How to Stop Anxiety Faster Than Any Drug or Therapy

It's such a pleasure to see you. This is Dr. Nicole, and today we're going to talk about how you can learn to self correct in a way that's going to stop anxiety in its tracks faster than any drug or any therapy with anxiety. What's happening is your body is engaging in, in a completely normal response. Our bodies need to be able to produce fight or flight responses in order to protect themselves. And so when you feel anxious, your body's doing everything right in terms of producing hormones, producing neurotransmitters, getting your muscles ramped up and ready to go. Those feelings of adrenaline that you get are all your body's natural processes, and they're doing everything right. And the problem with that is when they start to take center stage and they start to run the show instead of you getting to run the show. And when they're running the show and you're putting yourself backstage, they're deciding what is a danger and what isn't, as opposed to you being able to do that. And so today on the live, I want to go through a drawing that I made that walks you through the beginning steps of being able to learn how to work with your body to self correct. And when you've mastered the skill, you're going to be able to use the skill to stop anxiety in its tracks, stop panic attacks, stop rage and anger attacks, and even stop grief attacks before they even happen. And the more that you master this, the more that you practice this, the more automatic it will become and the more you'll be able to identify before you even start shifting into the danger zone, that something needs to be done. An example of this is we've seen in the research that monks and other amazing meditators are able to change their heart rate variability, their blood volumes, blood sugars, and other health metrics simply by using the power of the mind. I've also talked a little bit about different studies in the ACT method that talk about the power of the brain to actually change the biology. There's an abundance of research showing the power of the placebo effect, which is all about the brain and its ability to change the way the body is responding. So a couple of things I want to emphasize is, number one, is that your anxiety is not a disorder. It is not a problem. It's just a part of you doing its job. And what we need to do is to give that part space to do its job within the constraints that you want to give it. So if you're walking down a dark alley and your body starts Producing feelings of fight or flight, that's a good thing and it's protective. But if you want to do a speaking engagement and you have a lot to share with people and your body produces feelings of fight or flight, that's it. Taking center stage when you don't offer that to it. And that could be a problem. So I'm so excited that you guys are with us. We're going to talk about how to send anxiety backstage faster than any drug or any therapy. And my goal is that once we learn to master these techniques, that you'll be able to save years and years on the therapist's couch and be able to help yourself feel better and, and maybe not even get to that red zone without feeling like you need a medication or a prescription. I do want to give a disclaimer that therapy is life saving. Medications are life saving. And my objective is to put a comma at the end of that sentence. So that's not where you stop. My objective for you is to give you as much useful, powerful and free information as humanly possible so that you can start living your life the way you want to it. We also have an Anxiety Freedom Challenge for you who haven't heard about it yet. And all you do is you go to the Anxiety warriors group and there's a seven day freedom Challenge in there. And every single day you're going to get a booklet, you're going to get videos, and in each video I'm going to share two tips, two tips for stopping anxiety in its tracks. And so it's going to be expanding in more detail on the topics that we're talking about today. So, so if you haven't found that yet, go and check it out. You can find it by going to our Facebook group, Dr. Nicole Cain, and then there'll also be a link in the comments if you have done the Anxiety Freedom Warriors Challenge. Remember, it takes on average 90 to 120 days for your brain to create a new habit. And so in order to get the best results, keep on fighting, keep on practicing, your brain can change. We see seen this in the literature with brain scans and brain science. And so this stuff works. It's just a matter of putting your attention towards getting your life back, being intentional about your habits. And I want to jump in today by teaching you something that you can start using immediately. I also want to thank everybody who's here on the live video. It's such a joy to see you. I'm honored that you're here. I love your questions and comments and so I'll be teaching and then if something pops up for you, I'll do my best to live respond. And if I don't see it or if we don't have time, I'll be going through the comments at the end and making sure I respond to them. And so let's get started. So I am by no means a skilled artist, but I hope that will convey the main kind of purpose of it. And so if you also, we're going to be posting a podcast interview that I did with one of our anxiety freedom warriors. And we talk about this quite a lot in terms of application in a real world circumstance. And so stage stay