Page 78 - Javanan Issue#1909_Neat

PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUE No. 1909
PSYCHOLOGICAL
ISSUE No. 1856
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES JAVANAN

JAVANAN
Dr. Alan A. CONTROLLING THE EMOTIONS PEACEFULLY
Modarressi
Clinical and How to Harness Your Anxiety
Neuro-Psychologyst
avoid pain, which is why, when we emotions, enabling us to reframe the feeling of flow, a feeling that can
New studies based on Eastern feel anxious, our heart rate increas- our thoughts and make more posi- be induced while in the yoga pose
philosophy in China and other parts es, our breathing becomes faster and tive decisions to harness anxiety’s savasana. Photo: Shutterstock
of the world show that fighting the blood flows to our muscles.” powers.Suzuki has experienced this Suzuki says that anxiety cuts off
anxiety can make it worse. Feeling It is better to focus on identifying first-hand. “When I was about to the feeling of flow, a feeling that can
anxious? Don’t fight it, expert says and managing the threat causing the turn 40, I hit the proverbial wall of be induced while in the yoga pose
– embrace anxiety and harness its anxiety than to become consumed midlife. I was 25 pounds (11.33kg) savasana. Photo: Shutterstock
power to become more productive by the anxiety itself. Channel anxiety posi-
and build resilience “I find a lot of value in ask-
Rather than letting anxiety con- ing, ‘Where is this fear com- tively to unlock three su-
sume you, it is better to identify and ing from?’ And the thing that perpowers
manage the threat that’s causing it, surprised me is that I can be Suzuki highlights three
and channel it into something that friends with my anxiety. superpowers that can be
works for you “If we approach anxiety as unlocked through chan-
Breathe deeply to keep calm, says something to avoid, or damp- neling anxiety positively.
a neuroscientist, and exercise to give en, we miss an opportunity 1. Productivity. Anxi-
your brain a ‘bubble bath’. When to improve our lives. Listen- ety is often accompanied
anxious, ask yourself ‘What can I ing to anxiety from a place of by a “what if” list: What
learn from it?’ curiosity can guide us onto a if I get Covid-19? What
Embracing your feelings of anxi- if I fail the test? What if
ety instead of trying to push them path that leads to true well- I don’t get the job? But
being,” Suzuki says.
away can help unlock superpowers, To reap the benefits of anxi- everybody can turn their
say experts. Photo: Getty Images ety, we need to control the “what-if” list into a “to-
Embracing your feelings of anxi- do” list, answering anxi-
ety instead of trying to push them amount of it we are feeling. ety with action.
“Experts say the most pow-
away can help unlock superpowers, erful tool to achieve this is deep Start by making a list
say experts. Photo: Getty Images breathing. When you take deep overweight, worked all day and was of actions you can take. Worried
Anxiety is no stranger to us as unhappy and lonely. But then I be- about the upcoming exam? Review
we enter the third year of the coro- breaths, it activates the parasympa- gan to make a few small changes. the most difficult material. Worried
navirus pandemic. We all know the thetic nervous system [part of the “I figured if I felt better in my about not acing a job interview?
symptoms – a tightness in the chest, nervous system responsible for the body I might feel better in my head. Make a list of potential questions
the knot in the stomach, a restless body’s rest and digestion]. It slows I changed my diet and started eating you could be asked.
night spent tossing and turning in down your heart rate and helps you healthily. I started exercising and “The best thing about this ap-
bed.The feeling is surely the enemy feel calmer immediately. Inhaling to meditating. It took me a while to proach is that it channels the energy
to our well-being, right? a count of four, holding for four and form my new habits. I tried differ- you waste on worrying and trans-
Wrong, says Dr Wendy Suzuki, a exhaling for four is one way to calm forms it into constructive action,”
US professor of neural science and yourself down. You can take deep ent apps, classes and doing simple says Suzuki.
psychology at New York University, breaths anywhere and anytime, even sequences and gradually found out 2. Flow. Suzuki says that anxiety
who explains the research behind in the middle of a conversation. what exercise routine worked for cuts off the feeling of flow, a deeply
