In this week's podcast Shann talks with Margaret Reffell of LivingElite.ca

Margaret explains why some foods increase anxiety and also shares her own personal story of recovery from anxiety and agoraphobia.

Questions covered in this podcast include:

1. Have you dealt with anxiety before? How did it affect your life?

2. What triggered you to begin the path of natural and holistic treatment?

3. How does the food we eat effect anxiety levels?

4. In what way does exercise aid in the elimination of anxious feelings?

5. If you could give us 3 things to do TODAY that would decrease our anxiety levels, what would they be?

6. Is there one take home message that you could deliver to the anxiety slayer audience, what would it be?

Listen to the podcast here:

If you cannot see the podcast player here, please listen on iTunes

Bio: Margaret is Neuroscience Expert, a Culinary Nutritionist, a Certified Kinesiologist, Fitness Instructor, Daughter, Sister, Cat Owner, World Traveller, Keynote Speaker and Life Enthusiast.

The Anxiety Slayer audience is welcome to claim a free copy of "The 5 Things You Are Doing RIght Now That Are Increasing Your Anxiety Levels" at: www.LivingElite.ca/anxiety

photo by Perfecto Insecto

In this week's podcast we talk about natural ways to prevent night time panic attacks.

Question: Hello Shann and Ananga!

You both have been such a positive force in my life - thank you for all of the gifts that you share with us. I suffer from panic attacks at all times of the day, but mostly in the morning (between 7am and 9am) and at night.

At night, I have a tendency to wake up after being asleep for only an hour or two, and experience a vast array of symptoms - rapid heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and fast shallow breathing.

Is there any way to prevent these from happening - maybe something I can eat, drink, do before bed? I eat clean and exercise fairly regularly, though I do spend most of my day sitting at a desk.

Any advice? Thank you for all that you do.

Points covered in this podcast

Start keeping a brief log of what you did, ate and drank during the day and how you slept that night. On nights when you feel anxious review the previous day and look for clues, then change what you can.

Watch out for alcohol and caffeine: both cause anxiety in the night.

Sometimes people drink in the evening to relax and initially it seems that they have, but a few hours into the night they wake up feeling panicky.

Practice getting as relaxed as possible before going to sleep: this lowers your baseline anxiety level.

A bedtime drink that can help you relax:

Hot milk (organic if possible) with a pinch of nutmeg and a little honey. This warm, sweet drink is very calming. Nutmeg is a natural relaxant, it has been known for thousands of years to help with sleep and a relaxed mind. But please use with caution nutmeg is toxic in large amounts and can cause hallucinations and vomiting.

Other things to help you relax before bed:

Oil massage - massage your feet with sesame oil, to bring busy head energy down and help you feel grounded.

Calming acupressure points: these are good for clearing your mind for sleep and also for calming down fast when a panic attack wakes you up.

Try the calm point, EFT, or the Quick Anxiety Stopper. All of these use calming acupressure points known to reduce anxiety.

If you have good tools you can start dealing with the fear of the fear and things get much less intense. It's empowering and incredibly effective.

These techniques can also be used to dissolve anxiety quickly when it wakes you up. If you can deal with anxiety when it strikes and you know how to help yourself feel calm and safe you will start to feel better very soon.

It's like being able to put out a fire. You don't fear fire so much when you know how to put it out and you have the necessary tools to do so.

When you have good tools you can also reduce anticipatory anxiety because you feel less anxious when you know what to do to get back in control and feel calm again.

Listen to the full podcast here or on iTunes 

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photo by lu_lu

In this podcast a listener asks about how to cope with anxiety that was triggered after intense exercise. Here's the question:

 If you have a question about coping with anxiety, please feel welcome to contact us.

photo by Rickydavid

 In this week's podcast we answer a question from a listener on dealing with the fear of anxiety...

Q: "Any suggestions on how to cope with anxiety about having anxiety? I have suffered with anxiety for a few years now, but recently it has intensified - I'm finding that I'm getting constantly worried about the anxiety itself that it tends to manifest itself in more symptoms. It seems I cant escape the cycle... any ideas regarding how to combat this?"

