a simple ritual and a more involved one. For a short routine that you can do anytime, anywhere, try focusing on breathing and meditation techniques. Going on a quick walk, or listening to music or a guided meditation can also work well for these situations.

While quick techniques can work well some of the time, it isn't always enough. To truly calm down and get rid of the anxiety that you are experiencing, you sometimes need an exercise that is more involved and to be in a space where you feel safe, like your home. While you wait to get to your safe space, try to make it through the day by thinking about your ritual that you will start the minute you walk through your door.

By focusing on the future ritual, it could take your mind off of what you are dwelling on and hopefully alleviate some of the anxiety you are experiencing.

To start planning your calm down ritual, think about some of the things you already do that reduce anxiety and help you calm down. Are there new things that you want to add to that list that could be helpful? Give them a try! For example, see if diffusing essential oils helps you feel calmer, try a hot bath with Epsom salt. If you already do yoga, maybe focus on a new pose or try a new meditation technique. One new ritual practice should be quick and easy to do on the go, and the other should be one that takes a little more time with multiple steps. These practices will be helpful when you feel particularly anxious or stressed.

Don't be afraid to try new practices, and if they work well for you and you practice them regularly, they can become a default solution when you're feeling stressed.

If something doesn't work or doesn't quite feel right, keep changing it until it helps you. Remember, this is your ritual, and the only person it has to work for is you.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/08/19/Calming-Rituals

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The Dangers of Anxiety

Here at New Leaf Counseling, we're starting a new series on anxiety. Our goal is to inform you about what causes anxiety and what happens to your body and mind when you get anxious. Most importantly, we're going to talk about what you can do to reduce your anxiety. The bulk of this series will focus on anxiety reduction, and we want to encourage you to read along and give each tip and idea a try. We're going to start with a short post about what anxiety is and how it can affect you. The act of reading about anxiety may cause you to experience anxiety, but it's essential to your mental health to understand the whole picture. Having an overall understanding will help you down the road to implement our suggestions for reducing anxiety. It will also aid you in noticing what helps and what doesn't.

In most cases, what we're really anxious about is uncertainty. When we don't understand the big picture or know what the future has in store for us, we get anxious. That's why these first few posts are essential.

Every single person experiences anxiety from time to time; it's a feeling, a state of mind. It's our body's way of motivating us to get in gear or anticipate and react to a potential or future threat. A degree of anxiety can be a good thing, even if it doesn't always feel great. It helps us prepare and stay motivated. For example, if we didn't feel anxious about a test, we wouldn't have a strong drive to study. If you didn't experience high alert in heavy traffic, we might be more susceptible to an accident.

The dangers of anxiety arise when we are anxious too much and too often. We live in a fast-paced world with many demands of our time and attention. This constant exposure to stimuli can cause our anxiety to spiral out of control. Certain hormones like adrenalin get released into the body when we experience anxiety. It also causes our heart rate to go up, which can cause our breathing to increase, putting us in a fight or flight state.

It is perfectly normal to experience feeling anxious from time to time. However, what is the outcome when you are in a constant state of anxiety? What happens when you get anxious more frequently, and the body has no chance to calm down? What happens when we're always on high alert? Our bodies pump more and more adrenalin and cortisol into our system, and we stay wound up and anxious, longer, and longer. This tension results in a lot of chronic stress on the body and mind. This type of anxiety is what we, here at New Leaf, are going to work towards reducing.

This post is not about never feeling anxious again; It's about finding and restoring balance, health, and wellbeing.

Here at New Leaf, we hope you join us in this series on anxiety. We encourage you to read each post, try the suggestions and tips, and pay attention to how you feel.

As always, if you need additional support on this or any area regarding your mental health, we would be honored to help you.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/08/12/The-Dangers-of-Anxiety

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Exercises For Everyones Mental Health

Depression can be triggered by many different factors in your life. Sometimes supplements, journaling and medications can help combat the issue. The problem is that these tactics may not work for you and may not be something that you are willing to do, want to do, or think will be ideal for your lifestyle. If you are looking for a different way to combat your depression, consider exercising as an option. Here are a some you can try.

Running

Running is a full body, cardio workout, that not only helps with weight loss but can also give your stress an outlet and help with your emotional health through endorphins being released while you run. You can do it at home, in a gym, or outdoors.

Running helps your depression by getting your body moving, getting stress out of your system, and helping you focus on something other than your depression and issues.

You can set goals for yourself, run races with friends and find a new self esteem and goal point that can bring you out of your depression and help your body begin to work at its optimal level.

