3 things to know when healing anxiety
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- This vlog digs into a question that we get from just about all the students who are participating in my online healing programs. It revolves around what to do when we feel more sensations in our body that are intense. Put simply, what do we do when we start to feel more ‘anxiety’.
If you are brand new here, please don’t flee from this vlog l if you are saying to yourself, “What the heck ...more anxiety and intense sensation?”
I know, I know. This is not exactly what you had in mind to potentially be setting yourself up for MORE feelings of anxiety and panic, but that is why you are here and why the education, from the outset, is critical for successful healing at the nervous system level.
In this vlog, I answer a question from one of my students that I believe is mandatory viewing for anyone considering embarking on this nervous system healing journey.
To give you a little reminder of why things might feel a bit more intense before they level out...it is because when we’ve held all of our biological fears inside of us: those fight and flight responses (along with the intense internal experiences that come with them!) all those charges are waiting to come out and be experienced.
When we start to put in the request to our nervous system - and all the biological tissues and organ systems that it connects to - that we’re ready to do the deep digging, so to speak, and heal, they WILL bubble up to the surface. This means that the nice cozy (yet chronic illness producing) functional freeze that we’ve maybe been living with for decades or more is starting to let go of its grip (that has been keeping us “safe”).
So when my students tell me they are starting to feel more ‘anxiety’, I do a little happy dance inside because it means that freeze is lifting, the old charges are emerging, and they are shifting towards more regulation.
NOW, it is essential that we don’t flood ourselves back into more shutdown or more chaos with these newer sensations and intensities 24/7. This is why it is super, duper, uber important to go slow with this work, focus on building capacity in the system, and also see it as a long term lifestyle change, similar to how you would with eating and exercise.
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Resources I mention during this video:
► Healing Trauma 3-Part Video Training HT
irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
► Why taking a deep breath can be counterproductive
irenelyon.com/2012/12/24/did-...
► The ACE Study Resources
www.cdc.gov/violencepreventio...
/ origins-of-the-ace-study
► The unknown causes of anxiety (things your doctor may never ask you)
• The unknown causes of ...
►How stored up traumatic (toxic) stress creates chronic illness: • How stored up traumati...
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Thank you for being here!
1. Leave a comment and let me know how this video impacted you. Feel free to leave a question (my team answers them each week!)
2. To get more nervous system health resources, plus learn more about me and my credentials, plus the many ways you can work with me at the practical level, head to my website: irenelyon.com
3. Follow me on social here:
Instagram: / irenelyon
Facebook: / lyonirene
LinkedIn: / irenelyon
SoundCloud: / irenelyon
4. GOT QUESTIONS? Send an email to: support@irenelyon.com
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Please know that…
The statements on this CZcams channel or in videos are simply opinion. Content presented or posted on this channel is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment or a professional therapeutic relationship. Content presented or posted is intended to provide general health information for educational purposes only and you should contact the appropriate healthcare professional before relying on any such information.
My website is a wealth of free resources and information on how to start this work, so here it is one more time: irenelyon.com
Thank you for this video. I’m finally staring to understand what is happening to my body. After a years living in survival mode I changed my life and created safe environment for myself, also I decided to work on my emotions, traumas and programming. This is when my body started to give me the most excruciating and agonising anxiety attacks to the point where I was fainting due to the lack of oxygen as my chest and stomach was so frozen that I couldn’t breath. Often I would wake up in that state, full of pain, anxiety and fear. I wasn’t thinking anxious thoughts, my life was safe and better than ever before but my body was tantruming to the point where I started to think suicidal thoughts as the physical and emotional pain was just too much. It felt like continuous death experience on every level of my being. Now I understand that I’m realising all the survival stress and because I understand what it is, I can practice no resistance. Before I would hate my body for doing this to me and myself for my lack of ability to fix it. I’ve tried so many different healing modalities and supplements. Nothing ever worked. Now me and my body are learning how to feel, that is safe to feel. One day we will be friends 😊♥️
I can relate. I have arrived at the conclusion that its all a matter of profound unconditional acceptance of all that Is. If we can totally accept ourselves as we are without any desire for things to be another way than they currently are, and we dont ruminate and meditate on our content, both traumas of the past and fears for the future, we will come to Rest, True Rest, profound stillness and Joy, this is all we have ever really wanted or needed, and we can give it to ourselves.
Meditation, the Mastery of attention, you become what you meditate on, therefore meditate on Love Itself.
Energy flows where attention goes.
@@HeartFeltGesture well said. Learning and practicing everyday. Some days are easier than others. Some are still very challenging. But love and awarness are there. Good luck on your journey and much love to you.
@@ice.immortal Thankyou, and to you the same.
"You become (or duplicate the qualities of) whatever you meditate on (or whatever you identify with via the "surrender" that is attention itself)."
~ Avatar Adi Da Samraj
How are you doing now?
🙏🙌❤️
Anxiety is a perception that in the future you will experience more pain than pleasure. To remove, we have to go to the original source event and change the meaning we denote to it. We must find the hidden blessings and synchronous opposites in the moments of perceived trauma. Doing this is HARD work. But 100% worth it. And it CAN be neutralised within a specific time frame (aka 1-2 HOUR(S)). Just my opinion...hope that helps anyone reading this.