A: We get sensitised to what makes us anxious, and we subconsciously try to avoid that experience again. The trouble with anxiety is that it's within us. So we fear it and we want to avoid it, but you're stuck with it. This is where things can spiral horribly out of control.

Here are four things that can help:

Challenge your thoughts: sometimes we have a physical symptom that can be a symptom of anxiety but it can also come from something else

A fast heart can come from exercise, but many anxiety sufferers will begin to feel anxious anytime the heart rate becomes fast or they feel anything close to palpitations even if it is because they've just been exercising.

If you feel a physical sensation that could be from anxiety, ask yourself if you've ever felt it at another time?

Stop and breath and question your thoughts and try to learn to stop your mind and nervous system from jumping to conclusions.

Practice watching the symptoms without responding make your outgoing breath long and smooth and let any symptoms wash over you and pass. It takes some practice, but it really helps.

EFT tapping: anytime you feel yourself fearing anxiety you can use EFT to begin dissolving that fear. It's the easiest and gentlest way to tackle any sensitised response like a phobia or sensitivity to anxiety. You can learn how to do it in about 20 minutes with our EFT for Anxiety Relief guide. 

Positive affirmations: tell yourself "I am safe, all is well, this will pass."

This is just a brief overview, to hear our complete discussion on dealing with the fear of anxiety, please listen to the podcast here, or on iTunes

"of seasons I am flower-bearing spring..." Lord Krsna Bhagavad-gita Chapter 10

In this week’s podcast we’re talking about Ayurveda and Spring, and sharing ways that you can take advantage of this time of year to conquer your anxiety.

Here are some notes from our discussion for reference:

Q: Do our bodies require a different diet in the Spring?

The general recommendation is to go for a drier, lighter diet with lighter grains like barley, millet and rye instead of wheat. Reduce dairy and especially avoid cold dairy products like cold milk ad ice cream.

Introduce some turmeric and ginger into cooking to help cleanse the blood ad clear congestion that accumulates over winter.

Vata types with anxiety should keep their diet warm, wet and slightly oily. The dryness and lightness recommended for other types will increase vata and that isn’t helpful in dealing with anxiety. Vata types can benefit from warm soups and vegetable stews, or steamed vegetables and rice, again with some ginger and turmeric added for warming and cleansing.

Good spices for spring cleansing include:

Ginger - known in Ayurveda as a Universal medicine because of it’s wide range of uses. Ginger is especially helpful for clearing the lungs, and boosting digestion and circulation. It’s warming nature is helpful to anyone of a vata nature and it can help ease anxiety.

Use fresh ginger in cooking and herbal teas (try adding a couple of slices of ginger root to your favourite herbal blend) or mix one tablespoonful of ground (powdered) ginger with 1-2 cups of Epsom Salts under hot running water and run yourself a cold easing, muscle soothing bath.

Turmeric - is good for cleansing the liver, clearing damp congestion from the body and clearing stagnant blood. Ayurvedic expert Dr David Frawley once said that if he could only take one herb on a desert island, he would choose turmeric.

Mint - is one of the beautiful green fragrant herbs that makes an appearance in Spring. It is calming to all three Ayurvedic types (though vata types shouldn’t overdo it), it is good for clearing congestion from the lungs, soothing coughs, promoting sweating and opening the pores to help clear colds and Spring fevers.

Mint is believed to lift “heaviness” from the mind and to calm the nerves by balancing the flow of prana throughout the body. It soothes nausea, nervous stomach and intestinal cramps, and increases appetite.

Every Spring I pot up some mint for making fresh mint tea. The smell of mint clears my mind and uplifts my spirits. I recommend embracing this little Springtime healer with gratitude, sniff it, sip it and be glad for it!

Cinnamon - is a potent healer for Spring coughs and colds, it clears mucous and keeps the chest clear and open, and improves circulation. Cinnamon clears toxins, calms vata and gives strength to the body. Vata can benefit greatly from taking cinnamon and cloves with baked apples, or adding cinnamon bark to teas.

Cardamom - is good for coughs, and calms hiccoughs and nausea, it clears the nose and ears and helps soothe intestinal cramps. It clears accumulated kapha from the stomach and balances vata.

Q: How are the different dosha types affected by seasonal change?