Crossfit

If you are looking for a workout that changes things up nearly every day and helps you focus on something other than your depression, think about Crossfit as a method. There are multiple methods that may work for you and can work with any physical issues you may have. Crossfit workouts offer you the chance to get a high intensity workout in a short amount of time. The reasons this can be helpful is because it puts your body through different paces and allows you to work muscle groups and areas you may not normally work that have been affected by depression and depression related pain and stiffness.

These exercises can be done as a combination for a workout routine or with other exercises to help give you a full workout with the depression fighting options. Either way, give them a try and see how they work for you.

Yoga

Yoga is one technique that you can use as a form of exercise to ease depression. There are multiple styles of yoga. All include breathing and stretching techniques and some give you full body workouts while others give you full cardio options- the choice is yours.

One of the reasons that yoga is listed as an exercise for your depression is because of the way that it helps you become more mindful of your body.

Another reason is because the stretching and breathing techniques often help you quiet your body and mind and help you find emotional release.

Include You Kids

You can also implement practicing yoga with your kids and it has shown to help alleviate anxiety or depression for them. An excellent way to help a child with anxiety is to have them do yoga with you. Not only are there are a lot of important physical benefits, but emotional and mental benefits as well.

Kids with anxiety will find that they are able to relax more often and even avoid major anxiety attacks by doing yoga on a regular basis.

Breathing Exercises Relieve Anxiety

Through yoga, your child is going to learn how to focus on their breathing. These breathing exercises are not only important during each yoga pose, but they can be extremely efficient at helping with panic attacks and other forms of anxiety.

Breathing exercises is one of the top remedies for a panic attack, so if your child has generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder, learning the breathing exercises has many benefits.

The Exercise Itself is Soothing

Yoga is a very relaxing exercise that works on strengthening the body and improving flexibility, while also providing a soothing environment. Whether you do yoga with your kids in the living room or bring them to a family-friendly beginner yoga class, it can be a good activity for the entire family.

Yoga Improves Kids’ Self Esteem

When your kids start doing yoga, they will also gain confidence and improve their own self esteem through seeing themselves get stronger.

This can help tremendously helpful, especially with kids who are nearing their teenage years and might not have the best confidence through puberty.

It can also help with kids who have social anxiety feel confident enough to talk to other kids and make some friends.

Whether you experience anxiety, depression or even higher stress than normal, making time for physical activity can only be helpful. By including your family and modeling prioritizing physical health, you will grow with you kids in strength, connection and mental health.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/07/29/Exercises-For-Everyones-Mental-Health

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Journaling to Relieve Anxiety and Stress

Anxiety can cause multiple issues in your daily life and health. One of the many health issues that anxiety can trigger is heart problems and high blood pressure. If you're hesitant to start a medication to help with anxiety, there are many natural ways you can ease the feeling of anxiety in your life. One method that we love, here at New Leaf Counseling, is journaling. This form of processing has helped many people and gets to the root of the problem. Here is how you can create and use an anxiety journal to naturally reduce your anxiety, attacks, and related health issues caused by anxiety.

How to Use an Anxiety Journal

Anxiety manifests itself in many different ways, but for most, when we experience anxiety, we usually feel a rush of emotions all at once. Our thoughts and emotions can feel fast paced and can be overwhelming if there is no outlet.

Some people find that the manic nature of anxiety and thoughts can be worse than the actual onset of anxiety itself.

For this reason, an anxiety journal is a place to get all of your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. There is no real set-up of an anxiety journal. The only thing that is usually part of the anxiety journal is a reflective area to go back and write your thoughts on after you are calmed down. When your mind is clear, it is easier to see the issues that may have lead to your anxiety in the first place.

You can use an anxiety journal anytime you feel an anxiety attack coming on or find yourself in the middle of an anxious feeling. It is there for you in a way that allows you to rant when you need it and get the thoughts out as you need.

How an Anxiety Journal Helps You

An anxiety journal helps you in several ways by giving you an outlet for the thoughts you are having. It also allows you to see your thoughts and identify if there are any repeating thoughts or connections that could be making anxiety worse.

It is an outlet, a reflective journal, and a devotional journal in many ways.

Using an anxiety journal is not the cure-all for your anxiety problems, but it can help drastically. Keep in mind; it is a two-fold system. It works to help you reduce your anxiety the moment it occurs, and it gives you a place to reflect on the issue that triggered the anxiety in the first place. If you use it regularly to reduce anxiety and reflect on it, you will see a shift in the way you process anxiety.