Hi Hayden,
Nicole here from Team Lyon.
Anxiety does not need a thought (ie of the future) for it to be experienced in our body. Our body acutely has no sense of time. Only our mind does.
Anxiety is our nervous system speaking. Specifically our survival energy which can often be "stuck" in our body. Irene talks about it here in this video - czcams.com/video/S2hT3Qp62mE/video.html
I would also suggest watching this video about if we have to relive our trauma to heal - czcams.com/video/YCOqqO_KwEU/video.html
Let me know if you have any questions!
I think it depends on the situation and sometimes it’s purely about the past. Eg this week I’ve had flashbacks to witnessing domestic abuse and arguments when I was little and I just feel anxious, worried, terrified. All the stuff I would have been feeling at age 2 with no attuned adult there for me to help me calm down and process it. I’ve been shut down a lot of my life. It’s past stuff and has no meaning in the present, no beliefs or thoughts attached to it, just memories and feelings that needed to come out. Sometimes there aren’t hidden blessings, they are just sad experiences.
Getting some sleep would be great!
Can Irene do a video on how to make yourself do anything? I spend my life as a couch potato, spaced out, frozen, dissociated. I can only force myself to do something under threat of danger/chaos/catastrophe just like in childhood. I have no goals, interests or life. Just work and spaced out on the tv and computer at home.
I’m no Irene but would like to suggest maybe starting off very simply by breathing technique mainly for the purpose of feeling in your body and feeling the sense of your breath. Just very simple “in & out” while breathing, then maybe move to some minor movements & stretches just to wake your body up a bit each day. Go at your own pace, take your time. Your breath is always accessible to you I hope this helps, good luck
Feel exactly the same
I started feeling like that too after dealing with sever anxiety or what she calls stored survival stress for too long and having started taking meds for it. During treatment I got used to feeling less and less anxious but now I feel spaced out, lookin for something to doze my brain off and I have no will power to retake my life normally like when I used to have a lot of energy for countless things during the day
Same. Breathwork helps me overcome freeze - the Wim Hof app. Its free
@@TheBakingGirlShow How does breathing get you out of freeze? Not familiar with Wim Hoff
Thank you, it's a good reminder to take stock and see how much capacity I've grown in doing this healing work (with IFS therapy and paying attention to my nervous system). The anxiety gremlins still bubble up but there IS awareness now, and capacity and I'm able to deal with them, without freaking out. What is so helpful with your teaching style, Irene, is that you give me names for the sensations I feel and for what is happening in my system from a Somatic stance. You're putting great work into the world, thank you.
Perfect timing! 😀 Pulled this up after seeing your current post. Thank you! 😀❤
Was in survival stress throughout childhood and during many times in my adulthood. Also traumatic experiences. Some years ago, was laid off along with many other people in the company.. Before fhis I had no trouble finding work and performing well at my jobs. This time, I did get some contract work but couldn't keep the jobs because my work performance wasn't up to par. Unemployment ran out and lost my home and my car. And credit. Fortunately, I was eligible for early retirement Social Security. But too late and not enough to avoid losses.
It wasn't all bad. Very grateful for the many friends who helped me during that time! ❤ Some I had never met (friends on Facebook). At least I had money for food, internet, cellphone, taking public transportation, storage. And I only spent 3 days at a homeless shelter. Survival stress, but not a bad experience. Actually made some friends while there. 😊
All that is background is related to what's going on with me right now.
Because I've been depending on inheritance to supplement Social Security for the last 6 years, it's going to run out eventually. So I thought about getting a remote part-time job. Saw a post on Facebook and went through hiring process. Turned out to be a scam.
OK. My attitude was "Next". So I updated my LinkedIn profile, updated resume and started looking. Was going to renew connections and add some new ones, but something happened. I lost my steam. And my confidence. As in "Can I do the job? Will I be fast enough, accurate enough?"
Feeling very tired. And contracted. Capacity for dealing with stress has strunk. Digestive system affected. Been going on for the last several days. Functional freeze.
Today, I realized why. Besides having to be a perfectionist while revising resume several times, working for a corporation and doing accounting work no longer resonates with me. Driven from wanting additional income, but not from the heart. Didn't occur to me while I was doing prep work for job search. Felt a sense of accomplishment. But then I felt very tired the next day and the next, etc.
AND another reason is past survival stress and traumatic experience being laid off and what happened afterwards. Childhood experiences also a factor. See this now because of this video.
Yesterday, got into a verbal shuffle with a house mate. Because tired, anxious, low capacity. And he's triggered very easily. Wrong word and the drama begins. That's kind of stressful on it's own. I'm usually careful about what I say. But wasn't as careful this time. And know he's toxic at times, but can't change the situation yet.
He did apologize a little while afterwards. But it made me aware that I'm not in a good state mentally and emotionally right now. That even though I don't "feel" anxious, as in panic attacks, I am anxious and need to do more work on resiliency, building more capacity. The beach balls are overflowing.
I apologize for taking your time with this very long and detailed comment! You give so much! And I am so grateful for you!
THANK YOU for this very timely teaching!
And this is such a long comment. But "Damn the Torpedos!" Posting.
