Managing Your Anxiety Naturally: 12 Expert Opinions - Part 2
In part two of SoulAdvisor’s inaugural wellness forum on the topic of anxiety, we heard from a psychotherapist, breathwork therapist, naturopath, meditation teacher, energetic healer and yoga therapist.
Each of these therapists provided us with their insights and expertise on ways to manage anxiety naturally.
Deborah Shepherd, former SoulAdvisor CEO Australia and New Zealand, said the level of audience engagement was equally high on the second night of the forum, with many people tuning in to learn about the way complementary therapies can help with anxiety.
“We specifically chose a diverse group of therapists for the forum in an effort to demonstrate how many options are available when it comes to making choices about your health and wellness,” she said.
“These therapists also reflected the calibre of practitioners we have on our platform, so we hope people will take the time to explore SoulAdvisor to discover more about available therapies.”
Ms Shepherd said planning for a second virtual forum was now underway.
Jennifer Nurick
Jennifer Nurick, a psychotherapist, counsellor and energetic healer, talks about her personal experience of anxiety and how she grew up with the sense of a lingering dread that she felt physically - in her chest, throat and stomach. She never learned how to manage this anxiety in her youth.
She touches on the sympathetic nervous system and how it creates the fight and flight response; and the parasympathetic nervous system which is our rest and digest system.
Jennifer covers a number of ways to help regulate the nervous system including mindfulness, connecting with your inner child and making time for joy.
“Anxiety comes from a place of deep disconnection - disconnection from the self, from nature, from community, from the spiritual,” Jennifer says.
Psychotherapy looks at the body, mind and spirit - the whole person - and works with the aim and hope of building a reconnection to all these things to heal anxiety.
Liisa Halme
Liisa Halme, a breathwork therapist and strategic psychotherapist, tells us that anxiety is not external - it’s an internal process, it’s something we do - so we have the power to change it and to learn a different process to manage it.
Preferring to call anxiety by its real name - fear - Liisa explains that fear is completely normal and an essential part of the human experience.
“The purpose of fear is to keep us safe, to keep us alive….it’s there to protect us, not to attack us,” she says.
She describes anxiety as an unfocused, objectless, future-oriented fear, which is very much a physical state.
While children let all their emotions go freely, adults mainly suppress their emotions. Liisa describes how conscious connected breathwork, the body's brilliant self-healing system, releases stress and anxiety.
Fin Mackenzie
In her practice, naturopath Fin Mackenzie says she is seeing more behavioural issues in young children, especially anxiety, in light of the pandemic.
Other contributing factors include over scheduling, with children left with no time for free play or playing in nature, too much screen time and poor diets.
There is a significant link between the gut and mood.
“Most people don’t realise that 80% of serotonin is produced in the gut and not the brain,” Fin reveals.
To ensure good gut health, the microbiome needs to be diverse which comes from eating fruits, vegetables and wholegrains. As a result of deficiencies in our soil, minerals like magnesium and zinc are often required, according to Fin.
Fin uses iridology to gain an insight into a patient’s nervous system, gut, lymphatic system, and immune systems and reveals the signs she looks out for to identify if someone is living in fight or flight mode.
She also provides a wealth of advice about herbal supplements and tonics to assist with panic attacks and to calm the nervous system.
Tim James
Tim James is a meditation teacher with the Australian Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness.
“Meditation is one of the most profound ways to bring a compassionate, aware presence to the thoughts and feelings associated with anxiety,” Tim says.
Meditation is about acknowledging your thoughts, feelings and sensations without judging them and allowing the thoughts and feelings to be held in your loving attention, instead of trying to get rid of them.
Tim says the process allows the person to rest whole and complete, in the essence of the love that they are.
While meditation can be challenging it can also be profound and Tim encourages everyone to try it, especially when they are feeling overwhelmed.
Tim provides a guided meditation with a grounding experience, to connect you with the present moment.
Martine Negro
Energetic healer Martine Negro says anxiety is a multi-level state and is a message from your body that needs to be decoded to understand what is going on behind it.
Anxiety can come from overdoing, from external build up, from old unprocessed trauma and from going against your intuition. Fear blocks your ability to connect to your prefrontal cortex and constricts and stops your inner guidance, according to Martine.
If you don’t address anxiety you will deplete the energy reserve in your body, especially the kidneys, which in Traditional Chinese Medicine terms, are your “energetic saving account”.
Martine provides details on the simple, safe, multi-level empowering tool she uses in her practice, called the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
The energetic approach to resolving anxiety requires a number of steps and Martine talks you through each step in detail, to tap into your body.
Martine also demonstrates three specific anxiety release points to use to ease anxiety.
Sandra Lamari
Yoga therapy empowers and supports individuals to manage their own health and yoga therapist Sandra Lamari says it’s important to take in account the health of the whole individual when prescribing a yoga program.
Under the umbrella of yoga therapy, her common tools might include asanas (movements), pranayama (breathwork), meditation, chanting, visualisations and lifestyle factors. She may work with other complementary allied health professionals when designing a program.
Her recommended practice could include all or some of these, taking into account unique aspects of a person such as sleep health, medications and their motivators.
Sandra says her aim is always to bring people back to a state of balance.
She guides you through some relaxing yoga moves to help prepare for sleep.
We hope you've enjoyed the highlights from part two of our Virtual Wellness Forum on anxiety.
You can connect with our practitioners to learn more about their treatments and offerings by visiting their profile page and booking in a Discovery Call:
A Discovery Call is a unique feature on SoulAdvisor that enables you to book a FREE 15min call with a listed qualified practitioner to see if they are the right fit for you before you commit to a booking. In your Discovery Call you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have about their services and discuss the most suitable treatment for your needs.
You can also explore more complementary therapies and practitioners to treat anxiety (and other conditions, symptoms or issues) naturally by searching our therapies page.
Our purpose-driven editorial team has selected articles to share with our global community from thought leaders, commentators and subject matter experts in the traditional & complementary medicine sector from around the world. If you have any suggestions, comments or feedback, please contact us here.
Disclaimer: This Content has been developed from our generous global community and is intended for informational purposes only. This Content is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon. Further, the personal views and experiences published are expressly those of the author, and do not represent the views or endorsement of SoulAdvisor through the act of publication on our site.
