For the short-term, that is.

I have playlists for all of those on YouTube that I listen to at night.

Usually I'm asleep before the track even changes.

guided or unguided. Hatha yoga, transcendental meditation, or just listening to meditation tapes. some good guided come from "The Reach Approach" on all kinds of issues. Here is one of them, but they have a whole series. Some work better for me than others. Here is the 1st one that I used. still a favorite:

Thanks.

Is it a daily exercise for you? Group or solo?

when I was under severe stress from the jobs this winter and spring, I was listening to the "ask for nothing" tape every night. Fell asleep to it a lot. Woke up with other meditations on, lol. Sometimes at work.

I haven't done group meditation since I took yoga classes 45 years ago. That was my introduction to yoga and meditation and it was wonderful.

The Reach Program meditations are from a western psychological perspective. British group -- the doctor has a wonderful, soothing voice and gives good messages.

I also lately have been listening to a deepak chopra meditation -- this is strictly eastern, from the vedanta.

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Helps me get my mind off it and lets me process my angst. The more anxiety I have, the longer I would play. Sometimes for hours.

that I make up on the fly. Very relaxing.

(I do use xanax occasionally.)

Midwest Center for depression and anxiety tapes and got over having anxiety attacks. You can get the cd's on eBay rather cheaply. The program gives you lots of coping mechanisms like breathing through an attack. I got off xanax using it.

Good luck. Anxiety sucks.

I walk several mornings a week or do yard work to keep my mind off the stressors. I pray while I walk. It helps, but I don't think there is a cure except for a better situation to develop.

I gave up smoking, caffeine, alcohol and everything that tastes good years ago because of stomach issues and medicine interactions.

or other scenes, or listen to music that soothes you. These help me and I'm not kidding when I say, there is scientific research that says aquaria watching reduces anxiety.

But, I'm also not kidding when I say, if it's bad, and if it's bad enough to tell strangers, it might be bad enough, see a pro for real help.

Anxiety disorders are common but often sort of low on the list of things that get diagnosed... anxiety disorders can lead to worse things especially if the anxiety gets processed into other somatic issues... like lack of sleep...which can snowball into depression and things like memory lapses and diminished cognitive clarity...

And Happy.

My GP stated that the steroids in Advair were NOT the type that would cause anxiety.

After a few months on the stuff, my GP referred me to a shrink.

By the time they had an appointment available in 3 weeks, I stumbled across a website with thousands of people discussing the extreme anxiety attacks they had suffered since they began using that stuff.

I told that to the shrink. The shrink said no way those type of steroids will not do that to you.

I had stopped using them about 2 weeks after my GP visit/1 week before the shrink.

In another week, i felt extremely much better. After a month, no anxiety attacks at all.

That was 5 years ago, and I've not had an anxiety attack since.

My GP has changed her tune, by the way.

(I'm in Canada btw) My opinion stems from the fact that Shrinks want to solve problems, but more so than discussing and talking to the patient to better mental health. They like to solve problems, and if a chemical can do it... they prescribe it. Its an easy solution to the symptoms, but doesn't get at the underlying causes.

try growing in attic or something.

In through the nose, out through the mouth, like you're blowing through a straw. I've had one genuine panic attack, so now that I know the signs, I just close my eyes and do the breathing for a few minutes.

I noticed when I went to the gym consistently for a couple of weeks, I also didn't have as many anxiety attacks. I still had a few small ones but no really big ones.

Knitting is good because you can do something with your hands and feel like you are accomplishing something. Whenever I started to stress out about things, I would focus on knitting my mother's scarf. It helped and I made a Christmas present which my mother loved.

Jigsaw puzzles help me to focus and not worry about other things when I'm doing them.

For a while I obsessed on fishing. I know that sounds like something that is beyond your control. Either the fish bite or they don't, you would think. But I put so much time and energy into that I learned how to identify habitat and trigger a strike on nearly every other cast. I caught so many fish every that it eventually became boring. So I switched from lakes to rivers and that took 2 more years to become good at it. Then I started to targeting species until I mastered that at a level that satisfied me. Two years ago I decided fishing was no longer a worthy challenge. Last year I switched to walking and exercising (I am a late bloomer). I am still awkward and uncoordinated but much less so than 20 years ago. Hell, yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day shooting baskets and plan to do that all next week when I am on vacation.