Concerned about following community guidelines. Been awhile since I read. Hope comment is OK.
wow, i'm amazed how lately the right things come to me at the exact right time. that's what i'm experiencing right now, more intense panic where there was numbness before. i kind of already knew that this is probably a good sign, but it's soo good to have it confirmed from s.o. else :) YES to alignment and healing and thank you for posting this video!!
I’m just so grateful for your videos, I watch them multiple times as and when I need a reminder 💪🏼🫶🏼
Your knowledge and clarity of explanations, are laced with wisdom. All your videos have been very helpful in coming to more understanding of the brain, the nervous system, past traumas and their arising once serious dedication is given to healing. Thank you particularly for the letter from Andy regarding inability to sleep, which is my current experience. Committing more to somatic practices and consequently experiencing first more discomfort and now slowly coming to inner peace and healing. Thank you for your work.
I resonate so strongly with your explanations. It feels very validating to hear you speak on trauma and the nervous system. Thank you
I was in sessions with an excellent trauma therapist last year, much of this process happened practically naturally thanks to her guidance. I had covid at the beginning of this year, which resulted in a loss with my breathing capacity and my ability to connect with my body, understanding the theory gives me the confidence to go back and make contact with my body. Thanks a lot! Excellent content!!!
This is so helpful to me. I have had digestive issues (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) that increased in severity for 5 years and resulted in me retiring 2 years early. Midway through this timeframe, I think I experienced a breakdown following a very sudden ‘existential’ situation related to my childhood traumatic events that triggered a huge physiological response in me. My symptoms worsened in that, following the event, I could not eat or drink anything without vomiting for a week. I have had good trauma therapy before this, including EMDR and exercises from Jon Cabot-Zinn’s ‘Full Catastrophe Living.’ However, I feel that my past trauma still caught up to me physically. I’m really working hard on healing, and these videos really help me, but if I can convey any advice myself, I would say that healing does NOT occur in a linear manner-same for forgiveness. Sometimes I feel more healing and forgiveness towards my toxic parents, but other times, I feel such rage it scares me. Things just feel closer to the surface and more accessible, even if I don’t want access to the memories.
Hi Gina P, Jen here from Team Lyon. It sounds like you've travelled far on the healing path. Definitely hear you when you say the path is not linear.
Given your mention of rage, I wanted to make sure you're aware of Irene's resources related to working with healthy aggression? Working with anger and rage in this way can be very powerful and transformational work. Here are a few resource in case you want to learn more (including an article from Seth Lyon, Irene's husband and colleague).
irenelyon.com/2019/08/19/what-is-healthy-aggression/
sethlyon.com/this-is-when-its-ok-to-annihilate-somebody/
@@teamlyon3109 Thank you! I will look at these links.
Who would click not like on her video? Hehe 🌸 She is awesome!!
I 100% resonate with the pool/beach ball analogy. In fact I keep reminding myself that I have too many balls in the air and that I MUST set them down because after years of doing that - I’m maxed out. I’ve hit my capacity. I’m experiencing chronic fatigue as well as physical pain/soreness. In times of high stress I will literally (for “no reason”) freeze up and just start tearing / crying - like at the grocery store - even church!
I’m comfortable identifying and feeling the feelings… I just need to learn where to go from here. Today is day 1.5 of watching your videos… I’m on the right track it seems. Thank you.
So much love to you Sister. Thank you for what you do and all that you share! Have been learning a LOT!!
So great to hear that you're learning a lot Natalya!
If you're looking for some more content to explore, I suggest checking out The Healing Trauma Series - irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
Or the 21 Day Tune-Up - irenelyon.com/tuneup/
If you have questions, please feel free to reach out!
Nicole - Team Lyon
I am so extremely grateful for your videos Irene. It has helped me heal so much and also my partner.
I'm so glad that I found this video. I've been working through the 21 day tune up and I've never felt such intense anxiety come up. It's 3 weeks now and my system still feels the intensity of anxiety. However I feel better knowing that I'm healing. Thank you Irene.
Hi Sumayya Coovadia, Jen here from Team Lyon. It's good to hear that Irene's video was reassuring. Things can definitely get louder at times/we can feel more as we start to do this work.
I also wanted to make sure that you know you can ask questions on the 21 Day Nervous System Tune Up course site? There is a team of nervous system professionals in there answering questions and providing support.
I'm so glad I'm listening to you as I was looking for another word for anxiety so now I'm gona call it stored survival stress too.❤
Abso bloomin' lutely brilliant - thank you so much for these videos! I'm watching them and watching them and gradually Getting It. It's so brilliant that we have the internet now and can find out what's cooking in these therapy practices.
YES! To the internet and to SOLID resources that are actually helpful!
Keep watching! And exploring. There's so much to learn!
If you're looking for some more resources Irene has some great free ones - irenelyon.com/free-resources/
Don't hesitate to ask questions!
Great to have you here in this community.
Nicole - Team Lyon
your videos are so so so soooo helpful in my healing process. thank you! it´s just so sad to me, and fills me with rage against this system, that none of my former therapist had ANY idea about trauma, about neuroscientific approaches and so on...
random sidenote: the "ACE influence pyramid" made me laugh out loud... the straight arrow between conception and death cracked me up! :´D
Hi!
Nicole here from Team Lyon.