How to Make and Use a Stress Relief Journal

Stress and anxiety are often confused as the same. While stress can lead to multiple health issues like anxiety, it is usually the onset of anxiety. If you feel stressed and try to ignore it, anxiety or depression could be the next thing you experience. Relieving stress may not seem easy, but once you can figure what is triggering your stress, it can become far more manageable- this is where a stress journal can help. We’ve incorporated some ways to make a stress relief journal and put it to use in your daily life to reduce your stress naturally.

A stress relief journal can be set-up in several different ways, but there is one way that seems to work well for most people, and that is by using a mix of visual aids, journaling, and routine reflection. You do not need dates for this type of journal. You simply write in it as you need to and as you feel any stress issue coming on. Use visuals that represent your mood; these can be pictures, smiley faces, or emoticons if you are using a virtual option for your journal. After expressing your mood for the moment, you can begin to journal what is causing that mood and the stress that you are experiencing.

If you have a moment that is triggering or if you find yourself very stressed and lost at how to eliminate that stress, then you should use the journal.

Ideally, through routine, you’ll be able to identify root issues with stress and why they are happening.

You can even reflect on why you are experiencing this stress and if there is a deeper issue that may require more focus.

How the Stress Relief Journal Helps You

The stress relief journal helps you by guiding you to the root issue of your problem. Like most journals of this type, reflection on your entries is critical, but so is being able to share about the stress you are experiencing honestly.

Through this practice, true statements of how you feel will come out, and by reflecting on those later, you may be able to identify something about yourself and your stress that you did not see before.

The key point of using a stress relief journal is in the review of the journal itself. Keeping a routine journal is the first step, but going back and reviewing your journal entries will help you identify what is causing the stress. You can then take the necessary steps you need to slowly remove any triggers to help reduce your stress and live a happier life.

We hope you found this post helpful on how journaling can help with anxiety and stress.

Happy journaling!

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/07/15/Journaling-to-Relieve-Anxiety-and-Stress

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Gratitude Journaling

Negativity can be associated with a bad mood that everyone experiences at one point or another. The issue with negativity is that it can cause serious implications for your emotional well-being. If you are surrounded by negative thoughts, from yourself or others, on a routine basis, you may find yourself also feeling depressed and anxious. Your mental health can take a tole because of your emotional health and can affect your eating, sleep patterns, and much more. One way to get rid of the negative influences in your day is to cultivate gratitude. Creating a gratitude journal can aid in starting this practice.

Next, in our journaling series, we'll be introducing the concept of a gratitude journal and how it can change the way you perceive your day to day routines. Here at New Leaf Counseling, we've listed ways to make use of a gratitude journal to remove negative influences in your daily life.

The Set-Up of a Gratitude Journal

Gratitude journals generally resemble a mixture of a traditional journal and bullet journal. They are not meant for full-blown journal entries but instead focus on particular moments or events in your day that you can practice gratitude. You do not have to elaborate on them, simply find the good in each day. The journal page should have the date and possibly the time if you are writing down the events as they happen.

The key to this journal is to use a bullet style to mark down each event or exclamation of gratitude and to reflect on those at the end of the day.

When to Use a Gratitude Journal

Ideally, you should use the gratitude journal at the end of your day because it’s a helpful way to reflect on the good things that happened during your day. Often, when we’re tired after a long day, it’s hard to remember the good things that happened. This practice will strengthen those memory muscles and get you in the habit of noticing things you're grateful for throughout your day because you’ll want to write them down later.

There will be some days when you genuinely can not think of something you’re grateful for/ In that case, write down that you are thankful for the day ending so you can rest.

The point is that no matter how bad your day is, you are finding something to be grateful for in that day.

How the Gratitude Journal Helps You

A gratitude journal works a bit slower than other journaling methods. The journal is supposed to help you remove negative energy from your life, reduce stress, and reduce depression by finding the good in your world. You may start with just one or two entries. As you move on with routine journaling, you may find that you are seeing less bad and much more good in your day.

Cultivating gratitude will lead you to mindfulness and peace in your daily life and give you a new way to look at things.

A gratitude journal can be as simple as a few lines or just one line. You can put it in your regular calendar, planner, or only in your tablet. Just make sure that you find at least one thing to be grateful for in each day, no matter how bad the day was.

We'd love to hear ways you are cultivating gratitude! Follow us on Instagram at newleafcounseling, and comment on our gratitude journaling post!

Let's all choose gratitude today and happy journaling!

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/07/08/Gratitude-Journaling

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Mindfulness Journaling

Here atNew Leaf Counseling, we are excited to introduce our new journaling series that will be covering a wide range of topics for journaling from gratitude, to eating habits, to anxiety. First in our series is mindfulness journaling!

