Dr. Alok 'Dr. K' Kanojia

Let the thoughts flow.

So if you work with someone like a professional and you can do some cognitive reframing or a CBT worksheet or something like that, you have to target your anxiety in a direct way.

The other thing that you can do to regulate your anxiety, we want to regulate it, not distract from it, is breathing.

You're breathing if you can take deep breaths with particularly long exhalations.

So we'll teach a practice called Kapal Bhati or Nadi Shuddhi Pranayam.

These are the two that I tend to use in my patients with anxiety.

Or Sheetal Pranayam also works really well.

Sheetal Pranayam is really easy.

You just go like this, make a taco with your tongue, and you breathe through it.

Now, why does shital pranayama work?

Because the speed of exhalation and inhalation is automatically slowed down.

When we feel anxious, we are likely to hyperventilate.

We want to slow down the feeling of anxiety.

I mean, we want to slow down the rate of respiration.

Decrease the number of breaths per minute, increase the length of exhalation, and then our anxiety will hopefully get better, right?

Engages the parasympathetic nervous system.

There's a lot of good data behind that.

So don't distract yourself.

Third thing, most, not the most important thing.

Everything's the most important thing.