I hear you. Here's hoping more people become aware and learn the importance of working with trauma at a nervous system level 🤞🏼
As for the arrow. Ha! Yes. Conception to death. Pretty much just one straight line 🤣
Nicole
Well so much for all the "just breathe " messaging hahahah. this all lines up perfectly with my lived experience so its is so nice to have someone put it into proper context. Thank you.
So helpful! Thank you, Irene!
Wow the work you are doing is so important! Thanks
Thank you Irene
Awesome explanation. Bless you !
This was incredibly insightful and enlightening! Thank you!!!
Thanks for watching 🙂
Eric!!! :)
What if you are already overwhelmed? Like shaking, heart hurts, tightness in chest, Dissociating due to years of flashbacks and trauma? Not having regulated throughout. Physically ok so far. (edited to add) I found out I need safety, I am safe and practicing recognizing what that means.
Therapy, medication and meditation.
I also feel this way! I feel so unsafe constantly for no reason.
I’m so afraid. If this stored stress is a thing, I have YEARS of this 💔
Hi Ebonie Townsend, Jen here from Irene's Team. It is definitely a thing, and many of the people who come to Irene's channel and her teaching have years of stored of stress.
When we work with the nervous system, we can heal this in deep ways over time. If you want to learn more, I'd recommend Irene's free Healing Trauma video series: irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
Wow I feel like this video speaks directly to the anxiety that I'm feeling rise up. After so many years of work and exploration and love and tenderness with myself, I was off balance about the anxiety rising up today. But this video is giving me such a beautiful reframing -- it feels deeply part of the healing. THANK YOU.
I understand you completely.
LOVE the swimming pool beach ball analogy
Many people who have done The Linden Method have healed anxiety incredibly quickly. The method focuses on using creative intellect. Seems valid.
hi, I have lived in chronic f or f for my life (got a steady drip of cortisol in in-utero and it was just more survival stress from then on) Consequently I am often more in "panic" mode than in shutdown (although I do have times of that) I hold my breath chronically as if in constant "braced against" mode. It has lead to a chronic illness (no surprise there). I have done your NS course a couple of times and am still chipping away. I often feel I can manage things more in the day, (although still having lots of upheavals as I heal the deep traumas) but at night I can feel really "anxious" but it's more than that. kind of mini-terror. I do have to learn how to breathe as I actually don't do it well. I am learning to release the rage (using Seth's article) and yes, anxiety can seem worse sometimes! Lots of soothing with pillows on my chest. But Irene is right, the education of what is going on is so important. Thank you to both Irene and Seth for your incredible work!
Hi red, Jen here from Team Lyon. It's good to hear that you are chipping away and can manage more things in a day. Titrating a LOT and really focusing on soothing and support (such as you describe with the pillows on your chest) can often be helpful when we have a history of early trauma.
You mentioned Irene's course - I wasn't sure if you were part of the 21 Day Tune Up or SmartBody SmartMind (or both). They are both potent, and SBSM has more practices specifically geared towards working with early/developmental trauma so you might check it out if you haven't already.
I have done stellatum ganglion block. Lasted 3days. Back to normal fully, best three days in a looong time.
Pure physical, so yes it fits with Irenes nerve system explanations.
So wonderful to hear this!!!
Thanks for sharing :)
Nicole - Team Lyon
Thanks for the love 💝
❤️👌🏻 thanks you !
Pretty much learn to become the Observer of your triggers and how you body and mind react to certain stressors with out adding to it in any way..only observing the reaction of the body and mind and how its always the same pattern and in those moments learn to kind of step out of the body and just observe.
Hi J FERREZ MUSIC, Jen here from team Lyon, what you describe can be important elements of working with anxiety and healing trauma, and often they aren't enough on their own. If you're interested to learn more about this, I'd recommend checking out Irene's free Healing Trauma video series. She goes into more detail about the causes and some of the nuances of trauma and what's involved in healing from it.
irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
Wonderful informative presentation, thank you. I have noticed that since becoming more conscious of my somatic sensations and inhabiting my biology more I have almost constant turbo anxiety symptoms in my body, ( unattached to thoughts), which in turn creates more physiological anxiety, interrupted only briefly by lying down or using some of the vagal brake exercises you detail. Is this ok? I am a bit worried I may be exacerbating my sensitivity and retraumatising myself, but if I know that if I am just to witness and experience as biological phenomena I can relax and feel safe admidst the messages of ‘unsafety’. Please confirm or advise if you would be so kind. Best wishes.
What if you have severe general anxiety and most of it 99.9% comes from your own threatening/scarying and denigrating thoughts that you can't seem to change cause your body is on hypervigilance/on guard all the time and calming the body seems to feel like a threat, so the body is tensing more. What is the solution then? Just noticing ? Cause the behavioral cognitive therapy does not help, it makes things worse ! Thanks for your input.
Wait, what now? We're separating out types of anxieties? A large percentage of my anxiety has been cerebral. Thoughts, worries, tensions. It makes sense to me that this ties into a survival stress response as well... I'll keep exploring in the hopes of finding deeper clarity here.