Mindfulness is a complete body, mind, and spirit practice. Through meditation and contemplation, you can remove negative energy from your life.

You can also begin to notice what triggers you and how your body reacts to that triggering. For more information on mindfulness check out our Mindfulness 101 post. One way to help with mindfulness is to have a journal. We put together some information on how to make a mindfulness journal and how to put it to effective use in your daily routine.

WHAT IS A MINDFULNESS JOURNAL

A mindfulness journal strongly resembles what most would call a devotional journal. In many cases, people use a small blurb or quote to prompt their journal entry. This blurb, quote, or statement gives you something to reflect on. For example, you may choose to have a reflective quote from the Dalai Lama or C.S Lewis to start off each day.

As you use your journal, you will think about the quote by writing down your thoughts on it and how it applies to you. Many mindfulness journals already have prompts in them to get your mind refocused on you and your feelings about your day or any stress in your life. We have linked a few of our favorite mindfulness journals at the end of this post.

WHEN TO USE A MINDFULNESS JOURNAL

The ideal time to use a mindfulness journal is in the morning. This allows you to bring the focus to yourself before the distractions of the day set in. By starting in the morning, it always helps you keep a healthy mindset throughout the day.

As you meditate on the inspiration you’re pulling from, your goals for the day and positivity that you’re choosing to embrace, write about your thoughts, and take those thoughts with you throughout the day.

This is a form of written meditation that can help you focus and de-clutter your mind and thoughts.

HOW DOES A MINDFULNESS JOURNAL HELP?

The overall method for mindfulness journaling is to give you a decluttering method for your thoughts. It uses meditation to bring forward the thoughts that are cluttering your soul and spirit. By partnering meditation with journaling, you give yourself the opportunity to write out your thoughts Use mindfulness journaling as a tool in your mental health tool belt.

Reflect on your entries and learn from them, don't just use it to filter out your thoughts and get them out of your head.

Use your entries to find peace, to find the issues, and to help you remove them from your life so that you can feel more peace in and about yourself.

MINDFULNESS JOURNAL TOPICS

There are many prompts to keep in mind when starting a mindfulness journal. To get you started, we have listed a few:

Who are the people in my life that make me feel most loved and supported and why?What is a kind thing I can do for myself to practice caring for my emotional and physical needs?I really wish others knew ______________ about me.What is one topic I would like to learn more about?List of everything you’d like to say no to then everything you would like to say yes to. Is there anything you can do to make some of the things on this list a reality?What are my top 3 values? I am living into them? If not, what can I do to honor those values? If yes, do I need to do anything to continue to live into them?

RESOUCES

We hope this introduction to mindfulness journaling was helpful to you! Below we have attached some resources of mindfulness journals that already have prompts in them. Happy Journaling!

Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration

The Mindfulness Journal: Daily Practices, Writing Prompts, and Reflections for Living in the Present Moment

The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/07/01/Mindfulness-Journaling

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How to Stop Negative Thoughts

When your mind is bombarded by negativity, it makes it difficult to focus or even appreciate the positive things in your life. This can affect how present you are with your family, the productivity of your work, and your ability to enjoy the little things.

Negative thoughts can bog you down, make you feel overwhelmed, and leave you feeling helpless and hopeless.

If you continue to feel hopeless and overwhelmed, your body's natural defense will be to shut down, disengage, and give up. This can be exceedingly hurtful for you and your loved ones. You might not be able to get rid of all negative thoughts, but there are ways you can minimize them. Here at New Leaf Counseling, we created some ways to stop some negative thoughts from taking over.

Move Past the Extremes

Extreme thinking is when you meditate on the best or worst case scenario of a situation. Most things in life are not black and white, so it is necessary that most of your thoughts are somewhere in the gray area. Yes, something might not turn out like you thought it would, but most likely there is some type of good in just about everything.

Don’t think in extreme lows, such as something being the ‘worst’ or a ‘complete fail’ – try to think of the potential good and possible drawbacks of any situation or scenario, and suddenly you won’t be quite as negative with your thought patterns.

By moving past extreme think and practicing gratitude, you are less likely to feel stuck in a negative emotion. You will be able to move through it and move on.

A helpful way to ease into that type of thinking is to separate your self-worth from your performance. We know, so much easier said than done, right? However, even just being aware of possible tendencies to pair your worth with performance or outcomes can help you recognize when you're doing it so you can take steps to stop it.

