Wotld of MumsNet - I need you. Anxiety - Yoga, Apps And absolutely anything that would help.

[Pancakeflipper]

Struggling with serious anxiety. Physical sysmtoms of sickness, upset tummy, total fear. Going through some tough medical stuff which is the reason.

Any recommendations for Apps, Yoga programmes or absolutely anything to help. Evening/night is the worst.

Thank you

You poor love.
Ive been through this and mindfullness really helped.

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise
This exercise is designed to bring you into the present moment and distract your mind from anxious thoughts. It's based on engaging your senses.
5 Things You Can See
Look around and identify five things you can see. It could be anything from a clock to a picture on the wall or a tree outside. Just name them to yourself.
4 Things You Can Feel
Pay attention to your body. What can you physically feel right now? It might be the texture of your clothes, the temperature of the air, or the sensation of your feet on the ground. Focus on four things.
3 Things You Can Hear
Close your eyes, if you can, and listen carefully. What sounds do you hear? Maybe birds outside, a car passing by, or the hum of your computer. Name three sounds.
2 Things You Can Smell
Take a deep breath and see if you can identify two different smells. If you can't smell anything immediately, focus on the idea of scent and just breathe deeply for a moment.
1 Thing You Can Taste
Focus on one thing you can taste. It could be the lingering taste of something you ate, or even the sensation of your tongue in your mouth. Just observe it.
Extra Tips:
Breathe deeply: As you do each step, remember to breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth. This helps to calm the nervous system.
Be kind to yourself: If you find your thoughts drifting, gently bring your focus back to the task without judgment.
The goal is to reconnect with your surroundings and re-center your focus, breaking the cycle of anxious thoughts

How ? What did you do ? I hear the term but don't know what to actually do.

Did you have Apps or follow a particular programme or make your own routine?

I hope you are doing fabulous now.

Oops crossed posts !!!!

Thank you

Yoga with Adriene meditations on you tube are good.

It helped during an extremely challenging time , my work employee benifits scheme put me in touch with a counselor who advised me to try it . I took my last reply from Chat gbt but its the same principle. My situation is miles better now but if I feel myself getting stressed or anxious I still do this exercise to calm myself.

Dr Claire Weekes book helped me enormously and I’m not a self help book type of person at all. Her mantra of ‘face, accept, float, let time pass’ resonated.

Sorry to hear that you’re struggling.

I find yoga helpful, not necessarily the physical postures/stretching but the other things that come with it:

Breathing techniques, for example establishing a slow steady breath and then trying to extend your out breath slightly longer than the in. So you might count 4 on the in breath and 6 on the out. I find it works better to try to settle in to a comfortable pace for you, and then fit the count to that. If you find it feels uncomfortable or panicky at any point just stop counting and concentrate on slow and steady at your own pace.

Grounding using your senses: for example close your eyes (if you’re comfortable and safe to do so), and listen to everything you can hear. What is closer, what is further away? What can you feel against your skin? Feel the weight of your body on the floor/chair/bed. What is the temperature like in the room? Is there a breeze?

For getting to sleep, counting down from a big number (like, start at 35,729 or some other random big number) - and I say it out in full in my head - stops my brain from doing anything else like worrying. If that’s not distracting enough, try counting down in 3s (so the next one would be thirty five thousand seven hundred and twenty six…)

As well as real life classes I use the Down Dog yoga app (paid for - started during lockdown when there were no classes!), but friends swear by Adrienne on youtube for free.

Does your employer have an Employee Assistance Programme? Mine offers free counselling, CBT, a quite good app with stuff like a mood tracker and live chat with counsellors, and we get a free Headspace subscription too, so it’s worth exploring if there might be things you can access. Good luck!

Yoga massively helped my anxiety - it was a side effect as I was concentrating on it to rlimprove my pelvic floor and core strength. It really helped me to link the deep breathing of holding poses as directly reducing my cortisol levels - I believe it definitely works to improve sleep and relieve anxious mood.

I went to in person classes, so not an expert on online ones, but I found the slightly faster moving Vinyasa workouts (if you Google) held my attention better and if you use the same work out for a week it is addictive to see how you improve over a few times a week.

All best, really hope you find it of help too

Doing nothing and focusing on breathing can help. Look at the clouds while holding a cup of tea. Focus on the floor beneath your feet, the warmth from the cup, the smell of the tea, the clouds in the sky.

Breathing: www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/breathing-exercises-for-stress/

When anxious, people often speed up, so it helps to deliberately slow down when doing ordinary jobs. Make your favourite meal slowly, eat it slowly, wash it up slowly. Try to really focus on the task to keep your mind on something other than your understandable worries.

Craft, art, music, nature all help too.

Best wishes

I started with the audio book of Mindfulness: The Eight week meditation programme for a frantic world by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. Danny Penman also does a lot of podcasts if you search. I now use the BBC Music and Meditation podcast and find that really helpful.

The Insight Timer app has thousands of guided meditations - recommend! It's free or you can pay to access more content.

Yoga with Adriene is amazing for this. She is like a warm hug.

I really rate the Calm app for helping me sleep, as I struggled with racing thoughts.
However in truth the only think that has actually helped me properly with anxiety is medication.

Just a thank you for all the suggestions.i went through them last night. And when I was struggling to sleep I went through some suggestions in my head. Knowing others understand was also a big help. Anxiety reduced slightly and going to chat with my consultant this week.

MNet at its best. Thank you

ChatGPT has helped me in an incredible way

You tube has lots of mindful practise, some are better than others. So does Pelaton but you would have to join. I love practising mindfullness, always feel so much better and calmer after. Hope you feel better soon