Tips on how to calm down.

Do you often wake up with your heart pounding in your chest? A lump in your throat that you can’t swallow? Clammy hands and shaky breath? A sudden feeling that you are simply not okay? If you’re like most sufferers of anxiety, depression, panic, eating disorders, and many more mental health issues, chances are, you wake up anxious most mornings! The good news is, there are so many strategies that you can use to calm yourself down from your anxious state in the morning! Here are just some of them!

1.  Meditate. For those of you who have never meditated, it’s totally reasonable to be skeptical. You probably picture a group of monks sitting cross-legged in a circle, thinking about nothing. But that’s not what we mean by meditation in the morning! We mean taking the first 5 – 10 minutes of your day to relax both your mind and your body, in order to release tension and allow a sense of positive energy to radiate through your body.

Your life force energy is already there for you to tap into and direct how your mind wills it, always! Remember – ‘where the mind goes, the Qi goes’ (Qi = life force)

To simply OBSERVE each thought, or emotion, but then to LET IT GO – let it fall away as it is impermanent and not your ‘true essence’. Become your own ‘neutral compassionate witness’ is a beautiful stance to take with your SELF.

To just be be able to BE with what comes up and if anything gets too much simply go back to following the rhythm of your breath.

You will find that your thoughts start to quieten, your shoulders will drop and tension will fall away. There will become a sense of more ‘space’ in the mind and head – literally. It is like a de-fragging that occurs and it literally does give your mind some space! 🙂

It is wonderful for any stress or anxiety and you can do it standing, sitting and even staying mindful as you walk can be a form of meditation! Following the rhythm of each foot step rather than the rhythm of each breath when you are sitting.

Enjoy this space created!

2.  Do some deep breathing exercises. The quickest way to calm yourself down from anxiety is by doing some breathing exercises to regulate your heart rate and it gives your brain a sense of security. The brain is always scanning for safety through our senses and by following our breath we help this scanning come to a more centered calmer place which knocks on to our neurological system. We want it to switch more to the quieter parasympathetic state rather than the fight/flight of the switched on sympathetic state. We cannot maintain this switched on neurological response as it become exhausting and fatigues our adrenals and depletes our immune system – our whole body!

The following are some of the most recommended exercises:

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds; hold your breath for 6; release your breath through your mouth for 7 seconds, making an O with your mouth as if you were blowing up a balloon. Repeat 10 times or until your heartbeat regulates.

Inhale for 5 heartbeats; hold your breath for 7 heartbeats; exhale for 9 heartbeats. Repeat.

Then take your breath to a full and even 3 part breath which is much deeper – from the abdominal breath, to thoracic breath, to clavicular breath. So expand inhalation from the belly, up to diaphragm and then up to the collar bone. This is as high as the lungs sit! So one inhalation takes expansion of your chest all the way up to here and then let it naturally expel with exhalation. Repeat 10x and throughout the day as needed. REALLY FOLLOW IT’S RHYTHM WITH YOUR MIND.

After any (or all) of those breathing exercises, your heart rate should be relatively regular, and your anxiety under control. Repeat these exercises as needed, until you feel the un-clenching around your heart, and your muscles relaxing. 3.  Set your alarm to your favorite song. Now, if your favorite song is a bass-heavy rap song, that’s great – but maybe don’t set that as your alarm. We mean, find your favorite, calming song that reminds you of a good memory or gives you warm and fuzzy vibes, and set that as your morning alarm. Waking up to a song that you already know will remind you of happier times will minimize how anxious you are when you wake up, because it will automatically direct your energy toward the positive! Also through the day DANCING to your favorite song and/or working out to it is something that will SHAKE out and RELEASE any tension! As a mammal we need to do this regularly if we are getting tense, anxious or stressed. It really does help discharge neural heat/ agitation in the central nervous system of the body.

4.  Write a gratitude list/ goals/ affirmations/ manifestation list.. We know – who in their right mind would want to immediately sit up and write first thing after waking up!? But, chances are that if you wake up anxious, you’re not planning on going back to sleep anytime soon, anyway. Keep a small journal by your bed, or open up the Notes app on your phone, and take the first 10 – 15 minutes of your morning to write down what you are grateful for. Is it your family? Your friends? Your health? The fact that you have a house and a warm bed to sleep in? The fact that you have food in your fridge?  No matter how little or big, writing down what you’re thankful for will help you center your thoughts on the positive, pulling them away from wherever your subconscious is steering them.  

Some love to also set goals, aspirations, affirmations and to list what they want to manifest in their lives in their journal every day, or every few days. To actually describe it in your journal is a good way to literally manifest something to come into your life – on any level. Remember you get to create your destiny – YOU JUST HAVE TO BELIEVE IT! 🙂

5.  Write down what you’re anxious about. In the same vein of journaling in the morning, another way that you can ease your anxiety is by writing out exactly what you feel anxious about. Getting the words down on paper is like taking a weight off your shoulders; you are freeing your anxieties from your mind by writing them in your journal! You can take it one step further by asking yourself, is this worth being anxious about?  Next to each topic that you wrote down, write a “yes,” or a “no.” You might be surprised how many “no’s” you write down! And you might be even more surprised at how relieving it is to recognize that those things that you woke up anxious about? They aren’t worth your worrying. 

This is a valuable and worthy tool as it gets us to self-reflect and process more effectively when we see our sub-conscious thoughts written down. It is a routine worth doing and you will feel less tense with something being held inside than if you get a chance to express it and this can also help transform the energy behind it, sometimes even heal it.

*NB: If you need even more extra help with keeping calm at this time PLEASE remember my FREE support with a Wellness Strategy Alignment Call to help YOU with your specific needs with an individualized 1:1 Call with me – to help guide you and define your blocks/ needs. For you to then step forward more clearly and proactively with specific tools and solutions. Easy and quick to book me: https://go.oncehub.com/MelissaPotter. I will be behind you through each step 🙂

Yours in vibrant health, Melissa