Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
So many people with Generalised Anxiety Disorder believe that they are somehow just anxious people. That anxiety is somehow part of their DNA or part of their personality. Often they have already tried therapy, talking to a counselor or psychologist and many suffers that I have spoken to have also tried medication. Some have even tried a range of breathing and relaxation techniques to little or no success. A few people are satisfied in the fact that these techniques help them manage their anxiety but many people who talk to me say nothing has worked and because of this they believe that it is just who they are. They believe they have to learn to live with their anxiety for the rest of their lives. This is simply NOT TRUE.
So frequently these people with Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) come to see me (I guess a little bit of hope is still present) and are very surprised at how quickly they start feeling better. During our first consultation – as part of the assessment – I give the client their first ‘entrainment’ (our word for treatment/session) and afterwards they report some subtle and yet profound changes. Usually the first thing they notice is far less tension in their body and mind or they feel more open and at peace in their body. This can feel a bit strange to them as most people have not felt this relaxed or free of worry for many many years. Some people say they have never been this relaxed! So it’s unfamiliar but also a very pleasant shift.
Why do we get such amazing results – and why so quickly?
We see anxiety in a very different way and because of this we address it in a different way. We don’t believe that anxiety is a mental illness but rather that anxiety is a nervous system response caused by too much stress.
When placed under too much stress the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight ‘switch’) can remain on, even when there is no immediate stressors or dangers. The body still remains in a mode when it feels it needs to protect itself.
Now with the body being stuck in this fight or flight mode all the time it changes many things from your thoughts and feelings to posture and breathing and this is because your physiology is altered. Too much stress can become very dangerous to your health. Often the first warning sign that your stress levels are getting dangerously high are the symptoms of anxiety.
So, anxiety is all about too much stress in the nervous system and because of that, we address your anxiety by working with your nervous system by turning off the fight or flight switch. We then teach your body-mind strategies to respond differently to stresses in the future so you become more resilient and more resourceful.
Our Hands-On Approach
One of the main techniques we use to calm down the nervous system is called Network Spinal Analysis. The process is called an entrainment where we make very light touches along the spine to cue the brain to find where it is locked up in defence (adaptive stress response) and then process and release this tension holding pattern. As you become more aware and conscious of how your body slips into stress responses and how to move into the space of ease (with strategies to do this on a neurological body-mind level) far fewer things will cause the stress response to be activated but when it is activated it will only stay ‘on’ for the most appropriate amount of time. If you will, think of a session with me as turning off the fight or flight switch so it is not always stuck ‘on’ and resetting it so it’s not always firing on hypersensitive mode but only ‘on’ when it’s healthy and suitable.
Network Spinal Analysis is body work. You lie on a massage-like table (fully clothed) and have a session (30min) that for most people transforms their world in the most amazing and profound ways (read some of our testimonials). But you cannot understand this work by reading about it, any more than you can understand the taste of chocolate by reading about it. You have to taste it to understand it.
If you suffer from Generalised Anxiety Disorder then I would like to invite you to the practice so you can explore how Network Spinal Analysis can radically improve your life.