How To Recognize Anxiety As Your Body’s Alarm Signal And Break Free From It
Updated: Oct 16, 2024
Written by Anna Mercoiret, Holistic Coach
Anna Mercoiret, founder of the Wholistic method, is a holistic coach who overcame serious health issues from a high-stress finance career in Paris through Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga, and Energy Work. Now, she helps others achieve balance and wellness with her integrative approach, combining body, mind, and soul healing.
Heart palpitations, cold sweats, shortness of breath, or a knot in your stomach?We’ve all experienced anxiety at some point in our lives. While it might feel like an enemy to be fought, anxiety is, above all, the body's alarm signal, calling for attention and self-care.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural response to a perceived threat or stressful situation. It's a basic survival mechanism that triggers the fight-or-flight response, releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones prepare the body to react to perceived danger. But when they are released constantly due to chronic anxiety, they can have harmful effects.
In modern society, anxiety has become a daily companion for many. It’s often linked to psychological stressors: work pressure, financial insecurity, relationship struggles, or mental overload. This type of anxiety disrupts daily life, manifesting in physical, emotional, or behavioral symptoms, impacting personal relationships, work performance, and overall mental and physical health.
How to recognize anxiety?
Anxiety can manifest on several levels:
Physical: Palpitations, sweating, trembling, muscle tension (especially in the upper body), back, shoulder, or head pain, digestive issues (nausea, bloating, diarrhea, constipation), breathing difficulties, and sleep disorders.
Emotional: Constant nervousness, irritability, mood swings.
Cognitive: Difficulty concentrating, irrational or excessive fear, obsessive thoughts, or excessive worry.
Behavioral: Avoiding social situations, procrastinating important decisions, or self-isolation.
To break free from anxiety, it’s crucial to identify its triggers and understand how it uniquely affects everyone.
Understanding your body: The first step to breaking free from anxiety
In Ayurveda, the concept of doshas is fundamental. Doshas are physical and mental characteristics that categorize individuals. Naturopathy mirrors this with Hippocrates’ theory of humors. There are three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
Vata (Air and Ether) governs movement, circulation, breathing, and nervous activity.
Pitta (Fire and Water) controls digestion, metabolism, and enzymatic processes.
Kapha (Earth and Water) provides structure, stability, and cellular lubrication.
Vata dosha
People with a predominant Vata dosha are more prone to anxiety. Maintaining a lifestyle suited to one’s dosha can significantly reduce the risk of chronic anxiety. When Vata is imbalanced, it leads to mental hyperactivity, rapid and uncontrollable thoughts, insomnia, and heightened sensitivity to stress. Vata-dominant individuals are more inclined to anxiety, particularly when exposed to rapid changes, a chaotic routine, or an unstable environment.
Pitta dosha
Anxiety caused by Pitta imbalance is less common than Vata but can manifest as anger, impatience, and competitiveness. Pitta, associated with fire, intensifies emotions and self-criticism, which can lead to anxiety related to perfectionism and irritability.
Kapha dosha
Kapha-related anxiety is usually tied to mental and emotional stagnation. When Kapha is out of balance, it can create feelings of inertia, heaviness, and depression, which can lead to introverted forms of anxiety marked by a reluctance to engage in new activities or face changes.
How to break free from anxiety
There are many ways to overcome anxiety. Personally, I often combine several tools for fast and long-lasting results, offering a truly holistic approach.
Nutrition: 85% of serotonin, the "happiness hormone," is produced in the gut. An imbalance here can fuel anxiety. To safeguard against this, it’s essential to adopt a whole, minimally processed diet low in stimulants to ensure gut health.
Breathing techniques: By directly influencing the parasympathetic nervous system, breathing techniques like Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing) and Bhramari (Bee Breath) help calm the mind and reduce tension.
Yoga: Yoga also calms the nervous system, not only through daily meditation but with specific postures such as Child's Pose and gentle twists.
Herbal medicine (Phytotherapy): Using medicinal plants is an ancient and natural approach to treating anxiety. The key herbs include Ashwagandha, Passionflower, Valerian, and St. John’s Wort.
Balancing your dosha: Balancing your dosha through diet, routines, and specific practices is essential for long-term health.
Energy practices: Whether through Reiki or other methods like Chakra healing, energy practices play a vital role in restoring balance, peace, and serenity, accelerating the healing process.
How to calm an anxiety attack
When an anxiety attack occurs, it’s essential to ground yourself in the present moment. Anxiety is a projection into the future. One highly effective tool to return to the present is the five senses method:
Identify five things you can see,
Four things you can touch,
Three things you can hear,
Two things you can smell,
And one thing you can taste.
This practice brings you back to the now.
Why accept your anxiety?
Anxiety is a guide, an internal alarm reminding us to pay attention to our health and what’s affecting it. Anxiety is a response to perceived danger, so ask yourself: what danger are you perceiving around you?
Discover my program to naturally manage anxiety
If you want to take a deeper step and free yourself from anxiety for good, I invite you to explore my complete anxiety management program. It combines nutritional advice, phytotherapy, aromatherapy, anti-stress routines, yoga, meditation, energy practices, and breathing exercises to help you navigate and overcome anxiety attacks.
The goal is to offer you a holistic, personalized, and effective support system to restore your inner balance and manage daily stress more effectively. You'll learn to understand your emotions, use natural methods to soothe them, and build a lifestyle that fosters serenity and well-being.
Join today and start transforming your life, free from the grip of anxiety!
Anna Mercoiret, Holistic Coach
Anna Mercoiret is a holistic coach and the founder of the Wholistic method. After a demanding career in finance in Paris led to numerous health issues, Anna transformed her life through Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga, Energy Work, and Personal Development. In just six months, she regulated her PCOS, reduced chronic inflammation, stabilized her kidney insufficiency, calmed her anxiety, and relocated to Bali.
Drawing on her comprehensive training and personal experience, Anna developed the Wholistic method, which aims to balance the body, mind, and soul. Today, she helps individuals master their health, find balance, and lead more aligned lives through tailored holistic coaching.
