Anxiety can be challenging or debilitating. It can be simple or complex. We all feel it differently.

I am sure most of us at one time or another have felt anxious. That nervous energy before a big interview, before speaking in public, or maybe before an important exam. For some people, those events can cause anxiety that knocks them off their feet.

The way we approach life and our day-to-day world is important. If we are functioning well, and feeling levels of anxiety, we can still cope and go about our day. We find ways to “deal” with the anxiety. And those ways often come with another cost to us.

But for others when anxiety hits it is not as easily managed and our functioning is impaired. Anxiety can be managed. Sometimes with medication and therapy, therapy and tools alone, and sometimes with tools alone. It depends on many factors.

If it is debilitating to the point where it interferes with your daily life, see your family doctor for options.

Therapy can provide additional tools and techniques to support you in functioning better every day.

• Mindfulness and meditation

• Movement and relaxation

• Connecting to your emotional responses

• Root causes of the anxiety

• Breathing

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

• EMDR

Anxiety is triggered typically by an event which then is like a domino knocking down a series of dominos. It includes a physiological response in your body which also sets off dominos in your body. You have conditioned yourself to do certain things now to be safe.

Getting to the root of what events are triggering the response and finding new ways to condition your body is one approach. Often people with anxiety have heightened states of arousal all the time. - hypervigilant. Getting them to relax, for the parasympathetic nervous system to kick in, is important. As we can lower that continual state of arousal, we can find and use other tools to support the person.

Over time, we can learn to cultivate a different relationship with our body and with our anxiety that allows it to teach us, not control us.