Facing Anxiety and Fear

By Donna Gates, as seen on:

Did you know that a drug commonly used to treat anxiety made over 6.3 billion dollars last year—more than any other drug!

If you deal with anxiety or struggle with fear, you are not alone. There are millions right there with you, dealing with their own personal “demons.”

Fear can be so menacing, that we decide to take medication to get rid of fear.

But I believe that medications may only mask fear. They do not resolve why we feel fear in the first place.

Before we talk about how to heal fear and anxiety, it’s important to understand that we all have our own unique encounters with fear.

For some, fear is a bodily sensation. This means that you might get sweaty palms that your heartbeat might begin to race.

For others, fear is visual. This means that instead of sweaty palms or a racing heartbeat, you know you’re afraid when you begin seeing violent images in your dreams/imagination. This sort of fear can be very scary, because it seems unrelated to reality.

But it’s important to understand that if your anxiety has visual cues, you are able to see your fear. You’re not crazy—you just see what most people feel. Seeing your fear can be overwhelming but it also means that you are deeply tuned into your emotional state.

Whether you feel general anxiety or imagine catastrophic events, I want you to know that you are empowered right now to do something about it.

First: When sorting through any mental or emotional disorder, consider the gut.

The gut is made up of nervous tissue and manufactures brain chemicals. Also, the gut and the brain are linked up—and the health of the gut affects the health of the brain.

Cut out foods that might inflame the gut (like gluten and sugar).

And always choose foods that nourish gut health, like coconut water kefir. Coconut water kefir and other cultured foods are rich in probiotics that not only heal the gut, but that also manufacture happy brain chemicals.

Second: Meditation. Breathwork. Lightwork.

I know many people (including myself!) who have sought the help of healers or shamans to resolve on-going patterns of fear. But the reality is that outside help is just that—help. The real work is up to you. And the key to this work is repetition.

Fear is a natural human emotion that everyone experiences—the problem is when it becomes debilitating. So, part of the solution is learning to co-exist with fear. I find that meditation, breathwork, and lightwork are tremendous tools to manage anxiety, depression, and fear.

Meditation is the practice of finding a place of stillness within.

You don’t find stillness by looking for it; you find it by observing and letting go.

Breathwork uses the breath to release old, stagnate emotions and memories. Breathwork also invites us to feel uplifted by the simple truths found in each inhale and exhale.

Lightwork uses the imagination or inner eye to visualize light (usually golden) and shine it on places or pictures that are stuck, painful, or in need of healing.

Do you feel anxiety? If so, what have you done to move through it? Please leave your comments below!