If you are someone who experiences anxiety, you will know how exhausting it is. Trying to carry on with everyday life, with your stomach in knots and your brain full of fog is incredibly challenging. Anxiety isn’t just in our minds either. For many people, anxiety brings with it many physical symptoms too. There are many things you can do to help manage anxiety. Read on for my top five natural remedies for anxiety.
Mindfulness Meditation
Learning to meditate was a game-changer for me. Mindfulness meditation helps in two main ways. Firstly, meditation teaches us how to use our breath to calm ourselves and enter a state of relaxation. Secondly, mindfulness helps us to be more aware of our thoughts. Bringing us into the present moment, mindfulness means we can quickly catch negative self-talk before it begins to spiral out of control.
Learning meditation is the main way I have managed to overcome my anxiety. Although my anxiety hasn’t gone, it no longer prevents me from living my life. Using mindfulness techniques helps me to manage daily and be able to control anxiety when I am with people or in public places.
Learn Mindfulness Meditation
If you want to learn mediation, the best book I have read is Mindfulness: A practical guide on finding peace in a frantic world by Mark Williams and Dr. Danny Penman. This book explains mindfulness in practical easy to understand language. It also comes with a guided meditation CD.
This book is based on the 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy, offered by The Oxford Mindfulness Center. Currently, to support people during the coronavirus outbreak, they are offering free meditation sessions.
There are also some fantastic apps that teach meditation. My favorite app is Buddhify, which not only teaches meditation but also has guided meditations for every type of situation and mood.
Drink Peppermint Tea
I always carry a couple of peppermint tea bags when I travel. Peppermint tea is wonderful to soothe anxiety. It is a natural muscle relaxant, which helps to ease the tension which often comes with anxiety. I often get tummy knots and can suffer from a bad stomach when I am anxious. Peppermint helps to settle my stomach and calm my nerves.
I would recommend finding brands that make tea as naturally as possible. The higher-grade the tea, the more peppermint you will get. My favorite brand is Teapigs. I use Teapigs bags on the go and at home, I use their loose leaf.
When at home, I find the ritual of making the tea helps to begin the steps to calm myself down and self soothe. I have a rather fetching Unicorn Teapot which always makes me smile!
Massage Away the Tension
Tension headaches, neck pain, and muscle pains, often go hand in hand with anxiety. Massage can be a great way to loosen tight achy muscles. If you don’t like the idea of someone else massaging you, you can easily manage this yourself, using your own hands or a massage tool.
Red Tiger Balm For Achy Muscles
Tiger balm is one of my favorite things to massage myself with one is great for achy muscles. My neck gets stiff after I’ve spent time in a high anxiety state. Massaging red Tiger balm over your neck, or asking a friend or partner do it, is a great relief.
White Tiger Balm for Tension Headaches
White tiger balm is pure magic for headaches. I get awful tension headaches that radiate across my temples and forehead. Many times, this can be worse for me at bedtime. I massage a little into my temples and it helps to soothe the headache and help me sleep
Use Soothing Scents as Natural Remedies For Anxiety
Certain scents can be incredibly soothing. Some of the best fragrances for anxiety are lavender, bergamot orange, clary sage, and camomile. I use a mixture of oil and wax burners, candles and oil diffusers, to disperse soothing fragrances.
In the lounge, I like to use an oil diffuser and use different essential oils depending on my mood. In the bedroom, my bedtime routine is to burn a lavender candle or a lavender wax melt whilst I fill in my bullet journal. By the time I’m finished writing and reading, the soothing scent of the lavender helps me to settle down to sleep.
Soak Away the Stress
There is nothing I love more than a soak in a bath. You can make bath time into a lovely self-care ritual to ease anxiety. A mixture of a soothing bubble bath, salts or oils, with some soft music, candles, and a good book, can work wonders. My favorite bubble bath is the stress release by Radox. I also occasionally use Epsom salts, which can help to soothe achy muscles caused by anxiety. You can also add a few drops of any of the essential oils mentioned above, to help soothe and calm you, and light some calming candles too.
I hope these are helpful? Which natural techniques work best for you to mange anxiety? Please do let me know in the comments bellow! And, feel free to share the love!
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[…] my social anxiety has taken a knock during the pandemic, Chris and I have been in lockdown because of his health so […]
Some really excellent tips here, definitely be trying some out! Especially the tiger balm and peppermint tea, I think camomile is supposed to be good also Anxiety is the area I find most tricky even though I have learnt to manage the rest of my mental health pretty well now.
Thanks for reading. Yes, I agree that anxiety is the most difficult thing to manage. Having some tools like these can really help. Self soothing is vital with anxiety. I am glad the blog helped! Id love to hear how you get on!
[…] The sense of ill-ease and discomfort that arises can cause many mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. It is for this reason, that gender dysphoria is often mistaken for mental […]
I am such a big fan of hot drinks, massage and essential oils for soothing myself when anxiety gets too much!
Me too! I have just discovered that I can make my own mint tea! My life is complete!
[…] Next, for my cool down and stretch, I move onto yoga. Yoga is fantastic for calming the mind, and for a really good stretch. My anxiety causes me to hold a lot of tension in my neck and upper back. A short yoga stretch is a wonderful way unknot muscles and to soothe anxiety. […]
I love peppermint tea for calming an anxious stomach – whenever I travel I make sure I’m well equipped! Soothing scents can also work wonders too, I especially love lavender or peppermint for calming me down. Thanks for sharing 🙂 x
Thanks for reading! Great minds think alike! I have a special travel kit that comes everywhere with me!
[…] for a while. This has made me dig deep into that wellness kit, and take lots of time to practice soothing techniques for my anxiety. Taking time to simplify my life, taking the pressure off and practicing lots of self-kindness, is […]
Good to know that works too! I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
What a kind comment, thank you so much!