Defuse Your Anxiety and Panic Attacks! 30 Holistic Tools to Help You Reclaim Your Life

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By Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki http://www.allrelationsreiki.com

Defuse Your Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

Table of Contents

DEFUSE YOUR ANXIETY AND PANIC ATTACKS! 30 HOLISTIC TOOLS TO HELP YOU RECLAIM YOUR LIFE ..1

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 2

READERS SAY… ...... 3

INTRODUCTION ...... 4

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE DYING (BUT YOU’RE REALLY NOT) ...... 5

WHAT IS AN ANXIETY ATTACK VS. A PANIC ATTACK? ...... 6

WHAT ARE THE 30 TOOLS? ...... 7

Physical Tools ...... 7

Psychological Tools ...... 9

Emotional Tools ...... 10

Spiritual Tools ...... 12

Environmental Tools...... 13

Holistic/Alternative Healing Tools...... 15

ABOUT PHILA HOOPES ...... 16

2 ©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 30 Holistic Tools to Help You Reclaim Your Life

Readers Say…

We are certainly in the midst of changing attitudes to healthcare. A growing number of people are reclaiming their personal power and health, through the use of natural, psychospiritual and wholistic therapies - as healthier alternatives to drug-based treatment. Phila Hoopes has done a wonderful job of compiling a broad range of empowering, practical, soulful and natural approaches that should greatly help people to cope with the stresses and symptoms arising from anxiety and panic. She has put a great deal of care, work and thought into this creative self-help manual and I heartily recommend it to anyone seeking to work through panic, or anxiety in ways that nurture and honour the body and psyche’s shared journey toward health and wholeness.

~~ Dr Maureen B. Roberts BSc., BA(Hons), PhD, INPP Member Soul-centred Psychiatric Therapist www.psychiatrywithsoul.com

After a devastating and traumatic life event, I began suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks. Having been diagnosed with depression many years ago, I was already on medications, so I asked my doctor to tweak them. Not much changed. After consulting with Phila, I began to use some of the wonderful techniques she has offered in her helpful booklet. Deep breathing, mindfully recognizing that I am experiencing an anxiety attack, repeating my favorite prayer and communing more with nature (Yes, I have actually hugged a tree!) have helped me to decrease the number and severity of my attacks. I choose to remain on my medications and supplement them with theses effective tips. I am in a much happier place.

~~ Gay Pinder, Baltimore

©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 3 Defuse Your Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

Introduction

Congratulations....and Bravo! for taking this courageous step toward managing your anxiety or panic attacks.

Why is All Relations Reiki offering this report, listing oh-so-many tools that are not Reiki?

As I have struggled with my own experiences with anxiety and panic, I learned that while Reiki helped greatly, it was not the only answer…and having a wide selection of tools and resources at times made all the difference.

And as our times have gotten crazier and more anxiety or panic-inducing, it's important for all of us to have as many resources as we possibly can to support our mental/physical/spiritual health and well-being, and to connect with others for shared strength and healing wisdom. That’s the reason for this report…and for my growing community site (http://www.survivorshaven.com) and Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SurvivorsHaven/).

I am grateful and honored to receive your trust, and I commit to providing the best information and support I am capable of giving. If I may serve your healing with Reiki sessions, please contact me at [email protected]!

IMPORTANT -

These tools are provided to supplement, not replace, an integrated support system.

If you have been diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, using these tools and resources can help you to reduce the immediate intensity of an attack, break through blocks, and lead to a better understanding of the causes of your anxiety or panic.

It is important to have the long-term help of a qualified therapist, counselor, and/or support group as you work with these tools, to help you process and adjust to the shifts you experience.

To learn how Reiki can support the process of releasing blocks, breaking through plateaus, and revealing hidden wounds so they can be healed, contact Phila at [email protected].

With that said, Welcome!

