The Mental Health Foundation defines anxiety as “a common emotional state characterized by feelings of unease, such as worry or fear, that can range from mild to severe”. Having an emotional response to your surroundings and circumstances is normal, and understanding how to navigate these feelings can help ease the often unpleasant symptoms. Summer is a heightened time of activity- travel, pressure to cram as much fun as possible into each day, and a general sense of busyness that is not as present in the winter months. This change in pace can leave anyone frazzled or overstimulated, but luckily TCM offers many holistic tips and tricks to help regulate your overtaxed nervous system. Stimulating the vagus nerve, emotional freedom tapping, breathing exercises, grounding in nature, acupressure, and various types of somatic bodywork are all accessible techniques to promote bodily relaxation and ease anxiety when it is feeling overwhelming. These techniques can be used year around and for varying severity of anxiety.
Ear Massage for the Vagus Nerve
The Vagus Nerve is the longest running cranial nerve in the body, extending from the brainstem to the heart, lungs, digestive tract, and more. Connecting the central nervous system with the gastrointestinal tract, and acting as a communication system between the brain and organs, the vagus nerve helps regulate essential bodily functions like mood, heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, and pain tolerance. Manual stimulation of this nerve can promote feelings of calmness, reduce anxiety, regulate emotions, calm a rapid heart rate, promote relaxation, balance the nervous system, release and regulate digestive enzymes, improve gut health, slow rapid breathing caused by stress, reduce inflammation, and balance hormones.
The nice thing about a vagus nerve massage is it can be done anywhere, allowing you to take a much needed quiet moment to regulate your body on the go. To massage the nerve, find points behind the ear and along the neck, and apply gentle pressure with your fingertips in a circular motion. While massaging, take deep breaths, focus on relaxation, and visualize your stress melting away. This massage can be repeated multiple times daily as a regular practice, and more frequently depending on need. Beyond manual stimulation, you can activate the vagus nerve by eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, getting enough quality sleep, gargling, singing, humming, or performing breathing exercises.
Emotional Freedom Tapping Techniques
Emotional freedom tapping, or EFT, is a technique that can be used anywhere, anytime, and by anyone without any special tools. It involves using your fingertips to tap various acupoints along your body while thinking of a particular emotion or circumstance that is causing you stress. The TCM theory that the 12 meridians, or channels that carry energy throughout the body, can be stimulated through acupressure or acupuncture is the foundation of this technique. There are nine particular points that are tapped to relieve stress, anxiety, and balance the whole body. EFT can also help with conditions like depression, chronic pain, PTSD, cravings, and phobias. Tapping is done in a specific order, beginning and ending with the mental exercise of identifying and thinking about the particular issues you want to address, whether it be stress, anger, cravings, or anything else causing you anxiety. Here are the steps.
1. Identify the issue you want to resolve.
2. Once identified, rate the intensity at which you are feeling the issue, where 0 is totally fine, and 10 is the worst. This step helps you gauge your emotions before EFT compared to after.
3. Think of a statement or mantra that acknowledges the issue you are addressing as well as a kind word about yourself. For example, “Even though I feel anxious, I accept myself”. Allowing yourself to acknowledge your feelings and be ok with them instead of suppressing them is an important part of the success of this technique.
4. Begin the tapping sequence all while repeating your mantra to yourself. Tap each point seven to nine times. To start, use four fingers to tap on the side of your hand just underneath your pinky. Then, use 2 fingers to tap through the following spots- the inner edge of your eyebrow, the side of your eye, underneath your eye, under the nose, under your lip above the chin, and each side of the center of your collarbone. Use 3 fingers to tap under your arm, just beneath your armpit, and finally use 3-4 fingers to tap the crown of your head. Continue thinking of your feelings as you tap.
5. After 5-7 rounds of tapping, reassess the intensity of your feelings and evaluate whether you can alter your rating. If you can not change your rating, you can continue more rounds of the tapping sequence. However, it is important to acknowledge when the tapping is not effective and greater help from a therapist or family care provider is necessary.
