7 Best Relaxation Techniques for Anxiety (2024)

Each day, when I wake up in the morning, I grab a cup of coffee and go to my calendar. While it’s pretty old school to still carry a physical calendar around, I have found that, when I have something to accomplish in the future, if I write it down, I can forget it about it in the near term. For example, if I have to check my credit card statement for a refund that I am expecting, I can write it on my calendar for next Monday, and then I don’t have to periodically rehearse it in my brain, to make sure I don’t forget. “Don’t forget to check credit card….credit card…credit card..check the credit card.” Instead of having to juggle all of my tasks in my brain, I can just write it down and then one day, voila! There it is in front of me, begging to be done.

Such techniques to handle our complicated lives are attempts to manage anxiety. All humans experience anxiety. When we worry about something, we can find it difficult to relax, become easily upset or agitated, feel irritable or impatient, and sometimes overreact to events. (Bayram and Bilgel, 2008)

It’s okay to feel this way. It means you are human. However, when we are overly anxious, we can sometimes act in ways that are not consistent with the people we aspire to be.

In this post, I will discuss the manifestation of anxiety — the feeling of stress — and the top seven ways to deal with it. Our effort to be our best selves requires practice in techniques that can help us manage anxiety and moderate our stress reactions.

Top 7 Ways to Deal With Stress

A peaceful existence can be maintained through the maintenance of an equilibrium known as homeostasis. Our body and brain strive to keep everything on an even keel. We want life to be “in the middle.” We understand that there are chores, problems, and obstacles, but we want to keep these from becoming too overwhelming, so that life is not only manageable but enjoyable.

According to Varvogli and Darviri (2011), this feeling of balance or equilibrium “is constantly challenged by internal or external adverse forces, termed stressors, which can be emotional or physical in nature.” Thus, stress is defined as any situation that threatens this homeostasis or is perceived to threaten it.

We can’t keep the occurrences of life from bringing about stress reactions. We can learn and practice techniques to manage stress when we experience it so that we can moderate those stress reactions and bring the feeling of balance and calm back to mind.

In this first part of my three-part series, I am going to talk about the top seven ways you can deal with stress. Below, I will discuss the first two:

1. Yoga With Cyclic Meditation

While I am not a regular practitioner of yoga, I recognize its power to do two things: teach us to be aware of our bodies and our breath, and give us the opportunity to focus on the present moment instead of the worries about the future that flood our minds and bodies with stress.

According to Subramanya and Telles (2009), the practice of yoga helps to overcome what they call the “problem of the mind.” This problem is discussed in the Upanishads, and suggests that yoga novices who attempt to meditate on their own do not have the ability to let the mind go and just focus on the body. In order for yoga to bring about an optimal effect on stress, the practitioner will benefit from the guidance of a teacher who combines poses with guided meditation.

Some strategies that can be used by the teacher include “breath awareness, awareness of internal sensations, directing the attention to a mantra or a koan, and keeping the eyes open with the gaze fixed on the object of meditation.” In their studies, Subramanya and Telles have found that “a combination of stimulating and calming techniques practiced with a background of relaxation and awareness” can reduce arousal levels (i.e., lower stress, improve attention, and improve quality of sleep.

2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation

When I was 19 years old, I was struggling to get the grades in college that I wanted, and began to feel regular anxiety about it. One day, I told one of my psychology professors about my anxiety, and he gave me an audio tape (remember those?) that walked me through a relaxation technique called progressive muscle relaxation.

Since anxiety can manifest itself as tension in the muscles, taking the time to release that tension can trick the brain into believing that the anxiety itself has been reduced. According to the James-Lange theory of emotions (see Lang, 1994), when our bodies experience certain combinations of sensation, our brain interprets those combinations as specific emotions. When our muscles tense up, our heart rate increases and our sweat glands are activated; our brains can interpret this as anxiety. When you are feeling anxious, you can use progressive muscle relaxation to make the muscles release some of their tension, so that the brain is more likely to interpret the feeling of release as relaxation.

In brief, you can lie down, and focus on one body part at a time, starting with the lower extremities. For example, you can tighten up your shins. Flex them tight and hold it for 5 -10 seconds and then release. Take the time to feel the rewarding feeling that comes from releasing that tension. Do that a few times, and then move up to your thighs, tightening, holding, releasing, and feeling gratitude for the pleasant sensations. You can work your way up the body, tightening, holding, releasing, and feeling grateful until you have moved from your feet to your head. This technique has always worked wonders for me, partly because of the release, and partly because it gave me permission to let go of my worries and just focus on my body and the present.

In part two, which will be released in early August, I will discuss three more techniques that you use. Then, in September, I will finish the series. In the meantime, if you need some support with stress in your life, reach out and let's talk.

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