Hi Jana, Seth here with Team Lyon. Yes, it is our viewpoint that anxiety in the mind is a mental representation of something that actually occurring within the nervous system, so trying to heal anxiety by only working with the mind will not create real change that sticks. It's the mental experience that occurs when the system is always experiencing a fight/flight survival response underneath the surface - constantly looking for or experiencing threat.
I feel like I have shaken a snow globe. My emotions and feelings/symptoms seem to the snow swirling around. I dont know how to settle this snow globe. I shut down when I cant see through the snow.
How about if u havent felt relaxed or joyous for 4 years naturally so u cant connect to it, exept the moments when u take antianxiety meds? How to grow those feeling of goodness if u unable to feel them?
I'm curious to hear more about the relation between healing and digestion. I've spent most of my life on the more constipated side (as well as in a more shut-down, depressed, sad state), and now that I've more intensely and seriously begun a deep healing journey my digestion has been... quite the opposite of what it's been most my life. Without any changes in my diet as well. And so I wonder how possible the two are related, and how that's been studied in other people and how that could potentially apply to me (though I will go see a doctor first to rule a few medical causes out!)
Hi Elyse, Seth here from Team Lyon. Thanks for being here! What you describe makes perfect sense! As we start to heal we also start to move out of shut down. When we are living with a lot of unresolved freeze in our system, those survival signals are telling our digestion to stop, to hold on to everything it can, resulting in chronic constipation.
It's important to remember that the freeze response only comes on after fight/flight has been unsuccessful, which means that underneath that freeze and shut down there is always a BIG sympathetic (fight/flight) charge waiting.
Fight/Flight tells our digestion to 'get rid of everything now!". So as that energy starts to move it is common for people who have been constipated to start having loose stools and/or diarrhea instead, or to flip flop between these two extremes. As you restore greater regulation to your nervous system the digestion also gets more regulated and even. I've been through this transformation myself.
Definitely consider joining one of Irene's online programs! It's important to have right education, support and tools, as we go along this path of trauma healing. She offers two options - one is a 21 Day starter program that you can join any time. The other is her 12 week intensive, SmartBody SmartMind that runs ones a year (starts next March). I'll put the links for those below.
21 Day Nervous System Tuneup - irenelyon.com/tuneup/
SmartBody SmartMind - smartbodysmartmind.com/
@@teamlyon3109 Wow, thank you so much! That all makes perfect sense. It's fascinating how the body adapts to those survival responses, and I'm so so glad and thankful to have come across Polyvagal Theory which has definitely been helping me think about my body and mind from a much different perspective. I'm currently in a more talk driven therapy which definitely has been helping but I've been looking for more somatic approaches to my healing. Will definitely check those links out!!
Hi! I’m curious as to why it’s stored survival stress and not just purely that we have required and conditioned our brain to go into fight or flight in particular circumstances? So for example, if I feel lots of fear about leaving my house or about something like heights, isn’t it just because the brain has learned that these things are ‘unsafe’ and that’s why the fear comes every time we try to do it or even just think about it? And thus, with neuroplasticity, we can just expose ourselves to the situation and rewire it.
Hi Sam Gray, Jen here from Team Lyon. We don't know all of the detailed workings related to some of these mechanisms and my understanding is that it's a mix of both. We do create and store associations as a way to manage our experience of ourselves and the world AND we hold experiences in our tissues too.
For example, often as they do this work people discover that they have chronic bracing patterns in different parts of their bodies - as these bracing patterns soften, there may be a memory, or a release or heat, or some emotion or a movement that wants to happen (to name a few). And no, in many situations exposing yourself to a situation is not enough to rewire it and in some cases can make things worse.
Can Irene do a video on Building Capacity for anxiety. Thank you!
Hi Robin Elliott, Irene created her online programs to teach people to do just this!
It can definitely help to learn about the nervous system through Irene's (and other) free resources. The free resources and practices Irene offers are designed to give you a taste of what working with your nervous system can be like and to offer support in specific circumstances, and growing regulation is a multi-faceted process that times time and know-how. Irene created the online programs to teach people how to do just this. I'd encourage you to check out the 21 Day Tune Up if you haven't checked it out yet. - Jen from team Lyon
21daytuneup.com
Your content is superb. It would be more fantastic if you would pause a lot more. That would help all of us take in these concepts properly.
Hey Annie,
Nicole here from Team Lyon.
Thanks for that feedback! A suggestion in the mean time would be to pause the video when something feels like it needs more time to be taken in.
Thanks for watching!
Nicole
Use pause button
I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden I had weakness in limbs, stiff joints and then developed this weird dull headache on left side. Doctors ran all sorts of test and only things are low iron and low Vit D, but for some reason anxiety and depression persist. I’ve had anxiety for a large portion of my life but never dealt with it professionally or with meds. I just turned 40. I am going through an intense life transition with career and just life in general so maybe it’s a combo of mineral deficiency and emotional purge? I started therapy and acupuncture! Hopefully those modalities will help. Thank you for this video
Hi,
Nicole here from Team Lyon.
I'm glad that you've found Irene's content and hope that it provides some insight! Here are a few resources if you want explore further.
21 Day Tune-Up - irenelyon.com/tuneup/
And Irene's free resources - irenelyon.com/free-resources/
Wishing you answers and shifts in your symptoms.