Tapping can be practiced daily or weekly, and a consistent practice teaches your nervous system that this technique is a safe means of calming down.
Breathing Exercises
TCM teaches that practicing mindfulness and deep breathing are impactful methods of relieving stress and anxiety. Shallow breathing can trigger the fight or flight response by depriving the body of oxygen. This can increase heart rate, and cause dizziness, anxiety, and muscle tension. Deep breathing, when done correctly, has many benefits, like improved blood circulation, stress management, increased lung capacity, enhanced focus, better sleep, muscle tension relief, and relief from depression, nervousness, and anxiety symptoms. It is so important to draw enough breath in to expand the belly fully, inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth.
Three examples of different breathing exercises are 4-7-8, box breathing, and belly breathing. Each technique is intended to draw attention to your breath, calm the mind, and relax the body.
4-7-8 breathing focuses on relaxing the nervous system. Begin in a seated position with a straight back, or laying flat on your back. Place the tip of your tongue against your upper front teeth and leave there while inhaling and exhaling. Inhale through your nose. Upon the exhale through the mouth, and with the tip of your tongue against your upper front teeth, make a whooshing sound with your breath. Then, close your mouth and inhale through your nose to the count of 4, hold that breath to the count of 7, then exhale through your mouth and make the whooshing sound to the count of 8. Repeat.
To box breathe, begin in a comfortable seated position. Start by exhaling to the count of four, and hold your lungs empty to the count of four. Inhale to the count of four, hold that air to the count of 4, exhale to the count of 4. Repeat this pattern until you begin to feel yourself relax.
Belly, or diaphragmatic, breathing is a type of abdominal breathing that can relieve stress and anxiety by increasing oxygen in the bloodstream. Again, start in a comfortable position. If seated, sit in either a chair or crossed legged position. If lying down, lay on your back with a support pillow under your head and knees. To start, place one hand on your upper chest and the other below your ribcage. Then, breathe through your nose and relax your abdominal muscles. Make sure that while inhaling, your stomach should rise with your breath. Exhale slowly through your lips, and feel your stomach fall below your hands. Repeat this exercise 3 to 4 times.
Forest Bathing and Grounding into Nature
The japanese coined the term Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, in the 1980’s to describe what is intuitively known by all, that a hike in the woods, a swim in a lake, a dip in a stream, or simply standing in grass can relieve feelings of stress and anxiety. While the term more specifically refers to time spent in the forest, spending time in any sort of nature can do wonders both physically and mentally. Coming into popularity as a result of the rise in technology and the business of large cities, forest bathing became the answer to counteracting the overstimulation and coldness of industrialization. This meditative practice involves immersing yourself fully in your surroundings by taking in the sounds you hear, like birds chirping or leaves rustling in the wind, what you smell, like wet dirt after rain or fragrant flowers. Feel your surroundings by dipping your toes in the stream and touching the moss on the riverside stones you rest on. Allow yourself to observe the stillness and let it calm you. Regular forest bathing is proven to improve quality of sleep, mood, relieve stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, relieve muscle tension, and enhance immune response. This practice is suitable for all ages and can be incorporated into your daily routine for optimal results.
