Your toolkit for Coronavirus anxiety

Many of us have never felt as fragile as we do now. Here are some top tips for boosting mental and emotional wellness.

Coronavirus is causing anxiety for many New Zealanders

We are experiencing a new kind of anxiety. The anxiety of encountering strangers in the street. The anxiety of queuing two-meters apart. Anxiety for our loved ones.

These feelings are uncomfortable and perhaps for some of us, unbearable at times. Having anxiety or just not feeling “yourself” is completely normal and even appropriate in this unprecedented situation. Our task is to make sure this fear doesn’t take over our lives entirely. Despite the uncertainty of the world, there are so many things we can do to maintain and nurture mental wellbeing.

Recognition

For some of us it can be hard to identify what we’re feeling, let alone know what to do about it. Developing a habit of investigation into our emotions can be immeasurably helpful in beginning to manage them. For this, I love meditation teacher Tara Brach’s RAIN acronym:

Recognize what is happening;

Allow the experience to be there, just as it is;

Investigate with interest and care;

Nurture with self-compassion.

Next time you notice you’re feeling tense or a bit down, try running through these steps and notice how you feel once finished.

Breathing

Breathing exercises to combat anxiety

Although something we do without even thinking, breathing can play a big role in our mental state. If you feel you’re getting anxious, breathwork can act as emotional first aid to help calm racing thoughts and physical tension. A 2017 study linked breath work with better mood, among other benefits such as increased focus and cortisol levels. Let’s take a look at some breath practices to try that are both simple and effective.

• Six deep breaths

According to Psychologist Jane Gabites, taking six deep breaths when feeling anxious or panicky can work wonders. Gabites cites a Japanese study that shows how six breaths over 30 seconds reduces blood pressure levels. This is a great one for when you’re on the go, and shows how breathwork doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated. Next time you’re not feeling your best, try taking six deep breaths and feel the benefits.

• Belly Breathing

If you have a few minutes to spare, belly breathing (or diaphragmatic breath) is a great one to try for anxiety and is essentially a more indepth type of deep breathing. Breathing higher in the chest is something many people may recognise as a normal by-product of anxiety. However, shallow breathing can be a problem when it becomes the norm for breathing day to day. Belly breathing is extremely useful in training the body to come back to a full breath. Derived from traditional yogic practices, belly breathing can be done in a few different ways. Try it yourself by following these steps:

1. Lie down comfortably on the floor. Relax any places in the body where you notice tension, for most this is the shoulders and jaw.

2. Placing one hand on your belly and the other on your chest, take a few natural breaths, without forcing anything. Notice if your belly or your chest is moving higher on the inhale.

3. Now, try breathing a little deeper than you naturally would, so that the belly is moving more than the chest, which is relatively still. Continue doing this for as long as you like, ideally for two minutes or longer, feeling tension gradually leaving the body. You can stop here, or move on to a further stage as prescribed by traditional yoga schools.

4. On your inhale, send the breath to the belly first, feeling it inflate, and then to the chest.

5. As you exhale, let the breath out in the opposite order, chest to belly. Continue in this way for a few minutes.

6. Once finished, allow the breath to occur naturally, and notice any changes in the quality of your breath and mood. Do you feel the same as when you started?

• Nadi Shodhana

Alternate nostril breathing for coronavirus anxiety

Another technique derived from yogic traditions, Nadi Shodhana is known as a ‘cooling breath’ because it’s used to calm and soothe. Also known as ‘alternate nostril breathing’, this technique is perfect for slowing fast or shallow breathing, and can be done wherever you find yourself.

1. In order to begin ‘Nadi Shodhana’, bring your right hand up to your face. Place your index and middle finger in between your eyebrows, your thumb gently on your right nostril, and your ring finger on your left nostril.

2. Close the right nostril with your thumb, and begin to slowly inhale through your left. With your ring finger, close your left nostril so both nostrils remain closed, and briefly hold the inhale. Opening your right nostril by releasing the thumb, exhale through this nostril.

3. Inhale through the right nostril, hold the breath for a moment at the top, then exhale through the left. This completes one cycle.

4. Repeat for 5-10 cycles, or longer if you feel comfortable.

Body awareness

The very nature of anxiety means that the mind is preoccupied with projections of what ‘might be’. It’s perfectly fine to spend time thinking about and planning for the future, but if you feel you’re getting caught up in your head, ‘grounding’ yourself back in the present moment can be hugely helpful in order to come back to calm. Let’s look at a few techniques that work with the body to soothe and ground.

• Yoga Nidra

A powerful, meditative technique, yoga nidra aims to bring about ‘yogic sleep’, or deep relaxation in which the mind remains aware. This highly beneficial guided practice takes the practitioner through relaxing the entire body, then moves to breath and thought awareness, targeting all sources of tension. Yoga nidra can last from 10 to 90 minutes and can be done any time during the day for a quick reset, or at night as a sleep aid. If you’re not fully convinced about trying this anxiety-busting practice, take it from the Prime Minister of India, who cites Yoga Nidra as his secret for stress management. You can find plenty of free guided yoga nidra recordings on Youtube and Insight Timer among other apps. Or, try recording your own using this yoga nidra script.

• Body Scan

A simpler approach to relaxation, it’s the accessibility of body scans that makes them so useful. Consisting of a straightforward practice of progressive body relaxation, body scans are similar to yoga nidra, but don’t (usually) include breath or mind awareness. Used to help reduce physical tension, this practice is perfect to ground the attention back into the body and quell racing thoughts. As with yoga nidra, you can find a multitude of body scan practices available on the internet or your favourite meditation app.

• EFT

EFT tapping (or Emotional Freedom Technique), is a quick and simple practice designed to eliminate emotional distress and physical pain. Similar to acupressure, tapping involves lightly touching pressure points in the body with the intention of removing energetic blockages. A study from Staffordshire University found that tapping is useful for reducing anxiety and is easy to learn for use when needed. Seen by many as emotional first aid, tapping is a unique and potentially very effective technique to experiment with. Try it here.

Now more than ever, it’s important to make your wellbeing a priority. These techniques are just a few ways to help you maintain your health and encourage a routine of self-care. If you feel things are getting too much, it’s important to know you can reach out for support. Beyond mindfulness practices, there’s no substitute for reaching out to friends or family. If you’re not sure who to turn to, help is always available by texting 1737 - a free counselling service available 24/7, or call the government helpline on 0800 779 997, 8am to 10pm, 7 days a week.