Healing the nervous system from anxiety & trauma

Intro music: Church of 8 Wheels by Otis McDonald

Powerpoint slides from SlidesGo

References:

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Moving Beyond Trauma by Ilene Smith

The Open-Air Life by Linda Akeson McGurk

Time stamps:
0:00 The nervous system, explained
7:24 Everyday habits for health
9:48 Techniques

[orhanguldag]

Hello Ana . I dont want to sound so demanding, but can you also make a video about nihilsm and defeatist mindset and how to overcome this way of thinking?

[Tanyathestoryteller]

This is why mental health is physical health.

[santacruzdz]

Those health tracking gadgets can encourage excessive obsession about health, where every piece of data, every result, and every measurement become a constant source of concern. This can lead to health related anxiety.

[elizabetha]

As someone with a chronic illness/auto immune disease that’s always in fight/flight mode, I’m very grateful for this video Ana. Thank you so much. ❤

[barsofchocolate]

3:52 haha at the end of 2020 i had a period of intense anxiety attacks for the first time in my life (i was going through my first ever big loss of a loved one) and i just constantly went into this state of getting anxious for no reason -> feeling some physical symptoms of it -> thinking something was wrong with me -> getting even more anxious 😭 it was NOT fun, i’ve started obsessing over my heart rate, and i noticed that it increased every time i took a breath and decreased when i exhaled. i didn’t know what that meant, and neither did my family, so i started thinking that it meant something bad 😭 even health professionals thought it wasn’t normal, when in reality this means that your heart functions well

[AZVREIGN]

i’m constantly in fight or flight. Always very defensive and constantly running away from anything that bothers me; I didn’t realize any of this until I began to age and educate myself on this type of stuff. I really want to heal, as I age ive been dealing more and more chronic health problems and I just KNOW it all stems from the way my brain defaults to harmful paths.

[TheXLAXLimpLungs]

I'm mostly cognitive, the thoughts don't stop, so when I finally had a strong physiology response once I thought I was having a heart attack at 25. I didn't even know I was having issues with my mental health at the time and thought I was actually doing pretty well, but it's like my brain pushed the thoughts away and forced me to have a physical response.

[azy]

Thank you so much Ana for pointing out how breathing exercises can clash with OCD. I've been told my whole life to try deep breathing to calm myself down and every time I end up feeling worse and breathing more shallowly so it's great to know that this is normal for OCD cases

[aakashailajan]

This is such an important topic. Thank you for sharing. I believe gaining a deeper understanding of why things happen can help us find a solution much quicker.

[wanderingrandomer]

14:00 I can vouch for this, because I've been breathing non-stop for over 30 years, and I've never felt so alive

[sz.nick]

This sounds like something I should have learned in high school.

[babaganouche]

I'm struck by how many cultural practices include these physiological 'resets' and I find that very cool.

[LisaLee__]

I appreciate this video so very much.
I just had not 1 but 2 panic attacks last night that happened while I was ASLEEP.
Waking up to your heart pounding & being unable to catch your breath is a surreal & unfair experience.
Your information here has helped me understand just a bit more in order to figure out how to stop these incidents from happening as well as why they could be.

[LisaLee__]

Ana, you're a gem and a blessing
Could you consider making a video about leaving the trauma of the past, in the past? Consistent and constant ruminating can be disruptive & completely destructive to quality of life.

[sukritiseth]

I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS YESTERDAY. YOUR CHANNEL IS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED IN MY LIFE

[MrHerobrineHunters]

Such an amazing explanation of this topic! Talking about top down and bottom up. Mind approach, body approach.

Two techniques that were very helpful for me so far:

When I notice I am disassociated, I focus on one tiny part (index finger) and move it. Without intention. Meanwhile saying in my head: "I don't need to do anything else right now."

When in fight/flight, I look around the room, move my eyeballs in their sockets. At the same time I'm telling myself: "it's safe, I can relax". And I focus on colours or objects.

They are small actions, but powerful.

And ofc the question one coach asked me once: "are you breathing? How much are you breathing?"

[LibbyIreton]

You are such a blessing to this planet! I love how you didn’t generalize where anxiety might start. All of this was super helpful. Thank you! 🙏

[Libraempathoracle]

Im postive there is a link between autoimmune diseases and stress, anxiety depression, neurodiversity etc, being in fight or flight mode on a regular basis

[perfectlysmith]

The science shows that any alcohol is poison. Of course! Drinking less is better than drinking more.

You have some great tips

[sound.painter]

i appreciated how concise all the coping techniques were. so many options