Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time – it is a normal human emotion, after all.  We feel nervous or anxious at work, before a big exam or when making crucial decisions in our life.

For some, however, anxiety goes beyond being just a passing feeling. Instead, it causes such great distress that affects their ability to live a normal life.  This is when anxiety becomes a disorder.

Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can be extremely debilitating, having a serious impact on daily life.

However, the good news is that no matter what the reason of anxiety is, one can manage or handle it effectively. Conversely, if ignored, anxiety can become devastating and unmanageable.

HIGH LEVELS OF ANXIETY AND STRESS CAN SHORTEN LIFESPAN BY UP TO SIX YEARS

Scientists have placed increasing emphasis on the science of telomeres over the past decade, as they continue to uncover how these zipper-like structures that bind our genetic destiny can prematurely shorten in response to environmental and lifestyle factors. Prior studies have found that our telomeres

CAUSES OF ANXIETY

The exact cause of anxiety disorders is still unknown, but has been linked to chemical imbalances in the brain, as well as environmental stressors – or a combination of the two.

There are many external factors that may contribute to anxiety. These include: stress from school, stress in a personal relationship, stress at work, financial stress, stress that results from an emotional trauma such as the loss of a loved one, victimization by crime, a natural disaster, sexual abuse or physical abuse, side effects of medication, stress form a serious illness, intoxication with an illicit drug like amphetamines or cocaine, noticing symptoms of a severe medical illness, and lack of oxygen (as a result of emphysema, pulmonary embolism, altitude sickness).

Ayurveda states that to be free from anxiety the emotional state as well as the mental state of a patient must be balanced and should be in equilibrium. The reason behind the anxiety disorders in Ayurveda is the unhealthy adaptation of physical and mental type leading into the mental imbalance. The improper diet and life style that leads the disturbed state of mind causes the negative feelings that overwhelm the mind.

ANXIETY AS ILLNESS

Research on the physiology of anxiety-related illness is still young, but there is growing evidence of mutual influence between emotions and physical functioning. Yet anxiety often goes unidentified as a source of other disorders, such as substance abuse or physical addiction that can result from attempts to quell feelings of anxiety and it is often overlooked in chronic conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or migraine headache.

Nearly two-thirds of the estimated 57 million adults with anxiety disorders are women. What people with these disorders have in common is unwarranted fear or distress that interferes with daily life. Anxiety also plays a role in somatoform disorders, which are characterized by physical symptoms such as pain, nausea, weakness, or dizziness that have no apparent physical cause.

Anxiety has now been implicated in several chronic physical illnesses, including heart disease, chronic respiratory disorders, and gastrointestinal conditions. When people with these disorders have untreated anxiety, the disease itself is more difficult to treat, their physical symptoms often become worse, and in some cases they die sooner.

THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL EFFECTS OF ANXIETY

Whether in small doses or in larger amounts with an anxiety disorder, anxiety can cause multiple physical symptoms. Many of the effects of anxiety on the body can make the patient feel ill.

Occasionally, the physical effects of anxiety can be really inconvenient and embarrassing. For example, a businessman anxious about meeting people may find that his palms are damp with perspiration, and this can make personal introductions and shaking hands into an ordeal. (If you shake hands with someone whose palms are sweating, you know he is anxious – and it simply isn’t very pleasant, anyway).

Anxiety can have an effect on both your body and your mind.

Physical effects

Short-term effects:

Long-term effects:

Psychological effects

Anxiety can make you more fearful, alert, on edge, irritable, and unable to relax or concentrate. You may feel an overwhelming desire to seek the reassurance of others, to be weepy and dependent.

The way you think can be affected. If you fear that the worst is going to happen, you may start to see everything negatively and become very pessimistic. For example, if a friend is late, you may imagine and worry that he or she has had an accident or does not want to see you; even though your friend may simply be late because their train was delayed.

EMOTIONAL STRATEGIES CAN INFLUENCE ANXIETY

New research findings suggest that the way emotions are regulated can influence if or how much a person may suffer from anxiety. Those who engage in an emotional regulation strategy called reappraisal also tended to have less social anxiety and less anxiety in general than those who avoid expressing their feelings. (Emotion, published online May 13, 2013)

CONTROLLING ANXIETY – HOW TO COOL THE FIRE

As you may have discovered from your own experience, anxiety can develop almost anywhere and at any time.

Treating anxiety is possible. For successful anxiety treatment it is important to use a variety of techniques and find out which ones are effective for you. No single technique will work for everyone. Often the healing process does take time. With stress and anxiety, healing is not something that you do once and then are finished. Usually symptoms are recurrent. They go away for a while and then come up again.

Diet and lifestyle changes are vital in bringing anxiety under control.

