The Hidden Pandemic
There are some pandemics which are very noisy and some which are almost silent. Anxiety and panic attacks fall into the second category. Today in the UK millions of people are living with, dealing with and having their lives dominated by feelings of anxiety and panic.
I know anxiety and panic well. In my early twenties I had my first ‘real’ panic attack. I had feelings of profound worry like many people, particularly at school, associated with fear of failure and how other people may judge me but this was a full on ‘attack’. The symptoms of anxiety are well known and the all consuming fear of a panic attack is almost unbelievable and yet people suffering from these experiences often feel helpless. Mindfulness and meditation can help. That is why I teach.
With my own personal experience I looked for help within the medical profession with varying degrees of disinterest, disbelief and incompetance, including hospital visits and medication. These experiences were almost laughable if for the fact that I felt so desperate. Now some twenty years later and 99% anxiety free it is my passion to help people free themselves from this debilitating and dominating way of thinking.
Anxiety is itself very understandable in terms of how we live our life. Life is complicated. We don’t know what is going to happen. But interestingly we don’t need to know. It is the obsession with knowing, manifesting as worrying which becomes habituated into anxiety and panic. Mindfulness and meditation offer two things. Firstly we can see how our mind is, how our mind cheats us with endless stories and fantasises and secondly we come back to the simplicity of this moment as it is. Mindfulness and meditation are not something special. They are not a panacea for our problems but rather they a profoundly simple way of observing complexity. Crucially they are a way of learning to release experience and relax into life.
If you are struggling with anxiety or panic them please give me a call. Lets have a chat and see if you think I can help. My number is 07966237344