tuned for that. I'll make sure to get that link up here when it goes live. But what I want to emphasize is that when you learn to regulate your body, you're going to be able to self correct faster than any drug or any therapy. And this is using the power of the brain and the power of the body to literally change the way that your body is responding. And so this can stop panic attacks, this can stop anxiety before even getting the panic attacks. It can stop anger attacks, those feelings that encourage us to engage in a compulsive behavior that may not be helpful for us. It can stop those feelings from happening and you can learn the skills. And so I'm going to teach you about that today. So the first thing we have to do is we have to start to recognize where we are on the nervous system continuum. And we talk a lot right now about anxiety. That's where I'm really focusing in on. But this is really relevant for bipolar disorder, depression, mania. It's useful for anger, rage, frustration, irritability. It's also useful for severe depression. And so it's just a matter of personalizing this graph for you. And so if you're watching this video live, if you have a moment, pull out a piece of paper. If you have colored pencils or markers, drawing this for yourself can be really helpful to make sure that it feels relevant for you. If you're watching this recording, just go ahead and hit the pause button and then hit play once you have all of your materials ready. So what we're going to be drawing is we're going to be drawing the spectrum of wellness in green. In yellow and red are the colors we're using, and I think about those in the representation of a stoplight. If you're driving your car, you'll see a green light, a yellow light and a red light. Green light is representative of go. Proceed. Life Is good. You're moving along, you're progressing. Yellow means we need to slow down and watch what we're doing. And we're seeing that there may be signs of danger. We have to hold back, kind of scope it out, take a pause. And red is just straight up. We need to stop. So let's talk a little bit more about the green. So with the green, these are signs that you are in an optimal space. And so this sign here, it says signs that I am optimal. And so start to notice in yourself, what do I feel like when I'm in an optimal state? What does my body feel like? What do I feel in my thoughts? How easy is it for me to think of ideas, to remember things, to be spontaneous, to think critically, to synthesize data, Notice what it feels like in your mind when you're in the green. And then we want to look at what happens in the rest of your body when you're in the green. And so I left a space here so that when you're writing down signs that I'm in the optimal look at your thoughts, look at your body. How does your heart feel? Your chest, your muscles, your gut? I was talking with somebody yesterday. When she gets really stressed, a lot of it goes to her gut, and she gets really bad cramps and pains. And so that's definitely not a sign of her being in the green. That's a sign of her being in the yellow or the red. So first, write down signs that you're in the green. Sometimes for us, it's been a long time since we've been there. And so do the best that you can to try to remember a time when you felt like you were good, calm, relaxed, empowered, and in the green. If it's hard to remember anything like that, it's okay to leave that blank because it's going to be space where we're going to be creating and empowering you. So I'm just taking a peek. It looks like Haley put the link in for the anxiety Freedom Group. And so the Anxiety Warriors Freedom group for you guys who have joined, we're going to be expanding on these topics quite a lot, and it's a place where you can go to get started right away in getting your life back. And we're talking about how you can regulate your body and in a way that's going to help you get out of this yellow and red zone faster than therapy and faster than medications. And so let's go back to it. So we've been talking about the green. These are Signs that I'm optimal. And then underneath of that, we talk about what keeps me optimal. I have a whole course, and it's called the act method. And the act method has a section in it. And we actually expand quite a lot on force field strategies. We dig into what is your force field strategies, what are going to work for you in order to help you feel strong, empowered, encouraged. Force field strategies. I call it a force field strategy because I think of a force field is something that's protective around us. What are the things that we do? What are the things that we read, consume, take? Where are our personal limits? What are things that help protect us? I am so happy to see you that you are here. Haley and Jared, Michael, it's great to see you. Jennifer, you guys are amazing. You guys are warriors, and I'm so honored that you're in the group. So as you're feeling this out on your own, we want to know what it's like when you're in the green. And then what are some things that help keep you optimal? And then I have the pay attention zone. And this is where we're going from really good, optimally good. And then things are pretty good. But in mania or anxiety, we can start to see that good can often be overstimulating, and it can start to ramp us up. So we get into this pay attention zone, and that is the moment that we start to transition from I'm pretty great and pretty