What techniques can l use to calm me?

Thank you for reaching out for support.

When dealing with multiple areas of stress, loss, change, and worry, feelings of anxiety can build quickly. There are several easy-to-do-anywhere calming techniques you can use when feeling anxious. Such as deep breathing which is a simple technique for managing distressing emotions. Not only is deep breathing effective, it is also discreet and easy to use at any time or place.

1. Breathe in through your nose, deeply enough that your abdomen rises.
2. Hold the air in your lungs, and then exhale slowly through your mouth, with your lips puckered.
3. Time the inhalation (4 seconds), pause (4 seconds), and exhalation (6 seconds). Practice for 3 to 5 minutes.

We can also use our 5 senses to soothe ourselves in the moment. With sight you can look around the room and pick out all of the objects that are a specific color until you notice that you are feeling calmer. Listening to soothing music, meditations, or podcasts can help be helpful with taking our mind off of an anxiety provoking situation. The key with our senses is to focus our full attention on the sensations we are experiencing or noticing with the sense we have decided to use to assist us with calming down.

Anxiety can be increased when we are experiencing irrational thoughts. For example, the thought that "Nothing ever goes right" can make it hard to feel at ease due to waiting for things to fall apart. By examining the evidence and challenging these thoughts, you can reduce anxiety.

1. Choose a thought that has contributed to your anxiety.
2. Gather facts in support of your thought and against your thought.
3. Compare the evidence and determine whether your thought is accurate or not.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation is another calming tool. It is a process of tensing and relaxing the muscles throughout your body. By doing this you can achieve a powerful feeling of relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation will help you realize when you are anxious by teaching you to recognize feelings of muscle tension. 

1. To do progressive muscle relaxation you will start by sitting back or laying down in a comfortable position. 
2. You will tense your muscles tightly, but not to the point of strain.
3. Hold the tension for 10 seconds, and pay close attention to how it feels.
4. Then, release the tension, and notice how the feeling of relaxation differs from the feeling of tension.
5. You can start with your toes and work your way down or vice versa.

Another important thing to look at to support long-term reduction in anxiety is managing stress. Determining if there are areas in your life that you can reduce stress by problem solving situations, increasing use of supports, or using distress tolerance skills.