Nicole
Hi Karma. I am experiencing same thing as you. Some days that I dont get enough sleep I feel weak in the morning and feels like I need to eat straight away as I think hunger makes me more anxious.
@TeamLyon Is there any other info on the breathwork? i think i messed up my nervous system a while ago trying to deep breathe during a panic attack.....its very confusing, and hard not to want to control the breath!
Hi Kristina, Seth here from Team Lyon. Yes, Irene has some more videos on this! Here are the links:
czcams.com/video/TjCbue81Qjg/video.html
czcams.com/video/k5tXiV7svJk/video.html - this is a long one, see the timestamps in the video description for where she starts talking about breath
Question...if I am trying to release survival stress by running when I feel anxious...but the stressor is still waiting for me when I get to work...does the running even help since I didn't truly "escape"? Or does the running just wear me down?
Ellen Hendricks, Jen here from Team Lyon. The running might help to manage the activation, but it doesn't usually work with the underlying survival response. I'll link to one of Irene's free resources that might be of interest.
7 Steps to De-Stress - irenelyon.com/7-steps-opt-in-IL
if i am to not change the breathe, will this make situations worse? I am so used to from playing sports or helping injured people to calming myself, controlling breathe and soothing others. Are others "out of control behavior" actually the right response? I had believed for so long that you show no reactivity in the moment then process it afterwards, maybe this is wrong?
Hello, Sophia from Team Lyon here. Here is what Irene has previously said about breath czcams.com/video/mJfsAqBOYUQ/video.html and czcams.com/video/TjCbue81Qjg/video.html
your link to your 3 day training on healing from trauma isn't working
Yes, it doesn't help to freak out about freaking out. How does one stop?
HI Jean Lakerson, Jen here from Team Lyon. The short answer is by growing nervous system regulation and capacity and healing trauma. This is what Irene teaches and what you can also do by working 1-1 with a nervous system trained practitioner. Irene offers many free resources where you can learn more, and she also offers an online course, comprehensive program, and monthly Drop In classes to teach people how to do this. I'll share a few links here to where you can learn more.
free Healing Trauma training - irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
Monthly Drop In classes - irenelyon.com/drop-in-class-1
21 Day Nervous System Tune Up - 21daytuneup.com
SmartBody SmartMInd - smartbodysmartmind.com
This was a great video, but I don't see the resources Irene mentioned posted below the video. Usually there's a little arrow that you click and the resources come up. Thanks.
Hi Joan Richardt, Jen here from Team Lyon. They are there now if you click on "more". If you don't find them, just let us know.
I love your messages, thank you! Can I ask a quick question on deep breathing, interesting article, which I also shared with my friends btw, would you refer to a 'sigh' as deep breathing when it happens naturally, or not? Because I sigh a lot, and believe it's been referred to as our physiology, for our body to release the tension through the sigh if we were holding a breath for too long, while stressed, for example?
Hi Elena, Seth here from Team Lyon. When Irene talks about deep breathing she is talking about big, deep inhales, which actually don't work well to calm the system, though they may seem to. A sigh is an exhale, and not an issue! If anything, one could extend the sigh such that they have a slightly longer exhale, which lowers the heart rate.
@@teamlyon3109 thank you I needed to hear that
could my body be putting itself in a state of anxiety because there is nothing to be anxious about and it isn’t used to that?
Yes! I’ve experienced this a lot. Childhood trauma (abuse - living in fear). When we finally left him - whenever I’ve felt slightly ok, my mind/body will find a way to take me back into that anxious state. I have ocd and I can’t tell you how many times it changes themes once I’ve felt I’ve gotten over one and feel ‘ok’.
If you’ve never been regulated and all your body knows is fight or flight then it will take you back there because it’s all it knows! Thinks it’s keeping you safe even when you’re not in danger anymore. Awareness of this is important x
So what is the practice? Is it to remember the good things in my life ( graditudes) when I’m having stress?
Hi Scott Stafford, Jen here from Team Lyon. In this nervous system work, we learn many practices that over time help to heal anxiety (and many other conditions and symptoms). I'll link to a few of Irene's free practices and to a video where she talks about growing capacity to help put this into context.
7 Steps to De-Stress - irenelyon.com/7-steps-opt-in-IL
DIY: Ancient Anxiety Medicine - czcams.com/video/0ICsbXUCKmM/video.html&lc=UgzKvm65Pqe9xARznlN4AaABAg
How to create a practice to build (nervous system) capacity - irenelyon.com/2019/01/15/how-to-create-a-practice-to-build-nervous-system-capacity/
I was looking for the video you mentioned about chronic illness because I am dealing with stored survival stress that exhibits itself as pain. Would you be able to reply with a link to the video and I will also greatly appreciate any other useful information about releasing stored survival stress which is physical pain in my body. Thank you kindly.
Hi Maria Flanigan, Jen here from Team Lyon. I'll link to the video you requested below and fyi you can also click on "more" under the video above and you'll find the other links Irene mentioned.
As far as releasing stored survival stress goes, that's what this work that Irene teaches is all about! I'll link to a few relate free resources where you can learn more. You might also consider checking out Irene's starter course, the 21 Day Nervous System Tune Up.
