00:00an anxiety attack in my definition is when you're
overwhelmed with stress fear or anxiety uh you may
00:06feel panicky or your anxiety is so strong and
the physical symptoms are so intense that you
00:11just can't function very well now this video is
going to teach you the psychology behind calming
00:17anxiety attacks and give you a ton of tools
to try so that you can create your custom plan
00:23to stop anxiety attacks if you're right in the
middle of an anxiety attack or you just want
00:28to be walked through one simple version
of the process check out my other video
00:33a guided walkthrough to calm anxiety attacks
this video is more educational in nature so
00:39you'll learn a bunch of options that
you can learn and then apply later
00:51i remember one time almost 15 years ago when i was
overcome with anxiety i was about to go into the
00:57field for an eight-day trek with some unhappy
teenagers in wilderness therapy i hadn't slept
01:02or eaten well and on top of that i had finals for
my last semester of online university courses due
01:09that day and right before i needed to go into the
field i started feeling super shaky and nauseous
01:16and i felt like kind of hot cold and sweaty and
then i thought that i might throw up so i just
01:22assumed that i had caught some kind of virus and
i was physically sick we found someone else to
01:29take my shift and as soon as the trucks left for
the field without me all of my symptoms went away
01:37so i realized that this was anxiety um and when
i realized that i took a look at my stress levels
01:44and it became pretty clear like why my body was
freaking out a little bit i'd taken on too many
01:49things and i wasn't taking care of myself so i've
probably had a handful of anxiety attacks in my
01:56life and this was one of them panic attacks and
anxiety attacks have a lot of overlapping symptoms
02:02and people often use these terms interchangeably
but there are essentially two different pathways
02:08to treating them there's rolling with it or
calming your body down now i teach option one
02:14in my video series on how to stop a panic attack
in today's video i'm going to teach you a ton of
02:20options for pathway number two the calm down
approach to anxiety attacks my goal is to teach
02:25you a bunch of tools and then you can try them
and find one that works for you in the long run
02:32if you have chronic panic attacks and trying to
control your breathing or calm down makes you feel
02:37worse then definitely watch my other videos on how
to stop panic attacks okay you ready to jump in
02:44this video has three sections understanding
what feeds anxiety attacks calming your bodily
02:50anxiety during an anxiety attack and preventing
anxiety attacks by creating a sustainable plan
02:57to manage anxiety so let's do the first section
understanding what feeds anxiety so the short
03:04term emotion of anxiety is not the problem
here don't be afraid of anxiety and don't
03:11struggle to make anxiety go away immediately if
you try to force yourself to not feel anxious
03:17you'll probably make yourself feel worse now
people often confuse anxiety as the problem
03:23because it's uncomfortable and it may make it
hard to think clearly you might believe that it's
03:28embarrassing to experience anxiety or that your
symptoms mean that you're having a heart attack
03:33or some other physical illness now emotions are
uncomfortable sometimes but if you learn to roll
03:39with them they can't injure you fearing anxiety
is actually the problem when we fear anxiety
03:46we send a message to our brain that anxiety
is dangerous and this heightens the problem
03:51so worrying about anxiety or avoiding it
can make it worse so instead of saying oh
03:57this is horrible i'm having an anxiety attack
and creating more and more anxiety about anxiety
04:04say something like wow this is such a curious
experience this is uncomfortable but i can
04:10feel my feelings and be okay i can handle having
emotions and remind yourself that emotions like
04:17anxiety come and go in waves and this isn't going
to last forever start by observing your feelings
04:24notice them make space for them this is this is
the foundation it doesn't mean we have to stay
04:29here it doesn't mean we have to stay anxious
forever it's just we're starting where we are
04:35and next slow down instead of speed up you
may be tempted to run amok to get busier to
04:40distract yourself to do more or to run away
to desperately escape your situation to avoid
04:47everything that makes you anxious both speeding
up and running away reinforcing your brain that
04:52anxiety or the situation is physically dangerous
which makes your brain pump out more adrenaline
04:58and stress hormones which makes you feel more
anxious and this heightens the anxiety cycle
05:04so instead find a place to slow down whether
that's a physical space like your bedroom or
05:10a quiet park or whether that's a mental space like
meditation or journaling now slowing down is quite
05:17different from avoiding slowing down is trying
to decrease the stimulation that's overwhelming
05:24whether it's noise or the pressure in a meeting
or your internal self-talk slowing down is about
05:31addressing these issues one by one instead of
running away from them now you don't need to solve
05:37everything right now you don't need to confront
someone right now you don't need to run away right
05:42now you don't need to fix anything when you're
super emotional slow it down now when you slow it
05:50down that takes us to the next set of skills which
is calming your bodily anxiety during an anxiety
05:57attack anxiety isn't just in your head it's in
your body and when you're super upset your body is
06:03the key to resolving anxiety so let's do something
with your senses there are a lot of options here
06:10but the goal is to get back into your body
in a slow way to reconnect with your body
06:16so i'm going to give you a bunch of options
here are a couple you can try to find out
06:20which ones work for you now in this video i'm
just going to very briefly mention these skills
06:25but you can learn them in depth with my free
course grounding skills for stress and anxiety
06:31where i teach about 20 ways to turn on the body's
calming parasympathetic response and reduce stress
06:38and soothe anxiety so if you want to learn more
about that check out the link in the description
06:43okay so back to grounding with our senses you
could try washing your face or hands in cold
06:49water this triggers the dive reflex where your
body slows its heart rate and breathing as if to
06:56conserve energy while underwater you could also
try to hold an ice cube or use a cold washcloth
07:03on your forehead or neck you could also try
washing your hands or face in really hot water
07:09so as i give you a bunch of these tools to calm
your body you don't have to do them all it's
07:14just about trying them and finding what works for
