Calming Anxiety With Your Body’s Built-in Anti-Anxiety Response 11/30

Summary

This video teaches how to regulate stress and anxiety by calming the nervous system. It explains that emotional reactions stem from the body's fight, flight, or freeze responses. Techniques like deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and tapping can help trigger the parasympathetic system, fostering calm. It emphasizes the importance of pairing a safe mindset with a relaxed body, allowing better decision-making and reducing stress even during intense activities. The video also covers methods like laughter, mindfulness, and simple activities that can be done daily to maintain a balanced, stress-free nervous system.

Takeaways

• 🐶 The story of a woman who calmed her anxious dog during car rides by teaching him to lie down, helping him relax and stop vomiting, shows how body positioning affects mental states.
• 🧠 Emotional reactions often stem from deep body responses, not just thoughts, and are driven by the fight, flight, or freeze response.
• 😌 Self-regulation techniques can calm the nervous system and create a sense of safety, even when we're not in actual danger.
• 💪 We can influence our autonomic stress responses by controlling our breathing, muscle tension, and body posture.
• 🌬 Deep breathing and body regulation can send signals to the brain to activate the parasympathetic system, helping us feel calm.
• 🧘‍♀️ Self-regulation skills differ from relaxation skills; they are practiced while performing tasks and help maintain nervous system balance during activity.
• 👀 Skills like deep breathing, the Valsalva maneuver, softening your gaze, and yawning can trigger relaxation in stressful situations.
• 😂 Techniques like tapping (EFT), laughter, cold water splashes, monotasking, and mindfulness help engage the parasympathetic response and reduce anxiety.
• 🤗 Physical touch, such as hugs, stimulates oxytocin release, lowering stress and heart rate, while stretching relaxes muscles and sends calming signals to the brain.
• 🔄 Regular self-regulation, practiced frequently throughout the day, can retrain the nervous system to maintain calm during stressful tasks and improve overall mental health.

Q & A

What was the problem the woman faced with her adopted dog?

The dog would get extremely anxious and throw up every time they got into the car.

How did the dog trainer suggest the woman help her dog?

The trainer taught the woman to help the dog be calm by having the dog lay down in the car.

What is the relationship between the dog's body position and its anxiety?

When the dog's body is in a calm position, it sends messages to the brain that it's safe, triggering it to relax.

How does the video relate the dog's anxiety to human emotional reactions?

The video suggests that emotional reactions, like the dog's anxiety, are deeper than thoughts and are connected to the body's fight, flight, freeze response.

What is self-regulation in the context of the video?

Self-regulation is the skill of calming down the nervous system and creating a physiological response of feeling safe when we are actually safe.

Why is it important to soothe anxiety in the nervous system?

Soothing anxiety in the nervous system allows us to feel safe and reduces the stress response, leading to better mental health.

What is the role of the parasympathetic response in self-regulation?

The parasympathetic response fosters calm, and by activating it, we can turn on a state of relaxation even during stressful tasks.

How can we influence our autonomic reactions to reduce stress?

We can influence our autonomic reactions by consciously controlling our muscles and breathing, which can change how stressed our body feels.

What is the difference between relaxation skills and self-regulation skills?

Relaxation skills require us to step away from a task, while self-regulation skills can be practiced during any activity to keep the nervous system balanced.

Why is it beneficial to separate the situation from the stress response?

Separating the situation from the stress response allows us to reduce the stress response at work and change our perception of danger, leading to less anxiety.

How can practicing self-regulation skills change our approach to work and stress?

Practicing self-regulation skills can help us stay calm and focused while working, making hard work enjoyable and sustainable.

What are some techniques the video suggests to regulate the nervous system?

The video suggests techniques such as deep belly breathing, the Valsalva maneuver, peripheral vision softening, yawning, and the shake it off skill.

What is the emotional freedom technique mentioned in the video?

The emotional freedom technique, or tapping, is a method of gently tapping on various points of the face and body to potentially reduce anxiety.

What is the significance of the statement 'I am safe right now' in self-regulation?

The statement 'I am safe right now' is significant because it helps to pair the belief of safety with physical self-regulation, calming the body and mind.

How can we use our body to send a message to our brain to calm down?

We can use deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and other self-regulation techniques to send a message to our brain to calm down.