Kapha may need to clear accumulated congestion from the Winter season.

Pitta can experience allergies and frustration.

Vata can enjoy the warmer air, the flowers and birdsong. Walking in nature and stretching and opening the chest is a wonderful way to engage with the Spring energy and reduce stress and anxiety.

For anxiety sufferers, this is a great time to reconsider self-care and practice alternate nostril breathing, gentle yoga, and relaxation techniques in general.

Q: What kind of activities can help us stay balanced?

• Walking especially in the morning.

• Taking in the colours of spring.

• Breathing exercises, particularly alternate nostril breathing.

• Stretching outdoors with arms above the head, opening the chest and breathing in the warmer air.

• Gardening, growing some vegetables, or potting some herbs on your windowsill, helps to get us in tune with the season and is grounding and calming to the mind.

Q: Spring is a great time for detoxifying the body, do you have any Ayurvedic suggestions?

Use black pepper in cooking, with turmeric and fresh ginger.

Try sipping hot water with a squeeze of fresh lime first thing in the morning

Stand in the sun and get your arms up above your head and fill your lungs with fresh air.

And if you want to be serious about cleansing, try eating kitchari(recipe here) for a few days as a cleansing mono-diet that is nourishing and easy to digest.

This is just a brief overview, to hear our complete discussion, please listen to the podcast here, or on iTunes

Realted Posts you Might Find Useful:

Getting to Know Your Ayurvedic Body Type

Ayurveda and Anxiety Relief 

3 Ways to Use Ginger to Get Over a Cold Fast

Last week we spoke about Making Peace with Silence, in this week's podcast Shann talks about Sacred Ritual - self supporting daily acts to nourish your sense of wellbeing and give space for reflection and redirection.

Excerpt: "Today I want to share the power of sacred ritual, and how you can infuse your life with more peace and tranquillity. 

Listen to the full podcast here:

photo by ShedBOy^

The greatest men and women of all ages have practiced solitude regularly. They learned how to use silence to still their minds and tap into their superconscious powers for answers to their questions. Brian Tracey - The Magic of Solitude

Are you comfortable sitting in silence? Or do you feel the need to talk, text or tweet to fill the space? In this week's podcast we're talking about the peace of mind that comes from spending time in silence and how to begin to create that peace when you're suffering from anxiety.

Listen to the podcast here: 

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EFT has been in use for over 10 years and has gained world-wide respect for being effective in the treatment of PTSD, traumatic memories, stress and anxiety.

Here are some excerpts from our discussion on applying EFT for anxiety - you can listen to the full podcast below.

Shann: In the beginning I felt a bit silly about it, if I'm honest. It seemed a bit woo-woo to me and a bit esoteric until I actually put it to use.

In working with you behind the scenes I had a very good experience in using EFT and working through some emotional discomfort and it was almost shocking to me how well it worked.

What I really like about EFT for Anxiety Relief is it helps you learn how to use EFT quickly and easily. And there's no pressure to have to remember everything you've learned because you can always go back and listen to the audio recordings, or revisit the workbook. It's very much like having an EFT workshop in a box that you can access at any time.

Ananga: EFT is so easy that sometimes people don't get it. It's hard to believe that something so easy to learn can reduce your suffering so much. And that's why we've included a variety of exercises and entry points into using EFT in our package. When you're suffering from stress and anxiety your mind is already so disturbed and so overwhelmed that it's hard to take on new information, and it's hard to see the potential of something no matter how helpful it might be.

EFT for Anxiety Relief has been very carefully put together specifically for people who are suffering from stress and anxiety, the idea behind it is to make it as accessible as possible and to make it so easy to learn that you can benefit from it quickly no matter how bad you're feeling.

Emergency Anxiety Relief Audio

For times when anxiety is really high, or when you fear a panic attack we've created EFT for When it's All Too Much: a supportive audio that you can keep on your phone or MP3 player and have with you at all times so that when you're feeling really bad, all you have to do is listen and follow along and you can begin feeling calm and in control in minutes.

Listen to the full podcast here:

Related Posts:

Can EFT Help You with Anxiety? 

Find out more about EFT for Anxiety Relief here...