When I do not obsess over fishing or exercising in my free time, I am extremely focused on my job. I am really good at my job. Freakishly good at my job. But I got that way by obsessively channeling my energy into my craft.

I deal with anxiety by trying to develop skills and repeatable behaviors that increase my chance of excelling at the things I choose to focus on. It gives me some control over the unexpected and increases my chance of success.

When I was a kid I obsessed with putting a specific puzzle together as quickly as humanly possible. For much of my adult life I have done the same things with various computer games. Currently I unwind at night by trying to be the best in the world at certain solitary games. If you see Generic Brad out there in the Apple Gaming Center, that's me. I don't feel relaxed until I crack the top 50 in the world within the past 24 hours for the game I am playing that week.

The relentless pursuit of excellence in a video card game, fishing, or work makes me forget about the anxiety I have over real life stresses. After I stopped smoking 10 years ago I went straight to fishing and video poker/card games. It feels therapeutic. I suspect golf would feel the same way.

visiting dog runs to play with dogs for 20 minutes during lunch, and it worked almost as well. They just happened to be there catching my eye in the park I'd go to for lunch and some meditation.
Anything that takes you out of your head will help and meditation is a good skill to learn. But anything that distracts you in a joyful way can help also. But meditation is a great fall back.
Good luck to you!

it spirals into depression, which isn't good. I exercise. A lot. I tend to do exercise that requires a lot of concentration. For example, when I was finishing my dissertation, I mountain biked. If I stopped paying attention to the trail, I crashed. Now, I lift weights. If I stop paying attention to the bar, I drop it (which hurts). Yoga doesn't do it for me, because I cannot turn off my brain. Hence, the anxiety.

I just stopped taking Lexapro about six weeks ago, because it wasn't working and I don't want to take any meds. The only thing I take is Xanax and only when I fly or have to have some sort of procedure in which I might have a vaso-vagal reaction from the stress (i.e. when I have my bi-annual battery of glaucoma tests).
I try not to drink too much, but fortunately I don't have an addictive personality anyway. I am beginning to limit social media, as it triggers work related anxiety (among other things).
Good luck!

I listen to Anna Thompson's "Freedom from Panic," "Affirmations for Panic & Anxiety," and her "Sleep Learning: Fear & Worry Free" album (all purchased from Amazon).

Some very helpful books by Lucinda Bassett...
From panic to power : proven techniques to calm your anxieties, conquer your fears, and put you in control of your life
The Solution: conquer your fear, control your future

months.

I'm going to start by talking about medication, but please don't quit reading.

I take half the recommended dosage of Vibryd (the full 40 makes me feel funny) and 300 mgs of Wellbutrin (again, much less than what was originally prescribed to me).

I realize that you specifically asked about NOT pharmaceuticals, but after having given up street drugs more than a decade ago, it's only been in the last eighteen months that I realized that medication can definitely have a positive effect.

I'm also prescribed Xanax. I own it, I've got it, but I've only taken it a couple of times. I've known too many people who were addicted, and since I've gone through addiction, I'm terrified (one might say "anxious" lol) at the thought of that happening again.

The things that worked best for me? I saw a therapist who taught me about CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It wasn't some bullshit "therapy;" it actually gave me concrete steps that I could use to get over my anxiety. After that, she referred me to a psychiatrist who could help me pharmaceutically.

What's helped me most is exercise. Daily. Some form of weight lifting and some form of aerobic; on the weekends I run/walk at least thirteen miles on Saturday or Sunday morning (because the Las Vegas Strip is awesome at that time of day/night).

Nothing has reduced my anxiety more than exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, and then the correct medication.

20mg Celexa generic daily. But since it's nowhere near as strong as something like Xanax, I needed some additional coping techniques before I go discuss a new medication regimen with the doctor.

