Free yourself from anxiety

Who is my solution for :

People who regularly experience anxiety attacks, usually for no obvious reason.

=> Go directly to the solution

Personally, I suffered from anxiety attacks for about 14 years.

On a daily basis, I had moments of intense stress for no reason at all.
It ruined certain moments of my life and I could cancel outings for fear of having an attack.

My stress also manifested itself in physical symptoms, some of which frightened me : pain in the head, pain towards the heart, a brief spasm in the throat, a hot leg, a feeling of running out of air, and so on.
In the worst cases I'd have panic attacks and feel like I was going to die (not very fun when it happens in the middle of a lesson at school 😅).

So I took some time to look for a method that would help me get better.
I tried classic methods like psychotherapy and others like hypnosis, EMDR, EFT, magnetism, reiki and lots more.
Some of these solutions work for people, but for me they didn't stop my anxiety attacks.

I'd like to stress, though, that psychotherapy has helped me a lot in other ways.

I was supported, listened to and better understood who I was.
 
Psychotherapy and EMDR also helped me a lot to realise why I was suffering from anxiety.
I discovered that even if I wasn't thinking about it specifically, certain events in my life, more or less serious, were still making me suffer unconsciously.
From my experience, I concluded that certain emotions remain blocked within us and lead to these anxiety problems.

In the end, I ended up creating my own method using everything I'd learnt.
I find it useful if you prefer to express your emotions alone, if you want to do some emotional work in addition to therapy or if you can't afford to spend the money to see a professional.

Concept

This solution is a kind of "emotional meditation".
The aim is to immerse ourselves in difficult events from our past to release the emotions that have become trapped within us.
It is important not to undergo these meditations, otherwise they are counter-productive.

Event

You should prepare a list of events that have made you feel bad at some point in your life.

You don't have to list only events that are "serious" from society's point of view.

We don't all react with the same intensity to the same event.

And don't underestimate events that you think you've already overcome.

Do at least one session on all the difficult events in your life.

If you're having trouble finding events, ask a trusted friend or family member who knows you well for help, or ask a therapist for help.

There are no rules about the order of events to work on, but it's best at first to avoid the most difficult ones to see how you react to your first sessions.

Note that one event may require several meditations.
So you may well meditate on subject A on Monday, then subject B on Saturday and return to subject A the following week.

Duration and frequency

The total duration will depend on you and the number of events you want to work on.

But to give you an example, I meditated for 13 months in a row, going from one session to 5 sessions per month.
Once I started to feel better I gradually stopped my sessions.

Today I meditate occasionally if I feel that something is bothering me or that something difficult has happened and I haven't been able to take a moment to externalize.

There's no set frequency either, I think everyone should do it at their own pace.

I would still advise leaving at least 5 days between each meditation to give your mind and body time to integrate the session properly.

Types of emotion

Sadness
It's important to understand that crying is not necessarily a negative thing.
It helps to release tension and make you feel better, and it's common to cry at a psychologist's appointment.
You may even have cried in front of a sad film without feeling bad.

Anger
This isn't the emotion I've worked on in sessions, but based on my experience and my research, I've noted several ways to express it :
screaming into a pillow or in nature if you're alone, hitting your bed or pillow (without hurting yourself), squeezing a stress ball, playing sport, etc.

Other emotions

I have no ideas on how to release other emotions.
It's best to ask a professional for help in these cases.

The main thing is to be able to release an emotion without fear of being judged, for the time necessary and without suffering.

Emotional meditation

1) Preparing for the session

- choose a time when you can be alone and calm

- choose an event to work on

- prepare a file on your computer or a sheet of paper where you can write down what happened during the session

- prepare anything that might be useful, such as handkerchief or a cushion if you need to shout, for example.

2) During the session

- sit comfortably and close your eyes if that helps you to concentrate
- think about your event : what happened, how you feel about it, all the memories associated with it
- if an emotion arises, take the time to express it

- stop the session in the following cases :

• if you feel bad (remember that it's possible to cry without feeling bad)

• if you have finished remembering the event and you have no or no more emotions.

If you didn't feel anything, make sure you've taken the time you need to go back into your memories. Emotions don't necessarily come immediately; you have to dig deeper first.

• if you feel you've been going round in circles in your thoughts for a while and your emotions won't stop

• if you no longer feel like

3) After the session

- write down the name of the event you worked on, the date you did the session, the thoughts you had and what you felt

- also note whether you think you need to work on this event again or not

Download a sample sheet to follow your emotional meditation sessions.

4) Example of meditation
I'm going to tell you about the work I've done several times on a difficult event in my life.
The subject was the loss of my dog, which had to be euthanised following an illness.

At my first sessions I cried a lot.
As the sessions progressed, my thoughts evolved and memories came back to me.
By the end I was hardly crying at all, just a few tears.

Here's what I did during my sessions :

- I went back into my memories and tried to remember everything :

• the moment when my mother called to tell me that my dog was going to be euthanised

• when I cried in front of my friends

• when I saw my dog at the vet's for the last time

- I thought about my dog, what it had given me and what I had lost

- I let go of my thoughts about my dog and what I'd been through

I stopped working on this subject when I noticed that it didn't upset me as much.

However, I warn you that it's not absolutely necessary to try to feel less emotion because for other subjects I still feel a lot of pain despite many sessions.
Despite everything, I've stopped working on it because my anxiety attacks have gone away.

It's up to you to decide when to stop working on an event.

To conclude, I wanted to tell you that my solution is not a promise to get better.

I wanted to share what worked for me and what I think can work for other people, knowing that everyone reacts differently in life.

In any case, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll feel better and know that you're not alone in this fight ❤️