From February 13, 2014: How To Manage Anticipatory Anxiety with the Alexander Technique

From February 13, 2014: How To Manage Anticipatory Anxiety with the Alexander Technique

by N. Brooke Lieb

When I began my training as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, my biggest "symptom" was not pain, it was anxiety. I had started to have panic attacks, where I felt light headed and would begin to hyperventilate, and I was afraid I was dying. Often, the fearful thoughts centered around having an allergic reaction to something that would prove fatal. (I have had three incidents of strong allergic reactions, one to medication, one to food and one undetermined, none of which has been fatal.)

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Easing Fear through the Alexander Technique

Easing Fear through the Alexander Technique

One of the biggest benefits I gained from my years of study and teaching the Alexander Technique is a process to manage my fears when they start to spike.

Alexander Technique tools include a concept called inhibition, which is a conscious skill in managing the intellectual and physical manifestations of fear. It involves multiple ways to increase the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system (sometimes called the rest and digest system, the parasympathetic system conserves energy as it slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity, and relaxes sphincter muscles in the gastrointestinal tract) when one is experiencing hyper-arousal due to increased activity in the sympathetic nervous system (The sympathetic nervous system's primary process is to stimulate the body's fight-flight-or-freeze response. It is, however, constantly active at a basic level to maintain homeostasis homeodynamics).

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