With how society and the social media landscape are these days, it’s not uncommon to face anxiety at some point (comparison-itis is a HUGE culprit!). I struggled with extreme anxiety for years, and I’ve seen a number of my clients struggle with it, too. It can feel like an uphill battle at times, and people often cling to the reins to try to control the intrusive thoughts and physical symptoms that can come along with it. However, the more I see people try to control these feelings, the more they tend to get in their heads – which can end up making things worse!

One of the most transformative lessons I’ve learned through dealing with my own anxiety in the past is to move through it instead of “managing” it. By learning to work through these feelings and identify their root causes, I was able to STOP fighting my anxiety, release it, and free up more of my energy so I can show up FULLY for myself and my clients.

Today, I’m sharing my favorite methods for moving through anxiety, rather than just coping with it.

Let Yourself Feel All the Feels

In my experience, trying to block yourself from feeling the tough emotions that come with anxiety is one of the least productive ways to handle it. Letting yourself feel what you need to feel – whether it’s sadness, anger, fear, grief, etc. – is one of the best first steps you can take in being able to shift your thoughts and steer your emotions in a better direction. In order to be able to move forward, it’s important that we RELEASE first!

Releasing your emotions is as simple as just listening to what your body is telling you to do – whether it’s spending an hour (or more) crying it out, screaming into a pillow, or taking a walk somewhere quiet where you can process your feelings without diminishing them. When we don’t allow ourselves to actually feel our feelings, the emotions become trapped in our bodies, build up, and come up again.

Sit With It & Feel It Move Through You

This is one of my favorite tried-and-true methods that I’ve used to move through anxiety, because it doesn’t require a ton of energy or taking any physical action. All you need is yourself and a quiet place to sit still, so you can focus on feeling the anxiety move through you. Try imagining your anxiety as a cloud or a ball of energy – whatever resonates – moving through your mind, your body, and eventually making its way outside of you. Visualization can be a POWERFUL tool, so make it vivid!

Move It Out

Let’s be real – sitting in silent meditation isn’t always for everyone. Sometimes you need to just move it out! Getting in some form of physical activity that you actually enjoy is a great way to release your emotions and raise your vibration. If you know me, you know a good dance party in my bedroom is one of my favorite ways to release negative feelings, raise my frequency, and start to feel GOOD. Find what works for you – whether it’s a sweaty HIIT session, a run through the woods, or a stretchy flow on your yoga mat. Connecting to your body can help you feel into any physical manifestations of your anxiety, allowing you to move through these emotions more effectively. When I’m dancing it out, I tend to start with slower, more emotional songs as I’m moving the emotions through, and as I release I turn to happier, more upbeat music. When you’re using physical movement to release emotion, the most important thing is to set clear intention before you start. Set the intention that with your movement, you’re releasing any anxiety, fear, doubt, anger, or sadness. 

Shift Your Thoughts & Rewire Your Brain

Another method that has been essential in helping me move through my anxiety is learning to shift my thoughts. Instead of staying trapped in a cyclical pattern of worry, uncertainty, or unworthiness, focus on identifying the root of these thoughts, so you can start to rework them.

Some helpful questions to ask yourself are:

• Where is my anxiety stemming from? Are these thoughts actually true? How could I see things a different way?
• What is the actual worst-case scenario possible and how would I move forward?
• How is my anxiety trying to protect me?
• How can I be grateful for what I’m feeling?

Once you’ve taken the time to analyze your thoughts, you’re ready to start shifting out of them! (If you haven’t read my blog post on how to shift out of low-vibe emotions, check it out here.)

While thought shifting is a great tool for learning to move through anxiety in the moment, so many of the negative thought patterns we find ourselves stuck in are caused by limiting beliefs and repetition over time. When we continue to repeat the same thoughts to ourselves, they eventually become hard-wired in our subconscious minds as neural pathways. This is why I’m a HUGE advocate for brain rewiring to achieve long-term results! Check out my posts on brain rewiring in The Channel Collective membership to learn all about how you can start to implement this powerful technique.

Once you’ve learned how to feel through your emotions, identify their roots, and rewire your thoughts, you’ll probably start to notice how much better you feel when you can MOVE THROUGH your anxiety, instead of constantly fighting to control or cope with it.

I hope you find these techniques helpful! Have any other methods you like to use to work through your anxiety? Comment them below – I’d love to hear! 🙂