"Persistent or severe fear or worry in situations where most people wouldn’t feel threatened" defines anxiety, according to the Help Guide website. Anxiety can present in many different forms, including social anxiety where you feel intense fear at the mere thought of social gatherings or sudden debilitating panic attacks. To combat anxiety, relaxation techniques can help by reducing muscle tension and promoting overall well-being, according to the Healthy Place website.
Pranayama
A yoga technique called Pranayama emphasizes breathing patterns and inner energy and may help combat anxiety, according to the Yoga Journal. Common types of Pranayama include alternate nostril breathing, rapid inhalation and exhalation of breath, nostril breathing with an audible breath, retention of breath after inhalation and retention of breath after exhalation.
Alternate nostril breathing, a technique for Pranayama beginners, involves inhaling through one nostril and exhaling out the other. While holding your right nostril closed, inhale through your left nostril, close your left nostril and open and exhale slowly through your right nostril. Repeat the process, beginning with inhalation through your right nostril while holding your left nostril closed, close your right nostril and release and exhale slowly through your left nostril. This is one cycle. Complete three to five cycles and then return to normal breathing.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation involves focusing on slowly tensing and relaxing muscle groups, according to the Mayo Clinic. This helps you realize the difference between tension and relaxation, making it easier to relax areas of your body where tension unknowingly accumulates. To begin the process of progressive muscle relaxation, it may help to tense the muscles in your toes, hold to a count of ten and release the tension. Slowly work your way up your body from your toes, tensing and relaxing until all the muscles in your body become relaxed.
Visualization
According to the Mayo Clinic, visualization involves creating mental images that take you on an imaginary journey to somewhere peaceful. Find a quiet spot free of distractions, sit with your eyes closed and imagine your peaceful place or situation. While you imagine your setting, use as many of your senses as possible. For example, if you visualize yourself sitting on a rock near the ocean with waves crashing around you, imagine the smell of the ocean breeze, the sound of the waves and the feel of the spray of water as it crashes against the rock you sit upon. Focus on this scenery until you feel the sense of calm overtake you.
Autogenic Relaxation
Autogenic relaxation involves visual imagery and body awareness to reduce tension and stress, according to the Mayo Clinic. Mentally repeat words or suggestions to help remove tension from your muscles, or imagine a peaceful place and focus on breathing as you imagine your muscles relaxing. The Anxiety Community website recommends mentally scanning your body from head to toe to seek out areas of muscle tensions. When you find tension, take a few deep breaths, retain your breath and then slowly release your breath as you mentally convey the word "relax" to the areas of tension. Think of the muscles as soft and limp and focus on slowly making them so.