her assertion in her book Good Anx- In the next article, I will explore me. engaged state in which performance
iety: Harnessing the Power of the more ways of helping to calm your “Not only did I lose weight, accompanies an effortless state
Most Misunderstood Emotion. anxious mind without fighting it. but my relationship with anxiety of mind.She advises focusing on
“Popular science suggests that ev- Her second tip to manage anxiety changed. My anxiety did not go brief moments in which you feel in
eryday anxiety is detrimental to our is to exercise regularly. away but it showed up differently sync with yourself, despite feeling
health, performance and well-being “Moving your body has a trans- because I was responding to stress stressed, times in which calm and
– but what if our preoccupation with formative impact on both your cog- in more positive ways. still come together to make you feel
avoiding anxiety is costing us some- nition and your mood. Getting your “The idea that I didn’t need to good. Anxiety teaches you to appre-
thing? What if we could learn how heart rate up a bit, even with a short completely erase my anxiety was ciate these small moments.
to channel our anxiety and make it walk around the block, or climbing freeing. A lot of the distress we feel 3. Emotional resilience. The se-
work for us, turning it into super- stairs, can have an immediate effect with anxiety comes from the resis-
powers?” are the questions that Su- on your anxiety levels. tance to it. We are fighting on two cret to honing one’s ability to adapt
zuki raises and answers. “It stimulates the release of sero- fronts – by being anxious and also to stressful situations or crises is to
Suzuki acknowledges that anxiety tonin, dopamine and noradrenaline feeling that we need to stop feeling approach every anxious situation
is meant to be unpleasant, and in the in your brain, neurotransmitters anxious,” she says. with an activist mindset that allows
debilitating extreme that she calls which help regulate our mood and Chloe Brotheridge, a clinical hyp- you to ask, “What are some differ-
“bad anxiety”, it can be destructive decrease anxiety, stress and depres- notherapist based in London who ent ways that I can approach this?”
and require medical intervention. sion. It’s like giving your brain a specialises in helping people with People are thrown into stress-in-
But learning to harness the brain wonderful neurochemical bubble anxiety, and author of The Anxiety ducing situations in which there is at
activation underlying general anxi- bath,” says Suzuki, whose 2018 Solution, echoes this idea in her least one way out, and this knowl-
ety can be significantly more valu- TED Talk, “The brain-changing book.“The problem is that mostly edge makes them more resilient.
able than having no anxiety at all benefits of exercise”, has had more we just want our anxiety to go away The next time you feel anxious,
– and can unlock superpowers, she than 55 million views on Facebook as quickly and painlessly as pos- don’t fight the feeling, embrace it.
says.The first step towards learning and YouTube.Our brain cells have sible. We ignore it. If we welcome Ask yourself “What is my anxi-
how to channel anxiety is to under- the incredible capacity to change anxiety as a teacher, it can help us ety trying to show me? What can I
stand what causes it. “Anxiety is in response to our behaviour, a to learn something about ourselves. learn from it? How can I apply the
a stress response evolved to alert phenomenon known as neuroplas- Paradoxically, embracing our anxi- wisdom of what those emotions are
us to a perceived external threat,” ticity. Once our anxiety levels are ety can be the quickest way to live a telling me?” And turn it into your
saSuzuki.“Our brains are wired to under control, we can apply neuro- less anxious life,” she writes. superpower.
detect danger, to defend us and to plasticity principles to regulate our Suzuki says that anxiety cuts off
DANESH FOROUGHI, PH.D. Alan Modarressi, PhD, QME

Licensed Clinical Psychologist, PSY13680 Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Licensed Marriage, Family & Child Psychotherapist, MFC23455 Qualified Medical Evaluator
Certified National Board of Addiction Examiners #4974 Certified Psychophsychologist
Tel: (310) 940-3642 Diplomat, American Academy of Pain Management

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