good into, ooh, this may be a little bit much. And so if you can capture that exact moment, that's going to be the ticket to helping you stop the process before it even becomes an issue, before it even becomes a thing. And so for me, one of the things that helps me identify when I'm getting a little bit into this kind of pay attention, slow down zone is I start to notice a little bit of tightening in my chest and my jaw. I'm still feeling good, I'm still feeling confident, but then my body is giving these teeny little indications that we might be moving into yellow zone. And so the yellow zone, these are signs that I am amping up. Does that mean that you're getting a little bit more nervous or a little bit more hypomanic or a little bit more irritable or a little bit more on edge? What are signs that you aren't feeling quite like yourself? And it's gone from good to being a moment where we need to slow down and pause and pay attention. Notice how your thoughts change, notice how your body changes and Write that down, signs that I'm amping up and then underneath of it, we need to employ quick tips to self correct or self regulate. And that's exactly what this whole part above here is, is I can give you crisis strategies and we will talk about that in the private group. So we're going to continue this conversation in the private warrior group where I'll go over the red, the crisis zone. And then I'm also going to show you my top three bonus supplements to stop anxiety from turning into a panic attack or a rage attack. So I'll go over that in the private group and the tips and all this good stuff. And so today we're going to go to the yellow. We're going from green to yellow. We all have our little canaries, indicators or signs that we're shifting ever so slightly into a zone where it's becoming a risk factor for us not feeling like we're at center stage, like we're not feeling like we're the author of our own story, where we're not feeling empowered or balanced or in control or like ourselves. Right. And so write down, if you can, what are your little canaries, the pay attention zone. What can you identify in that exact moment? And that requires a little bit of mindfulness to be able to know what's happening behind the scenes while you're going throughout your day is being able to notice, huh, I feel a little bit of tension in my throat, what's going on? And then before you even get into the yellow zone is slow, slowing down, noticing what's happening, notice thoughts that are coming up, notice your environment, notice physical sensations and being empowered to make a change right away before anything starts to go awry. So we talked about signs that I'm on paying attention zone. We talked about signs that I'm amping up. And then there are self correction, self regulation strategies. And we're going to talk more about that in the private warriors group. So go and join sign, sign up, become a member of that totally free, great support group. We're there for you to get you everything that you need to get your life back. And so we'll be talking more about that there. And then if that doesn't stop, if you're not able to stop that in the tracks, what we typically see is that the yellow becomes a little bit more and more and more intense, more intrusive, more bothersome. And then we get to what I call the wonky zone. And the wonky zone is where things are not good. They're getting wonky we're about to go into crisis. So the question is, what does that look like for you? What is your wonky zone Again, we'll talk more about this in the private group. But start to ask yourself, how do I feel when I'm going into crisis? What's that last straw? To give you a personal example is there's a lot going on in the world right now. So I've been experiencing stressor after stressor after stressor. And then yesterday something happened and it was just like tipping point for me and I started to feel really agitated and really anxious and I wanted to just dissociate from the world and just scroll in my phone. And so that's a sign that I'm starting to shut down and get more into like a crisis. Like we need to do something fast kind of a zone. Or I like to spiral and get really sad or get really anxious. And so for you, what does it feel like when you hit that wonky zone? If you hit the wonky zone and you start to go into either true mania or your thoughts are racing or the intrusive OCD is kicking in and you feel like you're stuck, stuck or you're starting to panic, then there's something called tips. And I'm going to expand on that more in the other groups, so go check it out. But tips are well researched strategies to helping you get your life back and help you move out of crisis zone, down into stress zone and then even past that pay attention zone back into green. And so what I really want the take home to be for today is that you can be free from anxiety. I know that you have been through a lot. I know that the medical system has labeled you like you have anxiety, you have anger, you have bipolar, you have depression. But I want to tell you, love, that that is just not the case. We use the Diagnostic Statistical Manual to help categorize people by what medication options may be helpful for them. But it is in fact one of the most harmful things that we as healthcare professionals can do is to a label on somebody because then we start to identify with it. And I want to share with you a story about how identification can change your