PonderEthereal

Anxiety

• Magnesium - relaxes the body - great for mild stress or stress that causes moodiness
• Omega 3 - great for anxiety. You may need several thousand mg. It usually comes in 1-2000 mg gelcaps. You can use any source (fish oil, flaxseed oil etc)
• Melatonin - great for quieting racing thoughts at bed time. Melatonin is a natural chemical in the brain that signals the body to go to sleep… can be bought in supplement form and is non habit forming. Take at the same time every night to go to sleep. I prefer the extended release kind.
• Valerian - herbal sleep aid - I use a Valerian/hops mixture

Depression

• 5Htp - increases serotonin levels in the brain. Seratonin is the chemical that makes us happy.
• St. Johns Wort - natural anti depressant

Diet

• Cut out caffeine - caffeine causes a reaction in the body that mimics anxiety. Withdrawal can be horrid - replace coffee or soda with green tea at first and then wean from there.
• Cut back on sugar - sugar causes a high… and then a crash. The high will heighten anxiety and the crash will make depression worse.

Activities

• Any yoga postures that move your head below your heart help with depression - ex : downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana), shoulder stand (sarvangasana), head stand (sirshasana), child’s pose (balasana), upward bow or wheel pose (urdhva dhanurasana)
• Stretching your body in different directions. Just standing in place and turning and twisting in different directions slowly will stimulate blood flow, and consequentially oxygen, to parts of your body that otherwise might have felt ’stagnant’
• dancing, jogging, brisk walking, bicycling - anything that makes you start to sweat. You dont have to do it very long. This kind of exercise makes your body release more happy chemicals.
• A few minutes of structured, slow, deep breathing to re-regulate carbon dioxide levels in the blood - excessive levels of carbon dioxide cause a panic reaction in the brain because of a “false suffocation alarm” - your brain thinks you are suffocating. Some will advise you to retain carbon dioxide because it has a tranquillizing effect. However, this tranquillizing effect is a side effect of an essential overdose.
• Limit screen time - exposure to higher levels of EMF can cause or deepen depression and anxiety. Some people seem more sensitive to it than others. Get away from screens. Go read a book, put a puzzle together, play solitaire or draw… or something.
• Do something creative - Creating gives purpose. Draw or paint, sculpt, glue things together, build something, think up a great plan and start on it… anything to be creating something.
• Write - by hand, write a few lines (or more) about how you feel each day. Writing by hand is a direct link to the subconscious.

Alternative healing

• Reiki - when you get a reiki session, by the end, you will feel VERY relaxed
• Acupuncture - the acupuncturist can stimulate points that will make you feel like a ragdoll by the end of the session
• Hypnosis - can be used for anxiety and depression to help your mind turn off the anxious responses or to re-regulat brain chemicals for depression