Surround Yourself With Positivity

The people you spend time with can have a significant impact on how you think and feel. Even though mindfulness essentially only has to do with you and your thought patterns, other people can influence its effectiveness. It is essential that you try to surround yourself with positive minded people. These people will encourage you, challenge you to grow, and hold you accountable to practicing gratitude when you feel stuck in negative thoughts. If you only surround yourself with people with think negatively, then it can be tough to practice positivity.

You can't always directly eliminate negative people out of your life, but you can reduce how much time you spend with them.

Spend more of your time with those that exude optimism and always seem to have an excellent way to look at everything.

Name It to Tame It

If you try to force positive thoughts before letting go of negative thoughts, it can feel overwhelming, less helpful, sometimes lead to anxious feelings. Our emotions have a strong grip on negative thoughts, so you’ll have the best results if you imagine yourself emotionally, “letting go” of them.

A helpful imagery practice to eliminate negative thoughts that you can't seem to get rid of is to think of the most negative thoughts that always seem to consume your mind and bring your mood down and give them all a name. They can be anything you want, as long as you can remember and identify them. Now, close your eyes and picture the names you have come up with and send them away. Turn them into balloons in your mind, and watch as those balloons fly away.

For example, if you can't stop thinking about a conversation you had with a co-worker that left you feeling self-conscious and insecure, picture your self holding a balloon, writing the co-workers name on it and then, after sitting with it for a while, let it go in your head. Imagine it floating away, getting smaller and smaller until it disappears.

Focus On the Positive

This seems like an obvious suggestion, but it goes deeper than just appreciating the good things in your life. It is easier to dwell on the negative thoughts over the positive, so a helpful practice is to stop minimizing the good things that you experience. A lot of times, people let fear keep them from experiencing joy: fear of something terrible happening, fear of failure, or fear rejection. Allow yourself to experience joy and don't dismiss it. If you finish a project before the deadline, celebrate it! You worked hard, and if you take a moment to lift your head up from the daily grind and acknowledge that you see how hard you work, you'll find a new appreciation for yourself and more stamina to keep working harder.

Focus on the positive things, whether it is a new relationship, a job, your favorite place, or a good book. Anything that brings you joy, happiness, and optimism is worth noticing, celebrating, and taking a moment to be with it.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/06/10/How-to-Stop-Negative-Thoughts

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Anxiety, Panic Attacks and Ways to Cope

There are many different types of anxiety. Panic attack disorders, general anxiety, and situational anxiety are a few that we will talk about today. It is important to know what type of anxiety you experience because then you can gain the proper tools to work through it. Take a look at these different types of anxiety disorders and ways to help you work through them.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A very common anxiety disorder that many people don’t even realize they have is called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). With GAD, you experience almost constant anxiety, but things or situations can trigger it and make it worse. It is a state of general anxiety where it may not be consistently severe, but you can experience problems with social interactions, fatigue, restlessness, irritation, lack of energy, and tense muscles. GAD can lead to both mental and physical symptoms as a result of the anxiety disorder, but there are also many ways to treat it.

Panic Attacks

Panic attacks can be experienced on their own or in combination with another anxiety or mental health condition. Many people can experience panic attacks and have generalized anxiety disorder, which can make managing it difficult. If you tend to get sudden feelings of panic where you feel the need to escape or like you are having a heart attack, then you might have panic attack disorder. With this disorder, you may experience panic attacks often, which can be triggered or come on suddenly. Some symptoms of panic attacks include chest pain, sweating, nervousness, tunnel vision, heart palpitations, and feeling like you are choking or can’t breathe.

Social Phobia

If you feel fine when you are alone or with people you are comfortable with, but then suddenly experience worry, panic, or anxiety when around new people or crowds, you might have social phobia. There are different types of social phobias, from being afraid of most people, not feeling comfortable around strangers, or just having phobias with larger groups of people. Some people experience it mildly, while others have it so severely that they avoid public situations altogether. If it is on the severe side, it is definitely something you should talk to your doctor about.

Other phobias can also lead to triggered anxiety, such as agoraphobia where you are afraid to leave your home or claustrophobia where you have a fear of confined spaces. These phobias can usually be treated with anti-anxiety medication and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Things to Avoid When Experiencing Anxiety

There are certain things that can can trigger your panic attacks or worsen your anxiety. Managing anxiety disorders is much easier when you know what things to avoid.

Being Around Negative People

The people you choose to spend your time with make a more significant impact than you might imagine. If you already struggle with anxiety and spend a lot of time with pessimistic and negative people, their negativity can trigger your anxiety. It makes it harder to be around them, and every time they are upset or vent about something, it can cause panic symptoms. Try to surround yourself with positive people that uplift you.