trajectory and change your your entire potential of healing. And I've told this story in a lot of different times. I've been interviewed and I've written podcasts on this. But in case you haven't heard the story, I'd like to share it with you now. And I share this story with you to tell you just an example of how our mindset can be so profoundly impactful on our actual body and what our body is doing. And to teach you that we can work on changing your brain, changing the way that your brain communicates to your body, and we can stop anxiety in its tracks, rewind that story, give you center stage and help you get your life back faster than medications, faster than years on a clinician's couch. So let me tell you the story and then I'm going to be moving into the private warriors group where we're going to dig in in a little bit more detail. Before I pop off too, I just want to remind you to find the warriors group. The link is in the show notes here. And then you could also find the anxiety Freedom one week challenge in there. Again, it's free. And it's seven days of two tips each day that work on the brain and on the body to help stop anxiety in its tracks. Out of 14 tips, I'm sure you're going to find something in there that you really resonate with. And then at the end of that, there's also a really exciting freebie. So stay tuned to the end of it. Make sure you do the full seven days. Okay, so the story, my mentor was working in a clinic and we'll just say, just to change the details and to protect people, let's say that he's working in the northeast and he was working with two women and they were around the same age and they both had a diagnosis of lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune condition where the body actually attacks the different organs and symptoms can be pretty severe to life threatening. And so both of these women were diagnosed with lupus around the same time. They had similar symptoms upon presentation. And so he's utilizing treatments and he's thinking to himself, this is a great opportunity to see what integrative medicine can do in the support of lupus. And we could do stuff study on these two women and what makes a difference in their progression or lack thereof. So he's treating them, he's giving them similar solutions, similar remedies. And one of the women, they're thriving. She's getting better and better and better. Her autoimmune markers are going down, her symptoms are reducing, her quality of life is improving and she's doing great. The other woman wasn't improving. She wasn't thriving. Her autoimmune markers were going up, but she was still receiving the same treatment. And for all intents and purposes, she should have been experiencing progress. And so my mentor is kind of racking his brain, trying to figure out what is going on. He thought about the genetic environment, he thought about her response to medications, and he thought about her family dynamics, her history, levels of trauma. Like, he's thinking about all these different variables, and he can't figure out for the life of him why one of his clients was extremely benefited by the integrative and conventional approaches, and the other one wasn't until one day he finishes his visit with her, and she was his last client for the day. And so he walks her to the door, and as he's walking up, he observes and watches her go to her car. And she gets into her car, and he sees it as she's driving away. She's pulling out of the parking lot. He sees the license plate, and it says, lupus me on the license plate. And so, of course, we can't prove that the lupus me, the identification that I am, my diagnosis, we can't prove that that was why she wasn't getting well. But it definitely makes you pause, right, by labeling yourself, I am anxiety. I am bipolar. I am lupus. What is that? Telling yourselves, what kind of freedom does that give you to live a life where you aren't anxiety, where you aren't depressed, where you aren't angry, where you aren't ocd, where you aren't an addiction? And I think that's really profound when we look at that in combination with the neuroscience that we see coming out, talking about the ability of the brain to literally change the brain, to literally change the body, and how the brain can literally change the way you think and feel. So we know this stuff works. It's just a matter of teaching us how to live our lives in a way that gives us freedom. And that's what I'm all about here. I want to give you all of the information that I have. I want to do it for free. And so check back often. You can get your life back. You can feel like yourself again. It will take time, and the effort that you put in is going to reflect the quality of the outcome that you get. And so it's like training for a marathon. If you run once a month, you're not going to progress as much as if you train every day. So I'm going to go ahead and bop into the other group, and if you have questions or comments or you need more support, we're here for you. And if you want to learn more about me and my practice, I'm Dr. Nicole Cain, and my website's www.Dr.nicolecane.com Check out the anxiety. The Anxiety Freedom One Week Challenge. It's totally free. And we're here to support you and love on you. And I want to thank you for watching this video. And I'll be back here every Wednesday and Friday and I'll be in the warriors group. Lots in between. We're here for you. We honor you. We support you. We'll talk to you soon.