Qigong For Anxiety

It is inevitable that we as humans will experience anxiety at some time in our life. If you have not, check your pulse, you may be dead.  Anxiety is an uncomfortable experience.  I believe anxiety is more common now, than at any time in human history.

Have you ever considered Qigong for anxiety? Millions of dollars are spent by “Big Pharma” to encourage doctors to prescribe chemical pills to alleviate anxiety.  Your own brain produces chemicals (specifically, neurotransmitters and neurohormones) that do the same exact thing.  Using Qigong for anxiety is like clicking on a switch to your own “Big Pharma” production plant — your amazing brain and glandular system.

What is Anxiety?

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Many people do not even know they are having an anxiety attack.  Men, in particular, are socialized to ignore or discount such feelings as being “weak,” and may even deny (quite sincerely) that they ever experience it.  Many women feel they do not have permission to acknowledge their anxiety due to be socialized to be responsible for others; their children, their parents, their partners, their bosses and colleagues.  They are tempted to “stuff” the feelings of anxiety when they appear and push themselves to “just get on with it.”

So what are some of the signs of anxiety, or chronic anxiety disorders?

Physical symptoms may include:

  • a pounding heartbeat
  • breathing faster
  • palpitations  (irregular heartbeat)
  • feeling sick
  • chest pain
  • headaches
  • sweating
  • loss of appetite
  • feeling faint or lightheaded
  • “butterflies” in your gut

Psychological symptoms may include:

  • feeling worried or uneasy often
  • having difficulty sleeping
  • inability to concentrate
  • irritability
  • being extra alert or hyper-vigilance
  • feeling on edge and not being able to relax
  • feeling a need for frequent reassurance from other people
  • prone to tearing or crying, often for an unknown cause

This entire list of symptoms is exactly what Qigong reverses.  Our blood pressure reduces, our capillaries open, our heart rate slows down, our brain waves shift gears to calming patterns, our brain releases “happy hormones” like dopamine and endorphins.  This offsets the adrenaline and cortisol that amps up our physiology for the fight, flight, or freeze reaction.

This is simple biology. It is stone cold simple science.  Mind-Body practices like Qigong, Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, etc. kick in the “relaxation response,” which is exactly what you need to counteract anxiety.  Big Pharma’s chemicals attempt to do the same thing, but may carry unpleasant side effects. Qigong does the same exact thing for free, with no side effects, other than enhanced health.  Qigong for anxiety is a simple solution.

Where Does Anxiety Come From?

Anxiety may be a hangover from our evolutionary development,when the “flight, fight, or freeze,” adaptation of our nervous system kicked in to alert us to a real and present danger.  Please remember that when your body starts to react with symptoms of anxiety.  It was originally a gift for us to help us survive as individuals and as a species.  It seldom feels like a gift.  It can feel more like a curse, in particular if you suffer from chronic anxiety, or anxiety disorder.

The specific causes of it could be anything.  Anxiety can be related to a specific concrete situation (or person).  It can be generalized.  Anxiety may be partially based on our thoughts — what we are telling ourselves in our internal dialogue. In this case, therapy may be helpful.  A skilled trained therapist may help us discover our repetitive, unhealthy cognitive patterns.

Anxiety may have its roots based more on physiologic causes.  We may be drinking too much coffee, not getting enough sleep, or even be suffering from some nutritional deficiency of trace minerals, vitamins, amino acids, etc.

Is Our Dependence on Technology Causing Anxiety?

Sometimes we feel anxiety without any specific known cause.  If this is the case, it behooves you to start investigating.  Check with your doctor, work with an alternative health professional, or natural-pathic  doctor, examine your diet, etc.  Yet, my belief that humanity is now experiencing radically higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than ever before is rooted in our unhealthy over reliance on technology.

Our patience is growing less and less. We get frustrated and angry if a website takes more than 1 second to download on our screens.  We have instant access to every iota of information known to human kind at the flick of a finger on our smartphones.  Are smartphones may be smart, but are we smarter?  Or just less patient, less thoughtful, less focused.  We are definitely more distracted.

The anxiety caused by our over reliance upon technology is not only just the pull it has towards our wandering minds, it REMOVES us from connecting with nature.  Nature in all its forms — Water, Air, Sunshine, Rain, Earth, Dirt, Trees, Flowers, Animals, Plants, the Moon, are all profoundly grounding.  Even our recent ancestors (less than 40 to 50 years back) had MUCH more exposure to nature.  They grew food in a garden.  They walked more.  They went outside more.

Our generation behave as if they were prisoners stuck in a cell block.  For “safety” (or better internet connection) we stay locked inside four walls — of our self-imposed captivity.  We get bombarded by Electromagnetic Fields (EMF’s) and Electromagnetic Radiation from our computers, internet, television, microwave, cellphones, etc.  And we wonder why we have anxiety?

How About Qigong for Anxiety?

Regardless of the root cause of your anxiety, It may be worth giving the 5000-year-old technology known as “Qigong” a shot. It is free, it is extremely easy, and its fun. The best way to deal with anxiety is to combine Qigong with other grounding practices.  Experiment doing Qigong with soothing subconscious “Binaural Beats” music, that help shift your brainwave patterns to the relaxation response. Experiment with doing Qigong outside in nature, even if it is just your backyard, a local park, whatever.  Do Qigong in the sun, or at night, outside under the moonlight.

On an even deeper level, doing regular Qigong practice can help you cut to the root of your anxiety.  The ultimate goal of all mind-body practices like Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, Martial Arts, Meditation, etc. is to get you to hear your own body — to increase your intuition of what is really going on inside of you.

Perhaps you just need to slow down.  Confront a conflict you have been avoiding, set a boundary with a co-worker, boss, partner, or relative that may be taking advantage of you.  Spend more time with you kids, grand kids, lover, or pets.  Make “electronic fasts” a regular part of your routine.  Do art.  Do you.  Breathe in deep, like you really do belong here on this earth.  Challenge yourself to do Qigong for anxiety watch your world begin to bloom with newness of life, gratitude, and playfulness.  As your lifestyle comes into greater balance with your values and dreams, you will feel deeply a resonance to the universe.  From that space, anxiety will shrivel into non-existence.