►How stored up traumatic (toxic) stress creates chronic illness: czcams.com/video/v0DSmN0bkPQ/video.html
free Healing Trauma video training - irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
7 Steps to De-stress - irenelyon.com/7-steps-opt-in-IL
21 Day Nervous System Tune Up - 21daytuneup.com
What if you never feel safe and are in a constant panic mode. In the past year, I have daily panic attacks because of chronic pain with no cause, vertigo and don't ever feel safe in my body at anytime because I don't know what to expect next. Years of anorexia from age 12 to my now age 50 and I have become housebound because of the panic attacks and pain. i have been learning about mind body syndrome which the brain perceives danger when there isn't any and I have learned a lot, years of therapy and I am worse now than when I first started with the anorexia. I am scared 24/7 and am losing hope. It's like living in hell every single moment. I have no money to get the real help I need so I am sort of not seeing a way out.
@lauraschmuck5565, Jen here from Irene's Team. I hear you, it can be frightening and intense when we are receiving continual fear signals that can feel real. When this is the case, it's important to learn to intentionally notice - to build the muscle you might say - of noticing things that feel okay, or even a little less scary.
This doesn't mean telling ourselves stories we don't believe, but rather learning to notice what's actually happening here and now. For example, I smell the soup simmer, I hear the rain falling, I feel my butt in the chair. It can take time, and every little step adds up. Doing even the littlest bits at a time can often help too because the physiology tends to associate too much change as danger. Doing a little bit at a time is what we call titration in this work.
I hear that you have no money, so you might check out Irene's free resources. I'll share a few links to get you started.
What is Titration? - irenelyon.com/2022/11/20/what-is-titration/
Free Resource Center - irenelyon.com/free-resources-2/
CZcams Playlist of Neurosensory Practices - czcams.com/video/RoPOmAb108w/video.html
I don’t suffer from panic attacks but know someone who has suffered from anxiety and depression since their teens - Irene talks about biological anxiety eg. anxiety and panic attacks as being stored trauma - but what about insomnia, headaches, dizziness, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, realising your body is tense most of the time, feeling anxious that something bad is going to happen to loved ones, not trusting the process, others, yourself … isn’t this kind of anxiety also stored trauma? Thanks 😊
Hello, Sophia here from Team Lyon. Thank you for your comment and sharing about what's going on for the person you're referring to.
You might find these videos of Irene speaking about the topics you mentioned insightful:
czcams.com/video/arvrott2ACI/video.html (Why can't I sleep?)
czcams.com/video/1eVzl5HA3S8/video.html (How is trauma really released?)
Additionally, if you or the person you know feel inclined to work on your nervous system, a good place to start would be Irene's free resources and mini training "Healing Trauma", all of which are housed under this link:
irenelyon.com/free-resources/
@@IreneLyon Hi Sophia, thanks very much - that's very helpful.
Interoception is a new word in my vocabulary. I wish you would use it a few different times. Thank you...
@user-it5im7dy8f, Jen here from Irene's Team. Here's a video and post that relate to interoception that you might find interesting:
Bad Situations Are Felt, Not Thought: Belly versus Brain. - irenelyon.com/2010/12/08/bad-situations-are-felt-not-thought-belly-versus-brain/
How to learn to listen to your cells and follow your impulse - czcams.com/video/R_6PWlLazvM/video.html
@@IreneLyon thanks Jen. Not sure about the spelling interception? Interoception - Most of us have heard of the five basic senses, touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing, but few of us know the term interoception. Interoception means sensing internal signals from your body, like when you are hungry, when your heart is beating fast, or when you need the toilet.
@@IreneLyon good read. Yes the spell check must have been thinking about a football term. Interoception is the word. I like that our skin is our largest organ and so much information seems to be stored there... or experienced through this organ. Proprioception is the other new word for my vocabulary. Sensitive to where we are in the universe. I look at the analogy of the fish in water. One says to the other how's the water? What water??? I'm realizing at 61 that... well a lot. I love y'all so much! Thank you!
Could old trauma be expressed as restless leg syndrome?
Hi Sage, Seth here from Team Lyon. Yes, this is an expression of old Sympathetic (Fight/Flight) energy expressing through the system. When you feel this happening see what happens if you sit up and put your legs on the floor and then let that energy move by running while sitting - this can mean small movements, just lifting the heels, or big, full-on running with the whole legs and the feet coming completely off the floor, or maybe a combination or continuum of both. Feel into what is the right level of energy for you! While doing this you can also imagine a landscape you are running across and see a safe haven of some kind in the distance - then run until you get there.
@@teamlyon3109 Wow Seth, thank you so very much for such a helpful and thoughtful response! I will definitely give it a try. 😊
Can I release anxiety through exercise if exercise makes my heart race like I'm anxious?
Ok I watched the rest and got the answer. Also at 16:30 for a few years I had felt that emotional numbness, my anxiety had gone away and I really felt nothing, but about a year ago I went through some trauma and many of my emotions were brought back up, sadness, anxiety, and guilt. I really believed these were bad things and felt guilty that I had redeveloped anxiety. This has sort of changed my perspective a bit.