Consuming Stimulants

Stimulants can also be harmful to you if you are prone to anxiety and panic attacks. Try to cut back on stimulants like caffeine, sugar, and alcohol. These all will add to the number of anxious feelings you have and can even lead to more frequent panic attacks. Start by gradually decreasing the amount of coffee you drink each day and try to cut back on sugar. With alcohol, the sooner you can quit or cut back, the better off you will be. Don't be afraid to talk to a doctor if you are struggling with quitting stimulants.

Not Paying Attention to Nutrition

Vitamins and minerals can make anxiety better or worse. When choosing what you will eat daily, don’t forget about proper nutrition. Focus on foods that allow you to have plenty of vitamins and minerals through natural food sources. Some of the nutrients that are good for natural anxiety relief are B vitamins, vitamin D, and vitamin C. You also want your share of omega-3 fatty acids, which \you can get through whole grains and fish.

Living a Sedentary Lifestyle

It is beneficial to get up and start moving around more often. With regular exercises, you boost the serotonin levels in your brain and help to release your endorphins. These chemicals increase your energy and happiness, and can also have a very positive impact on stress and anxiety. With less stress, your anxiety tends to be less severe as well. You will be more energetic during the day but also sleep better at night.

While there are many natural remedies and things you can avoid to help with anxiety, it is important to know when to seek professional.

If your anxiety is keeping you from socializing, feels too much to bear or is leading you to feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, it’s time to talk to a healthcare professional.

You might need anti-anxiety medication, and/or counseling. Here are New Leaf Counseling, we would be honored to walk with you through the anxiety that your feeling and help you find ways, specific for you, to help cope with your anxiety.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/05/29/Anxiety-Panic-Attacks-and-Ways-to-Cope

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Tips for Living With Anxiety

If you are struggling with anxiety, you may be looking for tips on ways to manage it. There is a wide range of things that can help with anxiety, and while feelings of panic and terror should not be ignored,t

here are ways you can send helpful messages to your brain that it is safe and can come down from high alert.

Here at New Leaf Counseling, we created a list of tips to help you handle anxiety in a healthy way.

Self-Care

Too many people find unhealthy ways to cope with anxiety, such as temporarily putting a halt to panic with alcohol, binging food, or numbing with television only to feel worse once the coping wears off.

Try to find healthier ways to practice self-care, such as picking up a new hobby, using adult coloring books, or writing in a journal.

These practices can put your mind into a different place and hopefully stop a panic attack before it gets too bad.

Learn How to Stop Panic Attacks

It’s essential to understand when trying to stop a panic attack, that it takes a little trial and error until you figure out the methods that are going to help you as an individual. Every person is different so a technique that helps one individual may not be as beneficial to another individual. Here at New Leaf, we listed some different methods you can try when you feel a panic attack coming on:

Count Backward From 100

Counting back from 100 gives your brain a different focus. Picture the numbers decreasing in your head while counting down to help your brain think of something else

Say “NO!” Out Loud

Sometimes just acknowledging a thought or fear by saying “no” to it will make it lose its power. Too often we get bogged down with racing thoughts, concerns, and fears, but if we take a moment to picture the thing that is making us anxious and speaking to it, it can make it feel less scary or overwhelming.

Listen to Music

Try laying down, closing your eyes and listening to a calming song- nothing too loud or fast-paced. Focus on the words and think about how they apply to your life. This practice will give your brain a new focus.

Call Someone

Who are your trusted people? Call one of them up to talk you through your panic attack. Sometimes talking to our favorites can center us and bring us back to reality, calm our brain and let it know, “you are safe.”

Try Natural Remedies For Anxiety

While you should still consider anxiety medication if your doctor suggests it, the following natural remedies can also be a huge help.

Essential Oils

An excellent treatment to help with anxiety is essential oils. They are extracted from flowers, herbs, and plants and used as a way to calm you down and keep away panic and anxiety. Certain essential oils are better for anxiety because they create a calm environment and reduce the number of panic attacks you experience. You can add some drops to a bath at night, use an essential oils diffuser, or even make tea with some of these oils.

Here are some of our favorites essential oils to use for stress:

Lavender

Chamomile

Frankincense

Bergamot

Vetiver

Rose

Exercise

The healthier you are on a physical level, the healthier you will be on a mental level. Cutting back on stimulants like alcohol and caffeine can be very helpful, but you should also look for other ways to improve your health.

Things, like eating better and focusing on proper nutrition, and getting regular exercise, will help tremendously with managing your anxiety daily.

