Questions about Alan's Recovery Program.

How do you regulate your body or Anxiety every hour or from time to time or when put in a situation that is building anxiety?

How does anxiety feel?

You are in a meeting with your boss and he informs you that you are assigned to a new big demanding project, ofcourse you wanted it, since that project is good for your career but suddenly you feel your heart is beating fast, you blood is pumping fast, your muscles are tight, you TMS symptoms are back. And at the same time you have fear worry and pressure thoughts. Will i succeed in this new project? If not, will I be fired? If i dont do well, I will be judged to be incompetent. etc etc..
how do you use Alan's recovery program to deal with the above situation? And what do you do to get your self out of anxiety. You just cant self talk and make your self feel rational.

And all throughout the day, you recognize the destructive thought patters, as mentioned in Alan's recovery program. But what do you do when you identify one?

 

I think this speaks a lot to recognizing negative emotions and then letting them go. Identifying the emotions is step 1 to recovery. It's good to know how you're feeing and identify it, journal if needed. Categorize it mentally and/or write it down...know it is just an emotion (which is a feeling in the body plus thoughts) and use mindfulness techniques to try as best you can to observe it and then move on. Emotions are fleeting states that don't last forever. Refocus your energy on something else. Same goes for pain...noticing it in the part of the body, realizing it is simply a sensation that isn't telling you anything useful and moving on.

 

Thanks MindBodyPT.. your approach relates to Dr. Claire's. Accept it, and float through it. Just like Alan has said, thoughts are like trains at the station, you can watch them pass by or jump on it.

But what about Alan's recovery program? Where you stand up/get mad to that inner bully who is sending these fearful pressurizing criticizing thoughts?

 

Great question. Anxiety regulation doesn't mean getting rid of the anxiety, it simply means watching it, attending to it, mindfully.