Anxiety shows up in our bodies as a flight/fight response to a triggering event or thought. It can be an unresolved or old trauma that is triggered, and sets off the response in our bodies. I am constantly amazed by the power of our minds and our thoughts in controlling what is going on in our bodies, and of course, we are interconnected, mind and body, so the sensations in our bodies also inform our thoughts and feelings.
Often our bodies are reacting faster than our conscious minds can process that reaction, and we aren’t fully aware of why our bodies have had a reaction.
All we know is that we have a feeling or sensation in our bodies, perhaps a racing heart or nervous fluttery feeling, and our minds race to give the sensation a name and a meaning or reason for being there.
It takes time, space and considered thought to be able to identify what is going on.
It makes sense that this is how we are designed, to react fast and process later. After all, if there is a real physical threat to us we would want to have the ability to react super fast and either run or fight, and then figure what happened later wouldn’t we?
So it’s totally normal behaviour for us to have those sensations.
What is less helpful to our daily lives is if we are living constantly at this high state of alert, always poised and ready to react, even when there is nothing threatening happening. Sometimes it’s simply too much for our bodies and minds to cope with and our brains deal with this by shutting down, making ourselves numb, or becoming ill, hiding away from the world as if that would help. Sometimes to create numbness we take drugs or drink alcohol excessively, we might say we like to do this to relax, and it will feel relaxing to switch off the high alert feelings. But while that might work on a short term basis, the high state of alert and anxiety returns.
In RTT method hypnotherapy, we help people understand that trying to change the symptoms of anxiety isn’t going to be effective, and if you hide away you’ll make it worse. We need to go to the root cause of the anxiety which will be a belief or a firmly held thought, or unresolved trauma. We then need to change the belief that is causing the issue and enable you to have the power to tell your mind that you are safe and let this anxiety go.
Anxiety is often a fear of losing control or not being in control. But the secret to defeating anxiety is to know that no one has any control, the only thing that you control is your thoughts. When you can take control of your thinking, you can stop being anxious. You have the power to create new thoughts and a confident, vibrant future.