by Nadia Sinclair

While it’s true that meditation and yoga have time and again proven effective in combating stress and anxiety, they aren’t the only tools available. People may find a blend of invigorating and soothing activities within a balanced workout regime an even more effective approach to improving resilience against stress and anxiety.

Staying still and focusing internally can sometimes magnify anxiety. At these moments, a dynamic exercise routine could be the ideal starting point, particularly for those experiencing anxiety as restlessness. Within safe thresholds, physically challenging exercises capable of elevating your heart rate, help generate feelings of joy and excitement rather than fear and anxiety.

Beyond this, engaging muscles produce myokines, contributing to reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.

As a result of my extensive experience in yoga, dance, and Pilates, I have developed a new approach – The Energising and Tranquil Exercise Method (ETEM). These movements aim to empower individuals to achieve better physical health and a balanced mindset, using both energizing and relaxing exercises.

A New Mindful Movement Approach

ETEM includes four types of movements:

• Revitalizing: Deep breathing and stretching to stimulate a safe, relaxed, and centered state of mind.
• Flow: Using vinyasa yoga and contemporary dance principles, circular movements help shift you from survival to a creative state.
• Empowering: Intense, precise Pilates and mobility-based sequences allow empowered physical and mental resilience.
• Releasing: The amalgamation of barre moves, dance, agility exercises to create sweat, release repressed frustrations, and stagnation, uplifting heart and vitality.

Here are eight exercises that educate your nervous system to shift harmoniously between an activated and relaxed state, improving stress response and easing anxiety. Some of these exercises stimulate the vagus nerve, crucial for regulating the nervous system. Be sure to listen to your body, backing off if something triggers physical pain or emotional discomfort.

The movements range from methods to teach your body to shift between containment and safety to courage and confidence. They include techniques for calming stress circuits, discharging excess energy, and bracing your core for increased resilience. These practices also offer ways to soothe the nervous system through slow, rhythmic movements synced with the breath, stretching the neck to release tension and utilizing diaphragmatic breathing techniques to slow down the heart rate.

In conclusion, never underestimate the power of movement and exercise in maintaining a balanced state of mind and physical wellbeing. This integrative approach will not only give you healthier ways to cope with stress and anxiety but also improve your overall resilience and vitality.

stress and anxiety, effective exercises, tranquil exercise method, mindful movement, empowering movements, therapeutic movements, mental resilience, mental health, vagus nerve stimulation, yoga, pilates, dance, resilience to stress, diaphragmatic breathing