Anxiety attacks are a common problem for many individuals in our modern age. Whether it is from school, work, or home, this overwhelming feeling can sneak up on us and attack at the worst possible moments. It can be hard to snap out of an anxiety attack. Is there any method that can be used in your daily life to calm these emotions?
Asanas are body postures used for meditation, which can help you to ease the overwhelming feeling of an anxiety attack. Read on to learn about seven essential poses that can help assist in relieving the symptoms of this mental strife.
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What Is an Anxiety Attack?
Anxiety attacks are forms of panic that can completely overwhelm the individual that it is happening to. They are different from panic attacks, but they still cause overwhelming feelings of restlessness. Symptoms of an anxiety attack typically include:
- Extreme worry: An attack might bring on extreme levels of worry, even to irrational levels.
- Restlessness: A sufferer might not be able to sit still with their thoughts or emotions.
- Physical symptoms: Anxiety attacks can also bring on physical symptoms such as sweating, heart palpitations, chest pain, and more.
These symptoms can pull the sufferer from their daily activities, preventing them from participating in many regular tasks. Anxiety attacks can be overwhelming and seemingly impossible to manage without help.
What Are Some Triggers of Anxiety Attacks?
Anxiety attacks can be brought on by a large number of things. It is important to consider the various items that might trigger an attack, as this could help to prevent one in the future.
Some of the main triggers of anxiety attacks include:
- Stressful health issues: Ailments such as cancer or other serious illnesses can bring about high anxiety.
- Negative thinking: Seeing everything in a negative light can have a serious impact on anxiety.
- Worrying: Worrying and thinking too deeply about what could happen can trigger an attack.
- Medications: Some medications have anxiety as a side effect.
- Conflicts: Those who dislike confrontation might experience anxiety attacks if a situation arises at work, home, or school.
All of these, whether natural or unnatural, can pull forth an anxiety attack. Sufferers can avoid these either by taking medication or adding peaceful routines to their lives that may help them take their minds off of these triggers. Yoga is one routine that can help ease the mind and bring peace to one’s daily life.
Does Yoga Help Anxiety Attacks?
It might seem far-fetched that something as simple as a yoga pose might be able to help with an anxiety attack. However, many studies have proven the benefits yoga can have on those suffering from anxiety.
Yoga helps with anxiety by:
- Activating a relaxation response: By sitting in a calming position, the body helps the brain to relax.
- Helping to increase mood: Focusing on breathing permits a calm and positive mood to overwhelm a stressed mind.
- Permitting the user to slow down and center themselves: Anxiety centers a person from feeling overwhelmed by the world, and yoga helps the participant to focus on themselves and their health.
Although research is still ongoing, there is much evidence that points to the fact that yoga assists in decreasing anxiousness. It might not be able to stop them completely, but it can help relieve the effects of anxiety attacks.
From this point on, research can only further prove the benefits of yoga on an anxious mind. It is safe, fun, and easy to do no matter what your situation may be.
(Something that also helps with anxiety is alpha wave music. Plus, listening to alpha waves benefits so many other things too!)
Other Forms of Help for Anxiety Attacks
There are other ways in which an individual might receive help for their anxiety attacks. These can include:
- Therapy: Various kinds of therapy can assist an anxious person, ranging from online talks to in-person monitoring.
- Anxiety management classes: These teach about what anxiety is, and how an individual might better handle it.
- Medication: Medication can help anxiety attacks from the inside, though it is not a natural form of peace.
- Alpha Wave Meditation: Meditating while listening to a certain frequency can help you stay centered in the mist of anxiety attacks.
These can all prove to be helpful for anxiety sufferers. However, they are not as easily accessible as yoga. Knowledge of various asanas provides an option for healing no matter where the person is. They can rest easy knowing they have relief in their pack pocket.
7 Essential Asanas for Anxiety Attacks
Although most yoga positions can assist with anxiety, there are seven that are especially beneficial. These are great to have in mind just in case an attack arises.
All seven of these are simple to understand. They can be done in many places, from your home to your workspace. All that is needed is a mat and a willingness to try to slow down.
Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
The bow pose is a simple position that can assist with anxiety by releasing stored tension in the shoulders, chest, and throat. It also strengthens back muscles and helps with muscles.
This position can be achieved in a few simple steps:
- Lie down on your stomach.
- Pull your feet to the back of your knees.
- Grab your ankles.
- Take a deep breath and lift your thighs and chest off the ground.
