Anxiety

In anxiety states, all the energetic layers of influence and confluence involved play havoc with the Central Nervous System - basically sending out a series of ‘short circuits’ that reverberate throughout the body. These short circuits mostly resolve themselves and return to their usual synergistic, rhythmic energetic pulsations, but in a person with chronic anxiety, the short-circuiting does not fully resolve.

Electromagnetic functioning of a myriad of physiological systems becomes compromised, the extent of which depends on the health status of the individual. It can impact and rearrange everything right down to the cellular level, so, often there are multiple layers of disruption even before anxiety is felt and experienced as a defined symptom set. Prolonged anxiety affects how energy moves in a person, impacting not only the physical and mental platforms but also the degree of emotional stability and the ability to plan and create one’s life.

Anxiety can be stored in the body as a heaviness of the legs, particularly the back of the legs, and it can affect the knees, ankles, and feet. It can attach to specific organs or regions of the body, but mostly it impacts the heart/pericardium, specifically lodging behind the anatomical organ (of the heart) and between the heart muscle and pericardial sac. From the viewpoint of TCM, it will affect the organs and areas under the influence of the Conception Vessel (Ren Mai) and the Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai), both of which are used to treat symptoms and ‘drain off’ the energy of anxiety.

When a person consistently goes into states of anxiety and overwhelm, it affects the GABA neurotransmitter modulation aspect of their neurochemistry. The next level of effect can be an agitation and a grief that is not a grief, a sadness of sorts. Anxiety is always 50% physical, which is why it is difficult to permanently resolve with mind-based orientations and talk therapies.

Anxiety is more than a specific range of feelings affecting the mental and emotional platforms; physically, it can express itself as CNS problems, eating disorders, blood disorders, inflammatory responses, skin conditions, and it can even affect how water is handled in the body. It is the driver of a lot of disease states and is in play in disorders of ‘stuff-ology’, where a person tries to stabilise themselves with the continuous accumulation of possessions.

Anxiety has become the buzzword for the times we are currently in, and that, coupled with ongoing periods of stress, can cause havoc in a person’s life and their ability to live it with balance, or create it with focus and intention. There are many tools and mechanisms enabling change for a person; it’s a matter of deciding and getting help to step out of the anxiety grip, settling down the physical symptoms, and creating a future projection that provides a sense of purpose and a stabilising safety net.

All in all, it becomes about redesigning a different state of being that can be carried forward for a new and more potent chapter in the person’s life.