4 ©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 30 Holistic Tools to Help You Reclaim Your Life

When You Feel Like You’re Dying (but you’re really not)

It may happen suddenly, in response to a trigger, or for no apparent reason at all: your heart is racing, your chest cramping in pain. Your breath is coming in short bursts. Your body is shaking, your jaw clenching. You may have an overwhelming feeling of approaching doom, or a sinking feeling that you are dying, this is the end.

Does this sound familiar? To those of us who have experienced these symptoms, we may know them as a few of the most common signs of an anxiety or panic attack in progress.1 But terrifying as they are, the good news is that, with practice, these symptoms can be managed, in the moment, without drugs.

How do I know? I’ll be honest: I have experienced these symptoms myself for years as part of an intense journey through complex PTSD. With the help of the tools and resources listed below, and Reiki treatments by others and by myself, and supportive therapists, my challenges have become more manageable day by day. I have come to realize – this is a process; I can overcome this.

And so can you.

VERY IMPORTANT:

1) Do not self-diagnose what may be a heart attack! If you experience these symptoms and have not been diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, or if you are in doubt whether you are experiencing anxiety or a heart attack, go immediately to your closest ER.

2) If you are taking medication, do not stop without qualified medical support.

3) These tools are provided to supplement, not replace, an integrated support system. If you have been diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, these tools and resources can help to break through blocks and lead to a better understanding of the causes of your anxiety or panic. It is vital to have the long-term help of a qualified doctor, therapist, counselor, and/or support group to help you process and adjust to the shifts you experience. Do not fire your support system and try to go it alone!

1 http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml

©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 5 Defuse Your Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

What is an Anxiety Attack vs. a Panic Attack?

Anxiety and panic disorders may show up through more than 100 possible symptoms, according to The Anxiety Centre..2 Doctors use 13 of these symptoms to diagnose an incident:

• sweating • trembling • shortness of breath • a choking sensation • chest pain • nausea • dizziness • fear of losing your mind • fear of dying • flushing • the feeling that danger is nearby • a racing heart (heart palpitations) • an intense need to escape.3

While anxiety and panic attacks are similar, an anxiety attack tends to arise out of an underlying state of ongoing fear, stress, or trauma, and usually has a recognizable trigger. You may have the symptoms of panic – fear, heart pounding, shortness of breath – but the symptoms tend to go away as soon as the trigger is removed.

Panic attacks, by contrast, are unprovoked and unpredictable, and their symptoms are more intense..4 Because they can be so terrifying and apparently random, many people start looking for triggers and altering their lives to avoid those triggers, allowing their terror to rule their lives.

But science is providing hope: researchers are discovering that despite their similarity, anxiety and panic are rooted in different parts of the brain. While anxiety disorder involves overactivity in the prefrontal cortex, indicating excessive thought and worry, panic disorder involves underactivity in the prefrontal cortex, allowing the amygdala (the part of the brain that expresses fear) to respond without restraint. However, it seems that intentional activity in the prefrontal cortex can reduce activity in the amygdala.5

In other words, these researchers’ discoveries are proving what meditative traditions have said all along: that conscious activities, like the 30 tools I’m about to share with you, can both reduce your panic response and deflect the underlying worry that leads to anxiety attacks.

IMPORTANT:

Do not self-diagnose what may be a heart attack! If you experience these symptoms and have not been diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, or if you are in doubt whether you are experiencing anxiety or a heart attack, go immediately to your closest ER.

2 http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml 3 https://www.everydayhealth.com/conditions/what-its-like-to-have-an-anxiety-attack/ 4 https://www.verywellmind.com/anxiety-attacks-versus-panic-attacks-2584396 5 http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/mind-body/wellbeing/cant-stop-worrying-heres-how-to-train- your-anxious-brain/news-story/3e8db4bec1cc8b8dcd71edc6e94b5e3f

6 ©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 30 Holistic Tools to Help You Reclaim Your Life

What are the 30 Tools?

