1. Take excellent care of your physical self. People prone to anxiety are often sensitive people whose physiological responses to many stimuli are greater than the norm. Capitalize on this by realizing that while you may respond to performance situations more powerfully than others with increased heart rate and sweaty palms, you may also respond more readily than the average person with relaxation and feelings of well-being if you eat right, get enough sleep and EXERCISE!

a. Eat regular meals and get enough protein at each meal. Stabilizing the blood sugar will decrease the chances for an anxiety attack! Avoid ingesting large amounts of caffeine or alcohol, both of which can disrupt body chemistry in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, depending on the amount you ingest, and set the stage for an anxiety attack.

b. Get enough sleep! Don’t be in denial about the amount of sleep your body needs to function optimally. Yes, it may be frustrating that so and so doesn’t need to sleep as much as you do. Stop comparing yourself to others and treat yourself right!

c. Regular cardiovascular exercise combined with a program of resistance training will strengthen the heart and tone the muscles. I have found that when I am in excellent physical condition, my heart rate does not respond to trigger stimuli as quickly. The analogy is this - when you’re in shape, you can run up a flight of stairs and experience only a slight elevation in heart rate, while the guy next to you is huffing and puffing. Similarly, when you are in shape, you may encounter a situation that would normally produce a huge anxiety response and instead you only experience a slight elevation in breathing and heart rate. It’s the sudden increase in heart rate that precipitates the anxiety attack, so if you can buffer this, you’re golden. Join a gym and make the time to work out. Believe me, it’s worth it!

2. Even if you follow the above regimen, your anxiety can still get out of hand... Maybe you are pushing yourself to a whole new level of facing your performance anxiety, maybe you encounter an unexpected situation, maybe you are sick or run down or whatever... at these times you can resort to your natural pharmacopoeia.

a. My favorite is valerian, taken in tincture form. Go to your nearest health foods store - Wild Oats, Whole Foods are good options - and get a high quality tincture. Beware... valerian smells really bad, kind of like dirty feet! But it’s bark is worse than it’s bite. Really. The taste is not so bad. Mix it in some water; don’t be afraid to use copious amounts - several dropperfuls should do. Valerian has not been found to be toxic in large amounts, so worry not. One lady supposedly tried to overdose on it by ingesting several bottles of it, but was unharmed... If you are one of the people who respond well to valerian, you should feel an effect pretty quickly - within 30 minutes. It is an anxiolytic and an anti-spasmodic, which means it should reduce anxiety and relax your muscles. Careful, though, if you are driving - it could make you a little drowsy.

b. Chamomile tea - I have found that if I make some really strong tea (put in an extra bag or 2) I can really feel an anxiety-reducing effect. Better yet, take a thermos of chamomile tea and add several dropperfuls of valerian to it. This is a portable concoction that can be taken with you on the day of a big event. Very soothing to the stomach as well

3. Breathing techniques... Another thing to try when anxiety gets out of hand is a breathing technique. There are lots of different approaches to this, but I like to keep in mind that EXHALING engages/requires input from the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the calming, regulating, non-fight-or-flight one. A technique that draws on this fact is one that emphasizes abdominal breathing and the outbreath. Breathe in through the nose, slowly, feeling your abdomen expand and then hold the breath for 5-10 seconds. Then exhale by tightening the abdominal muscles and forcing the air out. Really feel the contraction of the abdominal muscles. Hold for 5-10 seconds at the end of the outbreath and then start another cycle.

4. My last suggestion is probably the most unpleasant one... My experience is that the more I face situations that produce anxiety, the more I befriend it. You may think I am nuts, but I have actually sought out situations that would scare the ____ out of me, to induce the anxiety response so that I could learn more about it. The result has been that I have had some pretty terrifying and amazing experiences: I have sat out in the Montana wilderness alone for 4 days and 4 nights without shelter or food; I have been visited by a (hungry?) bear in the night while sleeping alone in the Alaskan wilderness; I have traveled in foreign countries alone, scuba dove, spelunked, climbed rocks and scaled a 100 foot frozen waterfall with ice axes and crampons. Now, I know that these experiences are not to everyone’s liking... But you don’t have to go to such extremes to face your fear. I didn’t either, I just happen to be an extremist. ;0). What is it that scares you??? Snakes? The dark? Confrontation? This sounds irrational, but I was afraid of the lawn mower, so I accompanied my friend while she mowed her lawn. Then she let me try it, and it wasn’t so bad. Now I mow my own lawn on a regular basis, but I still won’t touch the weed-whacker!! A project for another day... Pick smaller fears first and put yourself in situations that will require you to face them. Don’t expect not to be afraid. THAT IS NOT THE POINT! The point is to feel the fear and learn not to run from it. Learn how to dwell in it. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, it is totally against instincts!! But believe me, the more you face your fears, the stronger and wiser you will become. You can apply what you have learned in one fear-producing situation to another. Pretty soon you will have a whole new bag of skills for coping with fear and anxiety!!!

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