Understanding and healing stress and anxiety – part 1

Lumping depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, etc, all together in a basket labelled ‘mental health’ is as useful as labelling varicose veins, pulled calf muscle, broken ankle or shin bone cancer as ‘leg disorders’. Yes, it tells us where the issue is showing itself, but it tells us very little about the cause or treatment strategy required.

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When we are feeling anxiety or stress there is a natural tendency to just want it to all go away. Maybe our body is producing symptoms that are uncomfortable; perhaps we are having sleeping difficulties or physical symptoms like increased blood pressure or heart palpitations. Maybe it has been around so long we now fear the panic attacks that descend if we step outside. We find these effects uncomfortable to live with and just want them gone. Often we resort to medication to try to block these symptoms; usually with varying degrees of success and often delivering many unwanted side effects. What we need to understand is that all of these ‘symptoms’ are created by our own body for a particular reason. As part of ‘The Fear Response’ our body is having a natural reaction to a particular stimuli and it will keep increasing the pressure or the ‘symptom’ until we listen and act. Rather than fearing or fighting the symptom, the first action we need to take is to actually thank our body for acting in this way! While its reaction may seem misguided or a bit over-the-top, it is just trying to keep us safe, to show us an area of perceived danger, and when we listen to that, and act, the symptoms will recede.

The ‘Fear Response’ is the most powerful driving force within – keeping us safe is the number one priority of our whole bodily system. Stress and anxiety symptoms are the natural functioning of the body’s recognition of a dangerous situation and the body will do everything it possibly can to get our attention to make us move into action to escape the situation. Unfortunately the body doesn’t make much differentiation between the fear generated by a lion prowling outside our cave, a car coming at us on the wrong side of the road, living in a situation where we are being bullied or the fear of not having the monthly report completed on time. As far as the body is concerned ‘fear’ is ‘fear’ and it will keep escalating our symptoms until we either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’, that is, get out of the ‘fear producing’ situation.

There are several things we can do to help our body re-set.

By exercising regularly we can ‘trick’ the body into believing we are actually ‘running away’ and this will often lessen the symptoms for a while. It does not remove the cause but it can give us a bit of time to analyse the situation. Any time stress or anxiety is building up, exercising hard for 30-40 minutes is a fabulous way to release.

Breathe correctly! Many of us have developed patterns of constant very shallow breathing which mimics one of the ways the body reacts to fear. Several times a day stop to take three very deep breaths and then take one minute to focus all the attention on just on breathing gently and normally but making sure the lungs are filling fully.

Regular meditation or focussed relaxation re-trains the brains’ reaction to stress and the anxiety response. By sitting quietly and using a meditation technique we can quickly drop the response and begin to balance the blood pressure and heart rate. However the cumulative benefits of regular meditation are greater than the sum of the parts. Studies show that after as little as a couple of weeks the brain begins to change the way it processes the fear/anxiety response. We just become calmer and clearer in our general thinking. Twenty minutes twice a day is found optimal for healing in studies but often even 10 minutes regularly twice a day will show a marked improvement in well-being.

Ultimately it is necessary to identify the cause of the ‘fear response’ and take steps to learn how to deal with this or how to make changes in our life. We can also find help to uncover the actual original cause if it does not seem obvious. Often we are not afraid or anxious for the reason we think we are.

One of the basic principles of holistic health is that we cannot separate our physical health from our emotional, mental and spiritual states of being. All levels are interconnected and a state of ‘dis-ease’ in one area will always eventually create an imbalance on other levels as well. When stress and anxiety occur on a regular or ongoing basis a complete medical assessment should take place to rule out a physical cause such as Thyroid disorder or nutritional deficiency.

Managing stress and anxiety in the classroom

Students showing symptoms of fatigue, aggression or withdrawal may be suffering from an overload of stress or anxiety and it may be appropriate for a teacher to approach parents to gain more insight into current patterns in the home. Many parents presume the children are ‘okay’ as they seem to be functioning normally however children are usually not okay with a stressful environment and changes in the environment also usually affect them very deeply. One of the most effective strategies is just being able to take the time to listen and helping the child begin a conversation. Statements reflecting the emotion you see are helpful, such as “Wow, you seem a bit… overloaded/angry/upset… at the moment … (pause)…” may be helpful, and even if the response is “Na – all good” then there is still an opportunity to say “Oh well, you can leave everything else behind when you come to school anyway” which can help the child build the school experience into a place of safety. Being particularly clear when giving instructions (preferably one at a time for a child under stress) and keeping to regular schedules will be helpful and the strategies mentioned above of exercise and meditation can also be implemented in a ‘child-appropriate’ way and will help to relieve tension in the classroom. Allocating even a couple of minutes for just being still, with eyes closed, such as the ‘Star Breathing’ technique is also very helpful.

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Star Breathing Relaxation Technique

Everyone get a little space… lie down on the floor… and stretch out like a star… make sure you are not touching anyone else and that you have a little room around you, and you have to be very still… just like a star…..

Close your eyes now… we are going to be doing a very special ‘visualisation exercise’… we are going to be doing Star Breathing.

Imagine you are a star – way up high in the darkest part of the universe / sky…

You are floating there quietly, peaceful and quiet… and you are shining and sparkling.

(Some settling time is usually required – continue when there is a level of quiet)

Think about your breathing now – imagine breathing in the star light, shimmering and sparkling, slow, gentle breathing…

Breathing in the star light, slowly and gently, quietly and gently, shimmering and sparkling… breathe out and relax… (Repeat occasionally to maintain focus. Duration of exercise; 5yrs – 1-2 minutes, older children – 3-5 minutes or longer.)

(To finish) Keep your eyes closed and bring your star body back in now so it’s just you lying quietly on the mat…

Take a big Human breath now and force the air out with a big puff.

Give your Human fingers and toes a wriggle…… and sit up.

(Occasionally some very visual children may be slightly dizzy at first and just need a couple more seconds to reorient so watch for this. Make sure the children are sitting and fully focussed before standing or moving on.) 

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Camilla Watson


With a background as a Corporate Trainer, and with a Diploma in Social Services, Camilla is an experienced trainer, counsellor and life coach. She is a stress management specialist and mind/body therapist. She has received awards for Outstanding Adult Educator for her courses and is also licensed by Hay House Programmes as a ‘Heal Your Life®’ coach. She has worked in the classroom as a support person for children with emotional difficulties and also provides the ‘Understanding Emotional Processing’ workshops for teaching staff to aid them in the classroom.