**Preferably non-substance/drug
I’ll share a couple:
4 7 8 breathing
ears underwater
music/audio at slower speed (0.6-0.9)
Let’s hear em. I might want to do a series for various conditions or states so stay tuned and lets crowd-source this shit, enough of the “read my new/old 400pg tome for an introduction”. 🤮 Distill
5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise
Identify:
- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can feel
- 3 things you can hear
- 2 things you can smell
- 1 thing you can taste
if one of these just ramps up the anxiety, skip that sense and do the others. trying to pick 5 things i can see is. …not useful. …in a panic attack. but closing my eyes and doing the others does help. it took a very long time before someone suggested skipping sight to me, so i share the insight whenever this method is suggested.
Stimming (I’m autististic, so it probably doesn’t apply to the general population)
autististic
Repeating patterns, checks out
Well shit. I should proofread my posts. How did I even write this wrong?
Meditation. Close your eyes, breathe normally, relax your body, and calm your mind. I go for a minute to an hour depending on things.
Weed.
Comedy. Watch something funny. It’s hard to be anxious and amused at the same time, and at least for me, the amusement wins.
I also have a soft plush that I find soothing but ymmv on that one. I don’t even know why it calms me down, it’s not a childhood toy or anything.
Read the parable about “the tigers and the strawberry”.
Always ask yourself “what is the best possible thing I can actually do right now”
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Which are you planning in trying?
My dogs are probably the best at it. Then weed does a great job dealing with my migraines, so that also helps with anxiety. Music helps on occasion.
Drinking wine and beer. In 2 days im going to rehab, this has gotten on for too long 🥲
Good luck!
Stick with it and don’t try to leave just because you want to. Stay until you’re actually good to go.
Best of luck! You got this.
Beta blockers - they don’t cross the blood brain barrier and help calm the adrenaline response. If you’re prone to panic, anxiety, trauma triggers, etc. They’re very helpful for my CPTSD triggers.
Qi Gong
Walking meditation is good when very restless or anxious. Body scans when trying to build deep states of physical relaxation. Sitting meditation for deep mental calm.
Pendulation works well when working on an overwhelming task. Permission to take small bites/small steps out of something difficult essentially.
Reminding myself that the stressor and the sensations of stress are all temporary is good for acute stress, but chronic stress can require radical acceptance instead and changes in lifestyle/habits/thinking patterns.
Second walking(-meditation)
Walking is inherently calming and gets you out of your head and into your body even if your mind fights it
Also tea
Walking meditation is just walking while bringing your attention intentionally to your body and your breathing as it’s moving through space.
It’s like walking while really enjoying walking. Minimizing distractions like thinking or a radio or conversation or whatever.
But seconding just walking all the same. As a teenager I used to put on my walkman and go for walks when I was pissed off at my parents.
My ex used to massage the anxiety out of my arms from shoulders to fingers like toothpaste. It was great. If you have someone close, try it.
Playing an instrument works wonders too.
Cat does that
What instrument does your cat play!?
I sit out with my chickens. I’m raising chicks now too, and they like to climb on me. Both are very relaxing.
Ujjayi breathing
Working out (intensely enough to get your heart rate up)
Wrestling/play fighting/cuddling/snuggling
Petting dogs
Journaling
How is it possible you’re the only one talking about snuggling and cuddling?
Everyone else doing it wrong or something.
I’ll add star gazing. For me that’s an insane relaxant.
Maybe I’m just an expert snuggler 😎
Progressive meditation. 1 minute a day for a week 5 minutes a day for a week I personally used openmindapp.org- got to the point where I was doing the much longer choices as the weeks progressed.