Anxiety Relief Tips & Strategies

Don’t click away if the idea of prayer turns you off. This post is not intended to be a lecture on the benefits of bible worship. It’s to remind you that traditional “spiritual” methods can help relieve your anxiety and panic attacks.

Do you ever resort to prayer when you are afraid or don’t know where else to turn? It’s been scientifically proven that prayer by the person seeking help and by others for that person (even strangers), can help that individual find peace and recover from illness.

This is startling news, but it will be no surprise to people who are regular worshippers.

The gurus who became popular in the ’60s and ’70s used a technique that brings spiritual, mental and physical healing. They chanted specific phrases or sounds that relaxed the mind and body so that healing could take root. Ultimately, anxiety and panic attacks were held at bay.

There are other things you can do to overcome stress and panic attacks. You can pray to God, but the idea is not to ask “why me” or make deals “if you cure me of this, I’ll do this” or make threats, “I’ll abandon you like you’ve abandoned me”. Prayer must be a simple request for help in getting through your anxiety and panic attacks or whatever else is interfering with your quality of life.

I’m not particularly religious, but I used to pray a lot when I was going through severe anxiety attacks, and for many other reasons as well. Doing so often brought me to tears as I delved deeper into my pain and asked God for help. This “unloading” usually left me feeling much lighter, less burdened and more strengthened. And certainly more relaxed and refreshed.

I still use prayer when stress becomes overwhelming and anxiety attacks threaten because it energizes me so that I’m able to feel positive again. It also produces a relaxation that lasts the entire day, sometimes more.

We can get too wrapped up in our search for “why”… “why me?”, “why are you doing this?”, “what have I done to deserve this?”. Such questions are more likely to place blame than to seek help.

My prayers usually include apologies for some way that I’ve lived my life, perhaps by not always showing compassion for others.

If your anxiety and panic attacks persist, perhaps prayer will help you, too. If you have a bible, flip to a random page and read a few entries. I found this very helpful because the passages almost always could be related to my specific need. When I found some that were particularly relevant, I marked them and went back to them regularly.

Repeat the Lord’s Prayer or whatever prayer is used by your religion. If you aren’t religious and don’t have a bible, you can still pray. Think about who you are and what you need at this time. Just come right out and ask for help in your own words. Poetry is another type of “prayer” because it has the rhythm similar to what the gurus used to alleviate their stress.

Today, I came across an article written by a cancer survivor who uses prayer to help her through the rough spots. You might find it helpful. You can read it here: http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2007/10/28/columns/columns50.txt