Use Natural Treatment For Anxiety

Living with anxiety is never easy. Situations that others can sail through without a thought can be crippling to someone with anxiety. The pharmaceutical drug regime has concocted an assortment of anti-anxiety medications, but many users report these drugs only mask symptoms, cause uncomfortable side.

MORE TIPS TO COMBAT ANXIETY

If you really want to effectively manage your anxiety, the key is to accept it. This might sound counterintuitive. But anxiety, “in and of itself,” is not the real problem. Instead, it is our attempts at controlling and eliminating it. Not accepting these unwanted inner experiences is the actual source of so much of our self-induced suffering.

Accepting anxiety does not mean “resigning ourselves to a life of anxious misery. It simply means that we are better off recognizing and fully accepting the existence of anxiety and other uncomfortable emotional states that are inevitable, but transitory.

So if you experience anxiety today, simply observe it. Think of it like a wave of the ocean, allow it to come in, experience it, and ride it out.

VEDAS OFFERS SOLUTION TO FIGHT ANXIETY

The Vedas in their inimitable mantras and chants offer a wide variety of solutions to overcome stress, anxiety and depression. It puts the senses directly in touch with the source of energy, which directly powers the senses, the senses power the mind there by canalizing the mind in the right direction, to think right, and do things right. It brings clarity of thought and sets it to do constructive action and work, thereby increasing self- confidence and self worth.

Listen to the Vedic chants from “Eliminate Stress, Anxiety and Depression” cd from Ojas Foundation. The Vedic mantras in this cd are specifically chosen to help fill your mind with the right energy which eventually leads to clarity of thoughts.

The mantras seep into the mind and remove the root cause of stress, anxiety and depression and builds and fills the mind with right form of energy, which helps the individual to realize the presence of the ‘Atman’ the self which leads to the realization of the ‘Being’ or the oneness with the ‘Paramatman’.

Ojas Foundation also offers anxiety reduction program where issues relating to anxiety are addressed and solutions given under expert guidance.

In our Anxiety reduction program

We help you to reduce anxiety by identifying

Our class features consists of techniques like:

Anxiety can feel overwhelming. It can feel like chains around your feet, weighing you down but by taking small steps – like the ones above – you can minimize your anxiety and cope effectively.

Anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. However, when it gets out of control it can become destructive. Uncontrollable anger can lead to serious problems at work and in personal relationships, and may undermine the individual’s overall quality of life.

Outbursts of anger may trigger heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems in the two hours immediately afterwards, according to the first study to systematically evaluate previous research into the link between the extreme emotion and all cardiovascular outcomes.

The study — a systematic review and meta-analysis — published in the European Heart Journal, found that in the two hours immediately after an angry outburst, a person’s risk of a heart attack (myocardial infarction (MI) or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) increased nearly five-fold (4.74%), the risk of stroke increased more than three-fold (3.62%), and the risk of ventricular arrhythmia also increased compared to other times when they were not angry.

The researchers found that the absolute risk increased if people had existing risk factors such as a previous history of cardiovascular problems, and the more frequently they were angry.

 

CONTRAINDICATION
Hypertension, headache due to congestion, very weak abdominal muscles.
TECHNIQUE 
Lie on the floor close to a wall so that the buttock is against the wall. Slowly start raising the legs along the length of the wall. Relax and breathe normally.
BENEFITS
Helps to get rid of varicose veins.
Indigestion, lack of appetite and constipation can be prevented.
Gives the benefit of headstand.
Can be practiced for postnatal stages.
Good for the internal organs of abdominal cavity

The ancient doctrine Varnashrama Dharma, describes duties to be performed according to the system of four varnas (social divisions) and four ashramas (stages in life). The varnas are the four classes of society viz Brahmins, Khatriyas, Vyshyas and Sudras. The four ashramas are as follows.

Brahmacharya which is the learning phase, where one is educated in academics and skills to help him/ her make a living later, Grahastha which is the worldly phase when a person enters into a family life through experience and shoulders responsibilities in this phase, Vanaprastha which is the retirement phase when one has fulfilled most of his worldly duties and handed over the reins to subsequent generations, and Sanyasa, which is the phase of renunciation and deliverance from the world. It is important to note here that Vanaprastha doesn

The debts as described in the Vedas

Today, one in every three marriages in the US ends up in a divorce. India is not far behind. People seek help when the family is already falling apart. Selfishness and inability to compromise seem to be the key reasons why families crumble. People expect the family and its members to live life in a certain manner based on their own pre-conceived notions. This could be disastrous for families and the society at large, if people fail to see the family as an embodiment of spirituality, where each one respects the other and helps the other grow. In order to have your ideal family, it is imperative to take some time to design it the way you as a family would want it and define the family values that you live with and perpetuate it. I believe this is every citizen

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Ojas Foundation,
22/2, Judge Jambulingam Street,
Off Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai,
Mylapore, Chennai – 600004
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