- Hold, then exhale and fall to the floor again.
The Bow Pose can repeat as many times as is necessary to help the attack. However, It should not be done if the user has any knee or back problems.
Channel-Cleaning Breath (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama)
The channel-cleaning breath is a basic form of breathing that allows the user to bring their focus back to themselves, rather than focusing on the panic threatening to overwhelm them. It also helps with circulation, lowering heart rate, and allows for an overall sense of peace.
This position can be accomplished by following these steps:
- Sit in a crossed leg position with a straightened back.
- Place your left hand flat on your knee, right in Vishnu Mudra.
- Close each nostril with your fingers.
- Alternating fingers, breath in one nostril and out.
As with the Bow Pose, this can be done many times to bring the anxiety down to a tolerable level. This pose is excellent because it can be performed anytime and anywhere.
Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
The bridge pose is unique. It can help relieve a panic attack by bringing blood down to the center of your body, opening the chest, and calming the brain. The complete switch in posture can create a shift in personality.
Bridge pose is done by taking on these steps:
- Lie on your back and bend your knees, bringing your heels back close to your rear.
- Exhale and push your core up until your thighs are parallel with the floor.
- Lift your chin and press your shoulders into the ground.
- Hold for one minute.
This pose can take some time to master. It requires a little bit of strength, but the benefits that it will have for anxiety make the extra practice worth it. The bridge pose can make for a unique addition to a collection of beneficial poses.
Child’s Pose (Balasana)
The child’s pose is excellent for relaxation and comfort. It brings a rushed adult mind back to reality. It also allows them to refresh at the moment and relieves areas of stress in the body. It is a place of rest in yoga and the location of rest for an anxiety sufferer’s mind.
The child’s pose can be done by following these steps:
- Start with your hands and knees on the ground, big toes touching.
- Exhale and sink back onto your knees, keeping your hands on the ground.
- Hold for around one minute.
This pose is simple and very common in all forms of yoga. It stretches both the body and the mind in the best kinds of ways.
Camel Pose (Ustrasana)
The camel pose requires a bit of flexibility. Because of this, it impacts breathing and the stretching of muscles in ways that they would otherwise not be used. It can alter the way that your body handles an anxiety attack.
This unique position is achieved by following these steps:
- Rise in a kneeling position with your pelvis, spine, and neck in line.
- Press down through your feet and knees.
- Rest your shoulders and place your hands on your hips.
- Inhale, lifting your chest and lowering your head back.
- Reach your hand back to your thighs and engage your glutes.
- Hold for several seconds.
This exercise can be repeated as many times as is needed. The camel pose helps an anxiety attack by opening up the breathing passages, providing vulnerability, and increasing the flexibility of your mind along with your body.
Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana)
The bound angle pose resembles the channel-cleaning breath in the position that it requires the participant to be in. Like the corpse pose below, this one relies quite a bit on the art of holding still and breathing.
The bound angle pose can be done by following these steps:
- Sit on your rear.
- Bring your feet together, flat on flat.
- Pull your feet close to your pelvis.
- Hold your big toes and gently pull up.
- Straighten your spine.
- Breathe and sit still.
Holding this position can increase posture, which opens up the breathing passage. This helps to damper anxiety issues. The bound angle position also helps decrease blood pressure and helps to bring confidence back to someone filled with panic from an attack.
Corpse Pose (Shavasana)
The corpse pose is easy to do. It is helpful with anxiety attacks because its core principle centers around letting yourself go, something anxiety tries to force its victim away from.
Corpse pose is doable in the following steps:
- Lie flat on your back.
- Spread your feet hip-width apart or farther.
- Relax your arms at your side.
- Focus on your breath and lie still.
The corpse pose is as simple as lying still and listening to what is happening inside the body. It forces the participant to focus on themselves and be still. This pose can reduce anxiety by allowing blood and breath circulation to flow freely. It may take a little bit of practice to get the hang of, but it is beneficial to know.
Conclusion
Anxiety attacks are scary things. They can be completely overwhelming and, in the moment, they feel inescapable. Someone who is prone to anxiety attacks misses out on all kinds of daily activities, both fun and necessary. Anxiety attacks can be extremely disruptive and harmful.
Yoga asanas can provide relief from this issue. These seven asanas can slow heart rate, center focus, and improve breathing, all of which are proven to ease the feeling and effects of anxiety at a physiological level. They are great to understand as a natural fix to an unnatural, terrifying feeling.