An excellent way to combine sunlight and exercising is to go for a walk outside, go hiking, or find another outdoor activity. Even if you don’t want to exercise outside, getting more physical activity is helpful in calming anxiety. It gets your blood pumping, distracts your mind, and can help de-stress as well.

Omega-3s

Proper nutrition is essential to treating your anxiety naturally. One of the more essential nutrients to make sure you get each day is your omega-3 fatty acids. Try to aim for 2-3 grams of omega-3s every day. They will help to lower stress chemicals, which can then reduce your anxiety and risks of panic attacks. You can take a supplement, but it is better to get nutrients from natural food sources. For omega-3 fatty acids, this includes fish like salmon and tuna, as well as whole grains, flax seeds, and walnuts.

Vitamin D

Another nutrient that helps naturally treat your anxiety is vitamin D. The best way to get more vitamin D is actually through sunlight. When the weather is nicer, there are a lot of ways to fit in some extra sunlight, whether you take your lunch break outdoors or you go for a walk in the afternoon before the sun goes down. However, when sunlight is lacking in the winter season, it is beneficial to take vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D helps more with overall feelings of happiness and energy levels. When the weather is nicer, there are a lot of ways to fit in some extra sunlight, whether you take your lunch break outdoors or you go for a walk in the afternoon before the sun goes down.

Know When to Seek Help

Lastly, anxiety isn’t something that you should have to suffer through. If it is keeping you from social situations, affecting work or school, or impacting your personal relationships, it is probably time to seek professional help. Talk to your family doctor, a therapist, counselor, or anyone else that has experience with anxiety and panic attacks. Here at New Leaf Counseling, we would be honored to walk with you through managing and healing from anxiety.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/05/13/Tips-for-Living-With-Anxiety

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Teaching Mindfulness to Kids

Mindfulness is a practice that takes time and patience to incorporate into your daily life. In addition, it is not just for adults. Teaching your children to practice mindfulness will not only help them with day to day stresses but will make the practice of it second nature so that as they grow up, they will handle the things life throws at them with more ease!

The trick when teaching kids about mindfulness and how to practice it is to keep them engaged and active in it.

Here at New Leaf Counseling, we have created a list of ways to keep your kids engaged while not forcing them to do things they don't want to do.

Start With Positive Thoughts

One of the easiest ways to bring mindfulness to your kids is to start with gratitude. For example, at the end of the day consider having your children come up with one thing they are were thankful for in the day. You can take this a step further by having them write it down and put it into a thankfulness jar or gratitude jar. At the end of the year, they can see how many things they were thankful for which can spur them to practice more positive thinking.

You will be surprised at how quick your kids catch on and how willing they will be to offer up gratitude throughout the day.

It will also hold you accountable to practice this yourself because if you want to cultivate gratitude in your home, your kids will be watching how you express it as well.

Breathing Techniques

Consider adapting breathing and meditation as part of your daily routine. You could practice this by going on a morning walk with your kids and teaching them breathing techniques- this could become a part of your daily routine, one that every member of your family will anticipate.

You can encourage helpful breathing techniques when your kids are waiting for things.

For example, while your kids wait for breakfast, they can work on their breathing. You could also incorporate this as something your kids should do after school. They could put their books down, and sit for a few moments, just being quiet and breathing. Instead of rushing into the next activity of the day, this could help them slow down, sort out their day and remove negative thoughts they may be having. Some of our favorite breathing techniques for kids include:

Tummy Breathing: Lie on the floor and place a small stuffed animal on your stomach. Breathe in deeply through your nose and slowly exhale through your mouth. Watch the stuffed animal move rise and fall on your stomach while you practice your breathing.

Elephant Breathing: Stand with your feet wide apart and your arms dangling in front of your body like an elephant’s trunk. As you breathe in deeply through your nose, raise your arms up high above your head. Then, slowly swing your arms down again as you breathe out through your mouth.

Bubble Breathing: Sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Imagine you are holding a bubble wand. Breathe in deeply and then, as you breathe out slowly and gently, imagine you are blowing bubbles into the room. As you keep breathing slowly and blowing your imaginary bubbles, feel your body become calm and relaxed.

Healthy Options for Anger

One huge benefit of mindfulness with anyone, including children, is that it gives them a healthy way to process their anger. If they are frustrated over school, a fight with a friend, or something else, consider having them take a walk or meditate. At the time they may not want to do it, but eventually, it will turn because they will experience this coping mechanism as a way to help with reducing anger in the moment and stress later.

By incorporating these techniques into your daily life with your kids, you can keep them engaged in mindfulness. Before long, you will find that your kids are practicing it without your guidance and input.

