SOS Tools to Help Ease Tension and Find Relief During Those Tough Times

In my new show, Yoga For Anxiety on Yoga Anytime we explore simple movements, slow mindful flowing yoga, breathing practices, restorative yoga, meditation, conscious relaxation, and 1-minute SOS tools to help ease tension and find relief during those tough times. These practical tools and techniques will help you feel more grounded, calm, and present.

Yoga Anytime has extended a 30 day trial member to you! Enjoy a 30-Day Free Trial (New Customers Only) on Yoga Anytime by using the promo code PRANSKY when you register here today!

Many of us know what it feels like to be anxious, overwhelmed, or panicked. I am no stranger. 

I share my story of my journey through panic attacks and anxiety in the video and article below. But here is the short story.

I was driving home from Maryland after helping to clear out the belongings of my beloved sister-in-law who had just passed away from cancer in her early 30s. On the highway, my arms started to shake, my vision blurred, and my breath got shallow. I remember feeling tingly all over and thinking I was going to pass out. Thankfully, I wasn't at the wheel; my boyfriend pulled off at the nearest exit and took me straight to the ER. Convinced I was having a heart attack or facing something equally grave, I was shocked when my vitals came back normal. The ER staff told me that physically, I was fine. I was having a panic attack. 

I remember arguing with the doctor: How could I be having a panic attack? I am a yoga teacher.

A panic attack made no sense. Plus, heart disease runs in my family. A heart attack made much more sense.

Not only that, but I figured I had the wrong personality for an anxiety disorder. I didn't feel particularly fragile or vulnerable. I was naturally strong and optimistic, and I had so much drive to go after my goals. I never thought of myself as anxious, nervous, or depressed. 

Yet inside, I held buried feelings that came from growing up with a father who was prone to explosive episodes of anger and aggression, coupled with fears about also losing him to his battle with several chronic illnesses. I don't think I was aware of how deeply I was holding onto things until I had the panic attack. The trauma of losing my sister-in-law, who was around my age and a lot like me, was a trigger event for facing the vulnerability that I'd been suppressing for so long. 

In the months following my first panic attack, I remember days of debilitating fears. I was afraid to ride the subway, afraid to fly in a plane. Things I used to do regularly, without ever thinking twice about them, now seemed threatening. I had this feeling, as if I were forever running away from danger.  

I remember sitting in my apartment one day, not sure I could actually leave to go to work, and it was in this moment that things shifted. I became more afraid that I would not get my life back than I was afraid of the anxiety.  I remember rolling out my yoga mat and returning to my practice. From that point on I dedicated myself to learning how to adapt yoga and meditation practices to help return me to feelings of grounded-ness and presence, and I acquired new tools to cope with acute and low-lying anxiety.  

In the end, the panic attack was a gift, because it revealed all the ways I had felt out of control historically. This exploration would eventually become the basis for my book Deep Listening: A Healing Practice to Calm Your Body, Clear Your Mind, and Open Your Heart. It is also the basis for my new show on Yoga Anytime: Yoga For Anxiety.

Through my travels of sharing yoga with hundreds of people from all over the world each year, what I've learned is that most of us suffer from low-lying or acute anxiety and don't know why it arises.  Or, we feel stressed and overwhelmed much of the time. Most of us carry around powerful emotional narratives - the "stories" we tell ourselves that keep triggering our feelings of anxiety. And, most of us don't yet know how to change the habits that keep us stuck in the “story telling” loop that keeps us feeling stressed and anxious.

I know from personal experience and from working with hundreds of people from around the world who suffer from low lying, acute anxiety, stress or overwhelm that yoga and meditation can help. 

FEEL MORE GROUNDED, CALM, AND PRESENT NOW.

In my new show, Yoga For Anxiety, we explore simple movements, breathing practices, restorative yoga, meditation, and conscious relaxation to help ease tension and find relief during those tough times. These practical tools and techniques will help you feel more grounded, calm, and present.

You'll find several video practices that are short but potent. Slow mindful flows, breathing exercises, meditations, mindfulness practice, restoratives, conscious relaxation, psoas releases, and 1 minute sos practices derived from the tools you learn on your mat - so you can bring the 'medicine' back with you into the actual moments of your day.

Yoga Anytime has extended a 30 day trial member to you. 

Yoga Anytime has extended a 30 day trial member to you! Enjoy a 30-Day Free Trial (New Customers Only) on Yoga Anytime by using the promo code PRANSKY when you register here today!

Check out Season One of Yoga For Anxiety.