The Psychodynamic Therapist

When you are feeling anxious and you want to shift those feelings - change what you are doing in that moment.

If you are seated, stand up and walk to another room or even better outside. If you stand at your back door, or on your balcony, shift the sensations you are aware of. Feel the heat from the sun, the cold from the wind, listen to the birds, or the chatter of passing people.

If you're curled into a ball, stand and extend your limbs. Mimic your favorite super hero's stance, or athlete's focus stance ( think of Johnny Sexton in the shop looking at the menu ).

Remember the law of conservation of energy which states "that energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only converted from one form of energy to another" so by shifting our position we take charge of where we want to direct that energy.

If you're in work, school or college, walk to the bathroom, or to the water cooler, the kitchen to make some tea. If you can, wash your face with cold water. Use the small things around you.

Singing is one of my favourite ways to challenge those symptoms. Use your voice to honour your response, express instead or repress. Use the need for breath control to shift energy- choose a song that makes you happy, or a song that matches the tone of what your feeling.

Allow yourself to be okay with the fact that you have anxious feelings. Giving yourself permission to feel is far more healing than torturing yourself for having a very normal response to the things that are difficult.