All of us at one time or another have experienced some type of anxiety.
When the anxiety gets the best of us, we have a choice – we can either medicate, or look for alternative methods of getting our mind back under our control.
A practice of meditation and yoga can give one the self-awareness and detachment to see the anxiety for what it is.
Most of what we worry about never actually happens, and if it does, the consequences are usually not nearly as bad as what we expected.
Seeing certain thought patterns arise time and time again in meditation or yoga is the first step to getting them under control.
With the practice of detachment, we can watch the thoughts, see some of the tricks that our mind plays all day long, and recognize harmful patterns as just that – habits that can be changed for the better.
Sometimes we can recognize anxiety as a way that our body or mind is telling ourselves that something is not right.
If you are overly anxious about a new job or a move, maybe re-assess the decision honestly to see if it really serves you or not.
And sometimes what we perceive as a bad situation is exactly what we need at that moment to grow, learn, or transcend.
The practice of yoga will help you to see more clearly if this is the case or not.
Yoga can also help us differentiate between that which is within our control and that which is not.
We can never have full control over outside circumstances, or of other people. Trying to control these things is futile, and enough to drive anyone crazy!
But yoga teaches us that we always have control over our internal responses to external happenings.
Anxiety is a response when we are overly concerned over what may or may not happen in the future.
In the words of Ramana Maharshi, “If we take care of the present, the future will take care of itself”.