Acupressure using Buddha’s Triangle (PC6,LU9,HT7)
A holistic approach to mental health support, Buddha’s Triangle is an acupuncture treatment that focuses on 3 points on the wrist, Heart 7 (HT7)- Shenmen or “Spirit Gate”, Pericardium 6 (PC6)- Neiguan or “Inner Pass”. And Lung 9 (LU9)- Taiyuan or “Great Abyss”. When stimulated together, these points promote emotional healing, calm the nervous system, regulate heart health and breathing, aid gut health, ease feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression, promote better sleep, and harmonize the mind, heart, and lungs. Each point has its own benefits. Heart 7 calms Shen, or the mind and spirit. This is helpful for easing feelings of anxiety, insomnia, ruminating thoughts, increased heart rate, sadness, and emotional overwhelm. This point can be used to treat trauma and grief. Pericardium 6 protects the heart and eases the gut. Targeting physical symptoms caused by emotions, like digestive problems due to nerves, this point is useful to treat nausea, chest tightness, panic attacks, and releasing built up emotions. Lung 9 is all about supporting proper and healthy breathing, which calms the nervous system. Stimulating this point tonifies Lung Qi, clears emotional stagnation, and encourages deep breaths instead of shallow breaths. When breathing is restricted, the fight or flight response is triggered. Reconnecting with our breathing allows us to reconnect with calm. Together, these 3 points bring inner peace, restore emotional resilience, and open the lungs, connecting the heart, mind, gut, and lungs.
Somatic Bodywork
Acupuncture:
Acupuncture helps ease feelings of anxiety by stimulating the nervous system’s natural ability to regulate stress hormones and restore parasympathetic balance. By needling various points throughout the body, acupuncture can treat chronic stress, anxiety, insomnia, and grief, bringing your body and mind back to rest.
Massage:
Massage is an effective treatment for stress relief because a session can reduce heart rate, promote relaxation, and release feel good hormones like dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin. Stress and anxiety can cause muscle tension and bodily aches and pains that a massage can release and repair, and can also support better sleep by lowering cortisol, the stress hormone that often leads to fatigue. Massage is more than just a luxurious spa experience, it is a powerful tool to help support both physical and mental health.
Craniosacral therapy:
While this therapy focuses primarily on the craniosacral system and relief from headaches, people often find that after a craniosacral massage, they experience reduced stress levels. Practitioners use a light touch to heal the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spine. This very fluid has a role in maintaining the health of the nervous system. If the flow of spinal fluid is blocked, gentle manipulations can enhance the flow, producing a sense of deep relaxation, clearer thoughts, and enhanced concentration. Craniosacral therapy can treat chronic pain, fibromyalgia, sciatica and lower back pain, joint disorders, teeth grinding, headaches, dizziness, gastrointestinal disorders, poor sleep, high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety.
Reiki:
Reiki is an energy healing technique used to guide the flow of Qi, or energy, through the body. Proper energy flow can release stress and anxiety, improve sleep, clear the mind, and help effectively process emotions. The practitioner can use touch, but often hovers their hands just above the skin, feeling for blockages in Qi flow and can manipulate the energy to release and slow through the rest of the body. Though feelings of stress and anxiety can often be debilitating, it is comforting to know there are numerous techniques to relieve unpleasant symptoms like increased heart rate, shallow breathing, dizziness, and muscle tension.
Aside from the somatic bodywork practices which require a professional, techniques like ear massage to stimulate the vagus nerve, belly breathing, emotional tapping, and forest bathing can be done by anyone, anywhere, for curated relief. It is also important though to recognize when these techniques are not enough and reaching out for help is necessary for the health of your mind and body.
Resources
● https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-
week/anxiety-report/what-anxiety
● https://www.tcmwellnessprinciple.com/blog/acupuncture-and-traditional-chinese-
medicine-for-anxiety
● https://drbrighten.com/vagus-nerve-massage/
● https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/health-encyclopedia/he.emotional-
freedom-technique-eft.acl9225
● https://health.clevelandclinic.org/eft-tapping
● https://acupunctureconnections.com/how-to-breathe-breathing-helps-you-become-
unstoppable/
● https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/forest-bathing-nature-walk-health
● https://www.japan.travel/en/guide/forest-bathing/
● https://holdenfg.org/shinrin-yoku-the-japanese-medicine-of-forest-bathing/
● https://www.cedarcounselingandwellness.com/massage-for-chronic-stress-and-anxiety/
● https://advwellness.org/exploring-stress-relief-through-craniosacral-therapy/
● https://www.phillylymphbodywork.com/blog/the-benefits-of-reiki-for-stress-relief-and-
relaxation