You will also find that it becomes part of their daily lives just like brushing their teeth and combing their hair.

We would love to hear how practicing mindfulness with your family is going! Follow us on Instagram and leave a comment, letting us know how you and your kids are responding to mindfulness as well as any specific ways you are having your kids practice it!

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/05/05/How-to-Teach-Mindfulness-to-Kids

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Benefits of Mindfulness

We've have already given a brief introduction introduction into mindfulness as well as ways it reduces stress and anxiety. Now we are going to talk about other benefits of mindfulness.

When you hear the word mindfulness, you may already have some preconceived notions around it. There are different aspects to mindfulness, and there are many benefits from practicing mindfulness in your life. Here at New Leaf Counseling, we want to introduce some additional benefits of mindfulness, ways to practice it, as well as eliminate some of the stereotypes surrounding it. While there are many ways to practice mindfulness, don’t be overwhelmed, there are so many benefits as well.

Body Acceptance

Body acceptance is something you may not think of when you think about mindfulness. However, body acceptance can play a great deal into your stress and anxiety and how you view the world around you. After using meditation and other techniques, you may figure out specific things that trigger your body related issues. Triggers can come from anywhere and can lead to unhealthy decisions that you move towards during triggered moments or stress. For example, do you overeat, drink to numb or snack without thinking when you feel stressed out?

Whether one realizes it or not, our bodies can carry shame and most of the time, if we’re feeling tense or uptight, there is usually an underlying reason. If you are only picking apart the things you don’t like about yourself, your body will tune into that rejection, and the consequences can seriously affect your health. Practice body acceptance through self-compassion. What would you tell a friend that was struggling with the way they felt about their body?

Speak to yourself just as kindly as you would a friend and be patient with the process of overcoming insecurities.

We’re all doing the best we can, and acceptance of oneself can alleviate so much pressure that you may be putting on yourself. Once you begin working with mindfulness techniques, you will start to see a better appreciation for yourself, your body journey, and where you are in the moment.

Life Acceptance

Sometimes we can feel unhappy with our lives. Maybe you're unhappy about different aspects of your life that you can't change? Some of these aspects can include living situations, family relationships, workplace dinamics, or loss of a loved one. These moments can lead to depression and other health issues if you don't work through them. Mindfulness can help you find gratitude for various things in your life that can be easy to overlook in difficult seasons. It can also help identify problems and people in your life that are toxic and causing more stress than growth.

Through mindfulness, you can find ways to keep what works and get rid of what doesn't with grace and acceptance. By accepting events that happen in our life for what they are in that moment, you can discover life acceptance and a level of peace that can be grounding in the midst chaos.

Mental Health

Mindfulness can help you cope with current and future issues that you might be causing you stress. There are several techniques in mindfulness that can help with anxiety and reduce stress. Breathing techniques, meditation, and mind mapping are just three of these methods. Each of these methods can benefit you by helping you refocus, as well as reduce the triggers in your life.

One of our favorite breathing techniques that we like to practice here at New Leaf Counseling is called box breathing. This technique requires your concentration so it can be especially helpful in situations when you feel high anxiety. You simply take a deep breath in for four seconds, hold it in for four seconds, breathe it out for another four seconds and hold it one last time for four more seconds. You repeat this cycle, picturing in your mind that you’re drawing a box until you feel yourself calming, and your anxiety neutralizing.

Meditation is a way of training the mind. Just like any training, this too takes practice. Similarly to how you can’t expect a six-pack the first time you workout at the gym, don’t expect perfection the first time you practice meditating. You are rewiring your brain to free itself from distractions, let go of things you can not control, and maintain an overall sense of calm. A simple way to practice meditation could look like sitting in a calm atmosphere and listening to your natural breathing. Pay attention to your body as you breathe and notice the things you feel as you let your guard down.

There is no right or wrong when you are practicing meditation so be kind to yourself if you feel awkward the first few times.

Lastly, mind mapping is a form of brainstorming and can help in moments of stress to get all of your feelings onto paper. Too often we feel overwhelmed by everything we’re experiencing and feeling, but if we take a moment to write it all down, and see the big picture, we get a better understanding of the situation and take back the control that anxiety can have over oneself.

These benefits and techniques are just a starting point for mindfulness in your life. Many other benefits will start to reveal themselves and be unique to you as you become more practiced and involved in the process. Remember, be patient with yourself as you learn and practice mindfulness. And, as always, we're here to help if you would like additional resources for practicing mindfulness or managing anxiety or stress.

from newleafcounseling https://www.newleafcounseling.org/single-post/2019/04/22/Benefits-of-Mindfulness