@@abuDA-bt6ei, Jen here from Team Lyon. Great to hear that your questions were answered as you progressed further into Irene's video and that it's giving you some food for thought. If you want to learn more, you might be interested in Irene's free Healing Trauma video series: irenelyon.com/healing-trauma
What about fear towards climate change for example? I’m safe here in this moment but somehow it’s still a valid reason to be scared but I guess it’s still often mixing up with old survival stress?
Maraelena, Jen here from Team Lyon. Yes, as you suggested these global fears often get conflated with stored survival stresses. It's not to say that they aren't valid, but rather that we have a different experience of them as we work through the historical aspects and grow nervous system capacity and regulation.
Been in fight or flight for 50 years now....won't make it much longer. To much trauma stored, feeling heavy and about 5% energy everyday. 🤦🏼♂️🥴
So the body is much more intelligent than me? I just have to consciously stay with the uncomfy feeling and my capacity will grow?
That’s how it works, stay with it being CURIOUS
Is chronic fear the same? I tend to be in fear a lot of the time and frozen afraid to move.
Hi gonnabapro, Jen here from Team Lyon. Yes, chronic fear is similar. It's also a sign of high sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation. Freeze happens when this activation is more than we have the capacity to hold, and/or the nervous system feels like it's not able to effectively defend itself through fight or flight.
@@IreneLyon thanks for your response. Can you suggest anything I can do to move out of this state?
@@gonnabapro Mara here with Team Lyon. To move out of this state, slowly build capacity by practicing neurosensory exercises, like these: irenelyon.com/free-resources-2/
Consider Irene's 21-Day Nervous System Tune Up: 21daytuneup.com/
Understand that it’s an echo and take the punch out for now
What about ugly crying? What does it mean? Getting out of freeze?
@FlowerUruguay, Jen here from Team Lyon. I'm guessing that by "ugly crying" you may be referring to when someone is sobbing, or crying loudly (I don't see any crying as ugly).
What it means depends on the context, so I'm not able to say what it means based on that alone. Sometimes it may happen if someone is growing capacity and coming out of freeze, and sometimes it may not.
@@IreneLyon I feel it like a cry that’s feels like grief and sometimes I can see memories from painful past events of loneliness and humiliation
@@FlowerUruguay, got it. What I shared above about context applies in the situations that you're describing here.
I was a suction delivery. Could that have been traumatic?
Hi Bookish Writer, Jen here from Team Lyon. Yes, that has the potential to have been a traumatic birth experience.
@@teamlyon3109 Thanks. Can you recommend one or two of the drop in classes for someone who already lives a quite healthy lifestyle but doesn't know where to start with neuromodulation? (That's all I can afford right now) Do I have to take a basics class? There are three, are they all the same or are they different?
And do the aspects that fall under the "neuromodulation" stage all have to be practiced and is there a set order? Do I have to start with somatic experiencing or could I also start with growing capacity or somatic practice? Or could I start with several at once?
Does anyone really know how to self-regulate naturally? What does that look like exactly?
Hello, Sophia here from Team Lyon. Thank you for your comment and question. Here is a shorted video of Irene speaking about true regulation czcams.com/users/shortsu5h6b6aTqPY and a longer form interview on the topic: czcams.com/video/cUaZ50Icdu4/video.html
I couldn’t find the resources in these comments
Hi Scott, Jen here from Team Lyon. The resources are there now. You should be able to find them by clicking "more". If not, just let me know.
The professional help I can afford just pathologizes everything about me which is what my toxic family did.
Hi Kahlo, Seth here from Team Lyon. So sorry to hear about this all too common experience. Maybe see if it's possible to find a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, I'll link the directory below. Also, Irene's online program might be a good resource for working with your trauma in the safety of your own space, without that kind of negative lens.
SEP directory - directory.traumahealing.org/
21 Day Tune Up - 21daytuneup.com/
What are your thoughts on breathwork?
Hi MMGabrille. Seth here from Team Lyon. Our position on breathwork, and pretty much all highly stimulating techniques (ice baths, TRE, core energetics, EMDR, etc), is that they are not useful for healing trauma, and can actually be downright harmful for someone with a compromised nervous system. This article of mine may be helpful for summing up why... sethlyon.com/trauma101/
@@teamlyon3109 Hi there, excellent video, this is really interesting. I have read EMDR has been helpful in treating veterans with PTSD. How can it be harmful? Too much? Thanks
@@pennyportrush9039 - it depends on the background. EMDR was developed for treating shock trauma, and can be very helpful for PTSD IF, and that's a big IF - there is not also a background of early/developmetal trauma. If there is such a background (which is pretty much ubiquitous in industrialized society) then EMDR may help to address some of the shock at the surface, but it can simultaneously be overwhelming for other, deeper parts of the physiology and psyche, or may not be effective at all.
@@teamlyon3109 Thanks for taking the time to reply. That explanation makes a lot of sense to me and helps me understand 😊
Someone have anxiety for decades, so how many years is more needed for that balls to come out of that pool or to system selfregulate? Its pathetic way to live!
ivan novoselac, Jen here from Team Lyon. I just shared some related information with you in another comment. The amount it takes can vary based on a number of factors. It does typically take some time when we've had anxiety for decades, and the changes are progressive so we experience shifts and changes along the way.
My anxiety attacks make sense 🤍 also I’ve been paying attention to increase GLIMMERS in my daily life in order to cope better with the difficult days