Day 20: 20th May
I've often wondered if dogs suffer from anxiety lots of my pals dogs sit at the edge of the beach barking or whimpering pacing up and down While we are out surfing. I mention this to Stu @beingconscious1 as we floated about at dawn. Below are some words he sent me this morning.
Anxiety is hyper arousal of our nervous system. Usually occurring when we feel overwhelmed. For some, this sense of overwhelm is their day to day reality.
Hyper arousal is one function of the nervous system, it gets us activated and ready. The truth is for many they struggle to navigate this activation and will do anything not to feel it. We develop strategies over life that at some level protect us from feeling this physiological process.
We all have different triggers that activate this response . Usually there is a mind state that goes with it, which turns into a loop within the body-mind, overwhelm – overthinking - overwhelm and so on.
For some this produces a freeze response, they literally get stuck in the process.
So to tell someone to breathe when they are feeling stressed, may not be the best option. Although the act of consciously connecting with the breath, is the bodies way of shifting the nervous system from the activated (anxious) phase. If the person who is in an overwhelm state, has no experience with the breath, then they may not trust this natural process.
Our nervous system communicates with its surroundings and is feeling for safety. If they sense another person within the environment that is calm and grounded, it naturally starts to resonate and has the potential to move from fight, flight, freeze into a resting phase. .
Reach out to everyone ( lock down style) and as you do so, take responsibility for your nervous system, breathe if you can, feel your body, let their nervous system know its safe.
Tunes from 🎧🎤🎶@thereal and some @bzz atmosphere
Thanks lads