Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 – Anxiety
Anxiety is something that affects us all. It can be something as, seemingly, small as being nervous about starting something new, or as big as overwhelming anxiety about a big part of your life that holds you back from making change.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 is focusing on anxiety and the impact on our lives. It can manifest in so many ways, physical ones such as increased heart rate, breathlessness or a full-blown panic attack. It can make you feel nervous, on edge and affect your eating and sleeping patterns.
Having been through major changes in my life, I know what it’s like to feel anxious about moving, family-life, marriage and divorce and taking the leap to run my own business – it’s ALOT. Luckily, as a yogi and now a life coach I have built a toolkit to help.
My first step is to check in with myself, to be aware of what’s going on. Taking a moment to breathe, even if it’s 5 minutes before the kids wake up, or just after they’ve gone to school. Being self-aware is an important part of keeping your mental wellness in check – it lets you know something might be off-keel before the point of crisis. This could be breathing it could also be journaling – even writing a few notes before bed, getting the thoughts and anxieties of the day out of your head is good for sleep.
Secondly, Yoga is a HUGE part of my mental health toolkit – pranayama (Prana – life energy, Yama – control) the art of breath control helps calm the mind and tune into your body, slowing your thoughts and taking time out – perfect for managing anxiety.
Meditation and yoga go hand-in-hand, you don’t have to have a full-on singing bowl experience, but simply taking 10 minutes to sit quietly, or listen to some music. Time out, away from the hustle and bustle of life.
And, much like the quote:
Anxiety can go away through pranayama, knowledge, and meditation, and knowing that someone is taking care of you.”
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Taking care of yourself, physically and mentally will help with anxiety, it’ll help you take care of others, who in turn will being that positivity and care back to you.
What’s in your mental wellbeing toolkit? Do you need some ideas for keeping your wellbeing intact? I’d love to chat to you to help your find your personalised toolkit.