I never considered CBT for this. I had done it for an unrelated issue for about a year back in 2010, and it seemed to work fairly well for it. Exercise does seem to be the common theme of most of the suggestions, so I'll see about getting some more of that in as well.

Thanks!

Or, sketch out an idea for a painting. If that's not possible I take my camera outside and take some nature shots. When none of those are possible, I think about what I'm going to do as soon as I'm able to to do one of them. Basically, I steal a few moments to think about my next photo project or painting I've wanted to explore. Doing these things calm me down when I'm being overly anxious.

Anxiety and stress can rule my life if I don't work to control them. It's a personality flaw with me I think. Mine is manageable when I recognize my symptoms and then do something I know will relieve them. Before I was able to recognize that I needed an outlet for my anxiety I used to think I was being lazy or selfish when I spent time on such endeavors. Now I understand it's something I need to keep me functioning at my normal high paced level on a daily basis.

Not everyone has the ability to manage anxiety on their own, though. For those people medications can make a world of difference! There's no shame in that.

Seriously, don't totally discount pharmaceuticals.
Great help to many

The reason I added that disclaimer was because I'm already on medication, though my doctor and I probably underestimated how bad my anxiety is and didn't get the right dosage or drug for it.

Take a break from DU. I have anxiety issues too and there are somethings and people I found I just need to ignore.

best of luck with it. I do like your posts by the way.

I don't have severe anxiety, I don't think, but I worry constantly. Usually about stuff I can't control. I also dwell on negative things that happen, whether it is an email or text I shouldn't have sent or some unpleasant encounter. I can't seem to turn off the thoughts.

My boyfriend is about to move in with me and we had a discussion about the rent. It turned out that he was not expecting to have to pay half the rent. And I was like, what? On what planet do you not pay half the rent when you move in with someone? This bothered me for a while. It actually made me angry but I could not articulate it. So I dwelled on it all evening. It ended up in a long discussion, where my penchant for excessive worry came up again. He basically said, "You've got to change that." Unspoken was the "or else I leave." So it's been an issue before and he's dumped me for it in the past. Which of course only fueled it. I ended up being unable to sleep and wound up on the sofa.

All this word salad to say that I simply do not know what to do about it. It affected my sleep, but so does a lot of other things.

I can feel my muscles relaxing from head to toe.

I use Rescue Remedy which is one of the Bach Essential Oils. I find that it takes the edge off when I'm feeling anxious. I've known of other people that it has helped, and I've known some people that were not helped by it.

It's not expensive to try, at least. I get it at the local health food store.

I still recognize anxiety and deal with it MUCH better these days. I don't need the counseling, but I don't discount for one second that I MIGHT need it, simply because I recognize the symptoms so much better.

1) Sustained large muscle activity (aerobics like hiking, biking, walking, swimming, jumping rope or trampoline).

2) Psychiatric counseling (you gotta get a good one).

3) Meds (short term… wean off)

I remember that the psychiatrist really warned against alcohol, and said if you had to choose between that and smoking weed, choose the weed, but NOTHING to extremes.

I really believe in this. It's a long term process, but not as long as if you don't attack it like this. What you learn to do is cognitive therapy (thinking through what is happening with your thought process).

We all need this, I think.

Probably not though. I don't know. It could make you paranoid too.

Well, not seriously, but it makes me laugh everytime I listen to it and laughing makes me not anxious...

In all seriousness, I do have anxiety. I do take meds. I also am reading a book that has exercises in it. It's called "The Mindful Way Through Anxiety". I'm finding it helpful. My anxiety seems to ebb and flow, periods where it's ramped up, then periods where I'm more stable. The book was recommended to me by a therapist when I had my last struggle over the winter.

Just a suggetion - my last bad bout - I went and got a physical at the same time my anxiety was super high. Turns out my vitamin D was very low. As I started getting that back in line, my anxiety started to lessen. Granted, I was going to the therapist at the same time, but my primary care doctor told me that D levels can have a definite impact on anxiety. Something to keep in mind, especially over winter months if you notice anxiety increasing.