Anxiety has become a household term. I’ve seen it move from a word that sometimes described nervousness or a form of excitement to becoming the go to word to describe rumination, stress, and worry. The diagnosis from the DSM 5, Psychology’s diagnostic criteria book for mental health ‘disorders’, has become so common that anxiety is seen as negative and something that needs to be treated and fixed. If you feel anxious, you must be there must be something wrong with you. Since the story and dialogue around anxiety has changed over time, what is the truth about anxiety?

Most of the time, anxiety is a sign that our mind is focused on the future:

-What’s going to happen with a project at work?

-How can you keep your child from being hurt?

-What does your friend think about your comment?

-Will your partner still be upset?

-What’s going to happen to the world in the next month?

Our well-meaning mind tries to keep us safe and secure in an ever-changing world. It wants to find stability and certainty to keep us from feeling pain. My heart goes out to my well-meaning mind that takes its job very seriously. 

“Thank you, mind, I wouldn’t be experiencing this amazing world without you. And…

You’re driving me crazy!”

HOW WE CURRENTLY DEAL WITH ANXIETY

In modern times, the focus to calm an anxious mind is to ‘feel better.’ This seems like a good idea, but it ends up kind of like a game of Whack-A-Mole. Anxiety pops up, whack it down, pops up, whack it down, pops up, whack it down. My nephew played a version of this game recently and I couldn’t help but notice his stance. He was poised with legs wide, knees bent and ready to attack.

This is what we do with anxious reactions: Alert and vigilant to keep it at bay stop our suffering.

The big irony with this belief – that we have to fix anxiety and make it go away in order to calm the mind – actually perpetuates anxiety and even makes it worse.

Humans have been experiencing some form of anxiety for thousands of years.  One well known Yoga story – the Bhagavad Gita – begins with a strong warrior in the depths of anguish, grief and suffering. The entire text is all about calming the mind, finding purpose, and taking action towards a higher knowing. Ancient Yogic texts all have one thing in common, they teach knowledge to understand the root cause of our suffering and the steps to end it.

You might want to tell me at this point, “Twyla, I go to Yoga every week and I still feel anxious!”

My response is that I’m not surprised. Because the Yoga that is taught in a typical Yoga Asana (pose) class doesn’t address the root cause of suffering. It just focuses on techniques that you do in class but don’t take much further into your life.

YOGA’S TRUTH ABOUT ANXIETY

One of the oldest philosophies of Yoga comes from Sankhya Yoga. The basis of this philosophy is that there are two categories in life. The first is the category of change. Everything in life that changes is called Prakriti or Nature. Take a moment to pause here and reflect. Notice what changes around you? What changes in you?.

What did you discover?

The second category from Sankhya Yoga is that which doesn’t change. This is called Purusha.

From Sankhya Yoga’s point of view, the essence of everything – that which is eternal –  is Purusha. Everything else is Prakriti. We don’t know the Purusha within, so we mistake ourselves as Prakriti – the body, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, roles. All of those things change…

So they can’t be ‘Who I Am.”

YOU ARE NOT ANXIETY

How many times have you said, “I am anxious?’ Are YOU truly anxious? 

Our modern lens of anxiety labels it as ‘bad’, something to be fixed, a diagnosis. But is it really?

Anxiety changes, just like all other emotions. It may FEEL constant, but it changes. It is Prakriti. It’s not who you are.

Everything in the world changes but we spend a lot of time fighting and trying to escape this fact. Because we don’t accept it, we try to control it and anxiety is part of this. If you stopped and listened to what anxiety is saying, maybe there is no need to control it. Instead, maybe it is letting us know, “Hey, I don’t feel like I can control this situation, I don’t feel safe for some reason…I need some help here.”

What would happen if instead of using all of our tools and techniques to try and control anxiety, we tried the opposite – to get to know it and understand it. This would involve accepting that it has shown up.

Accepting doesn’t mean settling or giving up. It’s not passive. 

Quite the opposite! Accepting means to be in the present and see what is happening right now so that you can take action from those facts.

 

IMPORTANT YOGA PRACTICE YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT

Like I mentioned in the beginning, anxiety typically means the mind is in the future, trying to control what WILL happen, and not dealing with what is actually happening. You’ve seen movies where a character is in their mind, talking to something that doesn’t exist to others, but it feels very real to them, right? Well that’s what anxiety does when we try to fight it or escape it. It leads us to think a future scenario is the present…

When it’s not.

 Getting some space, stepping back, and starting to see that change is just part of the nature of things, can help us discern what really is being communicated by anxiety. This is called discernment or viveka. It’s one of the most important Yoga practices we all need to practice. Chances are you had no idea this practice of discernment was even a part of Yoga. What does discernment have to do with moving the body and breathing?. 

When you go to a Yoga Asana (pose) class and you are cued to notice your breath or notice body sensations, this is a practice of awareness – step one of discernment. For us to discern what anxiety is communicating and if its communication is based on present facts, we must turn inward. We must get to know ourselves by becoming aware of what is happening in our mind. And it takes practice, time, and consistency to build this skill and inner relationship.

Part of what makes a Yoga Asana class wonderful is getting a taste of a sense of calm from diving beneath the monkey mind, being present and being with yourself.

DO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

The thing about playing the whack-A-Mole game with anxiety is that it’s really freaking exhausting! So when you actually get to take a break from it, it’s so freeing. Finally, we get a moment to connect to ourselves and the world in a more expansive way. And, bonus…in this space, we are also grounded and centered.

Are you feeling this way: So tired of dealing with the monkey mind and wondering when you’ll get a break from it?

The break you desire starts with changing your view about anxiety. Change your intention of trying to fix and control anxiety to, instead, cultivate the habit of understanding it. What would it feel like, instead of trying to fight or escape anxiety, you took to listen and understand it?

Shanti.

P.S. If I had a program that teaches you the exact framework to face anxiety so you can let go of it to find your voice, strengthen relationships, and move through conflict confidently – would you be interested? Contact me here if that’s a ‘yes!’