Movement for Anxiety Busting

Anxiety Busting Challenge ~ Day 18

Happy Day sweetloves! Today is day 18 of the Anxiety Busting Challenge and I’m thrilled to share with you, Jt Clough.

Jt moved closer and closer to her dreams without experiencing much anxiety. However, something happened that spurred anxiety to surface for her.

Each one of us is unique and thus, experience anxiety from various life issues. One event may spur on anxiety for one person, while it has no effect on another. That’s why I love this series because there is such a variety of situations and Golden Nuggets and challenges. I hope you are loving this series too. Enjoy!

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Movement for Anxiety Busting by Jt Clough

The Anxiety Story

Most of my life anxiety was not at the forefront of my thoughts.

I’ve always done things out of the norm.  Taken risks, been a seeker and done things my own way.  Years ago when I decided to walk away from what appeared to be a fairytale marriage, big house on the bay with a view, white picket fence, along with a large income and move from Washington State to San Diego, my friends all immediately said I shouldn’t do such a rash thing.  I did.

It was the best decision I could have made.  And I did it with no real anxiety.  Just a will to move forward.  A will to be happy and define who I am and live my truth rather than staying in an unhappy marriage for security.  I made a wonderful life for myself in San Diego.

Moving to Hawaii

Fast forward 14 years and I found myself selling my home in San Diego. I had viewed it as a security blanket, it was paid for.  I gave away or sold most of what I owned and walked away from yet another successful business that I had built to move to Hawaii and live in paradise, work in paradise, do my dog whispering in paradise, create in paradise, coach habits in paradise, and write in paradise.

All went perfectly.  Almost as if it had been magically aligned in the stars.  And once I landed on the island it appeared to continue to be tropically dusted with magic.  I bought a beautiful home and started the process of settling in, of finding my way in a new community and a complete new lifestyle.

Anxiety Invades

And then one day… WHAMO…. I started freaking out. I was gripped with anxiety.  My new husband and love of my life had gotten a staph infection, and I had started getting heart palpitations.   I started obsessing about health and losing everything.  It filled all of my thoughts.

~In my mind I had my husband in the hospital, hooked up to IV’s and the health insurance hadn’t switched over yet.

~I had myself having a heart attack or a stroke.  Mind you I have been the queen of health my entire life.

~In my mind I had our house in foreclosure over medical bills.

~I was worried every time my husband wanted to get in the water even after the staph infection healed… and we decided to live in Hawaii just so we can get in the water every day.

~I couldn’t sleep.  And then I started noticing that along with the heart palpitations I was really hot all the sudden.  And then it would go away.  But I’d lay there awake with anxiety.

~Every little thing turned to health.  Every little thing turned to concern about something seriously going wrong and all of our dreams that we’d just started to live were going to go away.

~I freaked out about my husband not washing his hands after he touched any little thing.

~I started waking up with my arms or hands or both going numb.

~I started looking for solutions in natural healing.

How I Took Action

After visiting my naturopath who immediately suggested I do a hormone test, I found out I’m in perimenopause.  My symptoms, including intensely heightened anxiety were part of it.

A relief to say the least, yet still I had to find a way to let the worry go, let the constant intrusion of anxiety go.

Ironically it is the feeling I have worked with to a great extent with other people for many years through their anxiety ridden dogs.  As it turns out I was actually really good at dealing with it in other people; I was really good at working with it in their dogs and I was just about to get better at it for myself, for other people and for dogs.

 

The Golden Nugget

There has always been one technique I have used with dogs who suffer from anxiety that is effective, that makes a difference right away.  The more I can get dogs to do this, the better they get.

Movement.

Exercise, activity, play, a series of sit, down, roll over, and giving a high five (dog yoga), a good run, a long walk.

And so I applied movement to myself.  During the height of my bout with anxiety I started exercising an hour a day.  I used all of my options.  I walked, I did yoga, I went outrigger paddling, I ran, I swam.

I wanted to keep it fun.  I didn’t want it to be work or a set routine.  I made a game of variety in daily movement.

Then I used mini sessions when a moment of anxiety hit me.  Mainly yoga combined with a few mantras I use on a daily basis.   I say a mantra and focus on it while I complete a sun salutation.  Two or three is all it takes and my focus became on my breathing and the mantra.

Mantras

“I am relaxed and centered and I have everything I need to be healthy and happy.”

“I am healthy physically, mentally and emotionally.”

There are several more mantras that apply to my own needs, my own health, my own healing.  You can write yours to use in moments of anxiety.

You can use the mantras as you walk, as you run, as you swim a lap in a pool, or as you do as I did and used sun salutations.

The hour a day of exercise helped to temper my anxiety in a huge way.  The mini sessions have given me my calm and peace and harmony back again.  Even through an earthquake that shook the whole house!

I believe the experience came along as a lesson to give me more compassion and understanding for myself and to my work with others when the ugly grip of anxiety presents itself.

 

Challenge

Use movement every single time you find yourself feeling anxiety for the next 7 days.  It can be moving away from your desk and walking for 5 minutes, one sun salutation, 10 sit ups, doing a hand stand.  You can make up anything you want to.  In fact make a list of things you could do that are moving your body and try out as many of them as possible.

Let me know if it makes a difference.  I’d love to hear your feedback.

 

 

Jt Clough lives on the Big Island Hawaii and practices health, happiness and natural remedies, while working as a Habits Coach for people looking to live healthier and happier making changes from small to big on a daily basis.  She a is dog whisperer and studies natural dog remedies, nutrition, communication, play and the behavior connection between human and animals.  Follow her  on Twitter or Google+.  Download her free Swimming Through Fears e-book which includes a free skype habits session.  Use code AnxietyBuster for $9.97 discount ~ free for anxiety busting blog readers!

 

 
image provided by Jt