Anxiety Program
Do you suffer from anxious thoughts?
Anxiety Program
Do you suffer from anxious thoughts? Find yourself worrying too much, feeling stressed and overwhelmed? This practical program is created to help you understand and manage anxiety in your daily life.
Introduction
Do you suffer from anxious thoughts or find yourself worrying too much, feeling stressed and overwhelmed? This practical program will help you to understand and manage anxiety in your daily life.
Please note - you need an EkhartYoga membership to access these classes.
Working with anxiety: a way of life
Anxiety will not disappear overnight or by doing a single meditation or yoga class. It needs practicing on a regular basis to slowly (but surely!) change thought-patterns that cause you to feel stressed or anxious. Keep practicing and allow yourself to grow and expand, becoming more and more capable of guiding yourself in dealing with fear and other emotions.
NB If you suffer from panic-attacks that keep you from functioning in daily life, we strongly suggest to find a good therapist to work with your anxiety. You can do the program additionally, but realize that the program alone is not sufficient to overcome overwhelming anxiety.
What to expect?
Managing anxiety
Esther Teule offers a selection of meditations and activities that will help provide you with tools to ease your anxiety. The meditations focus on grounding, awareness and self-support. These meditations are for the daily management of anxiety. View classes
Understanding Anxiety
In this section Esther Teule takes a deeper look at anxiety. We take a more philosophical look at our anxious thoughs. We question the attachment of the self to thoughts and explore the potential freedom of moving beyond them. View classes
Yoga
When working with anxiety it's as important to work with the body as it is with the mind. to compliment this program we have a selection of healing and restorative yoga classes that will help you reconnect to the moment. View classes
Cultivate a supportive practice.
The meditations and activities in this section focus on:
- Grounding: arrive back into your own body and trigger a relaxation response in your body and calm building anxiety
- Awareness: arrive back in the present to hlep feel calm and safe. Often anxiety can arise out of fear/worry from the unknown future or the known past.
- Self Support: by nurturing yourself, and allowing your vulnerabilities to surface you can actually feel stronger.
Either way is an invitation to address what is causing the anxiety and find healing.
NB Anxiety, if left unchecked, can build up to to overwhelming fear, causing panic-attacks, hyperventilation or narrowing down your life to a 'safe' structure: no more traveling, flying, going to public events etc. If this is the case, please take steps to find professional help. Don't let anxiety rule your life!
In this first section "Managing Anxiety", the focus will be on grounding and creating safety. You will be offered meditations and exercises to ground and nurture your body and connect to what is here now. Also will we practice with self support: creating safety in a loving way is essential in working with anxiety or any other strong emotion present in your life.
Have a read of these great articles to help you manage and understand anxiety....
There no correct way to do this. It's important to have a good balance between the grounding, the awareness and the self support meditations. If you are a yogi, then it's also a good idea to include some of the supportive yoga classes included in this program.
Discovering freedom beyond the 'self'
In the second section we will explore anxiety on a deeper, more philosophical level. What are anxious thoughts?
Are we our thoughts? Who are we really? By looking deeper into the beliefs that we carry about who we are, we may discover a freedom that goes beyond our so called self and the fears that are attached to our self image.
In the second section "Understanding Anxiety" we will explore anxiety on a deeper, more philosophical level. What are anxious thoughts?
Are we our thoughts? Who are we really? By looking deeper into the beliefs that we carry about who we are, we may discover a freedom that goes beyond our so called self and the fears that are attached to our self image.
Please read the articles by Esther, suggested under each class!
Also have a read of the following...
Please practice these meditations in order. Starting with Class 1. Please, please read the accompanying articles, they will help you!
From anxiety to calmness
Alongside the meditations with Esther Teule it is good to also work with it from the body perspective. These supportive yoga classes will help calm both mind and body. Reconnect to the moment, to yourself and trust where you are.
Bringing awareness to the body can help to overcome anxiety. By focusing on the breath and movement of your body, you start to stimulate the relaxation processes in your brain and hormonal system. Encourage calmness to the body and thus to the mind with this selection of calming, supportive and restorative classes.
Understanding the connection between the body and mind will help with understanding any fear or anxiety. Have a read of Esther Ekhart's article - The mind body connection
The stress reaction in our bodies is a chemical thing. Learn about our stress response and how we need to actively promote a relaxation response in our bodies and mind.
Learn some simple yogic philosophies that will help you move from stress towards a more balanced day in David Dodd's article: From stress towards balance
With proper stress management we can help lower the risk of anxiety. Read through our stress management tips.
Pick any class that appeals to you. Repeat if and when you want to. Come back to this often, especially if you suffer regularly from anxiety.
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