you next thing you could try is padding your legs
07:20bilaterally so that means one and then the other
now this can help you get back into your senses
07:26literally your sensations in your body can send
a message to your brain that you are safe your
07:32body has a built-in anti-anxiety response
when you show it that you're actually safe
07:37and it'll kick in this is the parasympathetic
response okay the next skill is tapping this is
07:42also known as the emotional freedom technique so
you gently tap seven times in each of these areas
07:55right here and right under your
arm and right here on your palm
08:04okay next thing you could try is going for a walk
it's helpful if you can do this outside but if not
08:12any kind of movement may help you clear your
mind and if you can get outside that sensory
08:17experience of cold or hot air of fresh air of
different smells that can help your body reset too
08:24you can try a self-hug just kind
of squeezing yourself gently
08:29and try deep breathing which is slow breaths
in through the nose and out through the nose
08:36you can make sure that when you're breathing
you're breathing with your belly so you can
08:40put your hand on your stomach and make sure
it moves up and down as you breathe in and out
08:47you can also try slow breathing breathing
in for five seconds and out for five seconds
08:55you can try yawning big yawn
09:03you can try any taste or smell like an essential
oil or a breath mint or a warhead like that's
09:11a really sour candy another thing about sour
candies is that releases the saliva in your mouth
09:17and when that saliva releases that's also a
parasympathetic response another thing you
09:22could try is leaning into what you're feeling
right exaggerating the sensations you're having
09:27so for example if you're feeling jittery
legs jiggle your legs extra hard for a
09:32minute right let yourself lean into that feeling
you could try stretching right just stretch out
09:38all of your muscles that can help you come back
to your senses and so can grounding with the five
09:43senses this is a pretty uh well-known exercise
where you see what are five things you can see
09:50you name what are four things you can
feel what are three things you can hear
09:55what's two things you can smell and
is there one thing that you can taste
10:00you can also try um progressive muscle relaxation
this is a systematic way to tense and relax muscle
10:06groups to gain this conscious ability to relax
now fourth remind yourself that you are safe
10:14that you can handle having feelings remind
yourself that you're not in any physical danger
10:19at this moment now if you are in physical danger
you should leave or take some action to escape
10:25but if not use some positive self-talk say oh this
feeling will pass or you could say oh this emotion
10:32is uncomfortable but it's not dangerous i can get
through this or you can say oh this is anxiety
10:38it's not a heart attack it also helps to challenge
negative thinking right black and white thinking
10:45or catastrophizing you're not allowed to say oh
everything is awful you're not allowed to say that
10:51everything is terrible or hopeless or helpless
or horrible and you're allowed to acknowledge the
10:56things that are difficult you can describe your
emotions or your situation but don't label it as
11:02bad or terrible or awful now again if calming
yourself down doesn't work or if it makes you
11:08feel worse then you need to try the roll with
it method where you completely drop the struggle
11:14against emotions you lean in and you say bring it
on anxiety bring it on panic you can't hurt me and
11:19you let the anxiety flow and move on and you can
learn more about this technique in my other videos
11:25which again i'll link down in the description
now fifth the real problem here is not that you
11:31have emotions or that you had an anxiety attack
the real problem is that you don't have a system
11:37to resolve anxiety so it's building up in you and
boiling over the real problem is that you haven't
11:43developed a sustainable way to manage stress
in your life feeling anxiety occasionally is
11:49normal natural and healthy but having anxiety
build up over and over is a sign that you're
11:54stuffing it instead of processing it if that's
the case then you've got to develop a more
11:59well-rounded approach to processing anxiety
check out my emotion processing course
12:04my videos on processing anxiety but the main idea
is that the way to prevent anxiety attacks from
12:10happening is more about life management than just
emotion management so you've got to face anxiety
12:18and resolve problems so this looks like setting
boundaries balancing your budget or working
12:24through past trauma so that the triggers aren't so
intense it's all about creating a sustainable life
12:30so this means having a reasonable schedule
that includes time for rest and renewal
12:35and it includes setting realistic expectations for
yourself it also involves taking care of your body
12:42right exercise don't smoke or drink decrease
caffeine and eat regularly to manage blood
12:49sugar it involves you know things like self-care
like practicing breathing or meditation each day
12:56and and training yourself to manage stress you
know it's important to get enough sleep and to
13:01take your meds it includes clearly identifying
your locus of control so instead of avoiding
13:07stressful situations or taking responsibility for
everyone and everything you choose to address a
13:14problem if it's in your control or let go of
responsibility if it's not if it's not yours
13:21it can also be really helpful to keep a journal
or at least write about your emotions uh and write
13:27about your anxiety attacks that's because
sometimes it's really hard to see patterns
13:32that are leading up to being overwhelmed
by anxiety but when you write it down
13:36it can become clear why you're feeling the way
that you are and and what to do about it okay
13:41so there's over 20 things you could try to start
to work through anxiety attacks and to stop them
13:46from happening you don't have to do them all
heck you shouldn't try to do them all right
13:53just pick one or two that seem like it might be
helpful and uh give it a try now looking back on
13:59my anxiety attack 15 years ago i can i can tell
you that i've learned a lot now when i start to
14:04feel stress or anxiety build i have learned that i
need to slow things down i need to take care of my
14:12body and take a hard look at my life and see what
things i need to cut out that aren't necessary
14:18i try to put things in order and i try to
take the right amount of responsibility so
14:25not taking responsibility for things i'm not
responsible for and that can help stop the anxiety
14:31cycle from growing i hope you find this video
helpful thank you for watching and take [Music]
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