To make the tools easier to remember, I have divided them into categories: Physical, Psychological, Emotional, Spiritual, Environmental, and Holistic/Alternative Healing. The idea behind most of these tools is to engage your mind and/or body, basically distracting you from your fear by forcing your prefrontal cortex to take over! Remember – it is always best to take this journey with the support of a trained and qualified therapist, counselor, and/or support group to help you process the shifts you experience.

Physical Tools

These tools offer the simplest and most immediate approach to dealing with a meltdown in the making. While each of them is effective on its own, their impact grows when you combine them…

1. Focus on Your Breathing Where the autonomic, panicked, fight-or-flight reflex is to breathe quickly and shallowly, you counter panic by thinking about deepening and slowing your breathing. Focus on straightening your back (rather than closing in on yourself), opening your chest, and filling your lungs with air. One way to do this is by using a military technique called Box Breathing6. It goes like this: • Exhale all the air from your lungs. • Now count as you breathe: inhale…1…2…3…4…Hold…1…2…3…4…Exhale….1…2…3…4… Hold…1…2…3…4… • Repeat.

2. Slow Your Heartbeat While you are breathing deeply, focus on your heartbeat and consciously send love to your pounding heart, while counting slowly in your mind: One-onethousand…Two-onethousand ….Three-onethousand… intending your heart to slow to match the rhythm of your counting.

3. Consciously Unclench Your Muscles During an anxiety or panic attack, your whole body is tensed, your muscles contracted. This is called “muscle-armoring,” which when coupled with complex trauma or PTSD has been linked with chronic illnesses such as fibromyalgia.7 To release the contraction, start by focusing on your forehead and slowly move downward, intentionally relaxing every group of muscles, one at a time: jaw… neck… shoulders… arms… chest… belly… hips…thighs… calves… feet…. Try not to let each one tense back up as you move on to the next. Yoga Nidra8 recordings on YouTube can give excellent guidance for this process.

6 https://www.healthline.com/health/box-breathing#steps 7 https://www.healingfromcomplextraumaandptsd.com/muscle-armoring 8 Lizzy Hill, Yoga Nidra 20-Minute Guided Meditation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0FKzeuVVs

©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 7 Defuse Your Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

4. Do Light Exercise Simple exercises such as walking, running, dancing, singing, drumming, or yoga, will release endorphins while they shift your focus. The daily practice of yoga9 can help to relieve the root causes of panic and anxiety over the long term, and some yoga positions are specifically geared to help reduce anxiety and restore calm10: • Child’s Pose (Balasana) • Tree Pose (Vrikasana) • Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III) • Headstand (Sirsasana) • Legs up the Wall (Viparita Karani)

5. Use Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) EFT allows you to relieve the intensity of a physical, emotional or psychological issue in the moment through tapping on a series of acupressure points (diagrams below are from http://www.emofree.com). While EFT is a deep and rich practice, its “basic recipe” 11 is very simple (use the footnoted link to learn the details of the basic recipe): • Identify the issue that is causing your distress. • Identify the intensity of the issue (0-10 scale) and describe it in blunt, precise language that expresses your feelings. • Insert your issue into this affirmation: Even though (X issue), I love and accept myself completely. Announce your affirmation to your body by tapping the Karate Chop (KC) point with your index and second fingers, roughly 5 times. • Tap this series of acupressure points with your index and second fingers, roughly 5 times each, while repeating the key words of your issue: 1. Top of head (TOH) 2. Beginning of eyebrow (EB) 3. Side of eye (SE) 4. Under eye (UE) 5. Under nose (UN) 6. Chin (Ch) 7. Inner Collarbone (CB) 8. Under Arm (UA) • Check your feelings and identify the intensity of the issue again on a scale of 0-10. If its intensity is not 0, repeat the process.

9 https://yogainternational.com/article/view/panic-attacks-how-yoga-can-help 10 https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16345/5-yoga-poses-to-help-alleviate-anxiety.html 11 https://www.emofree.com/eft-tutorial/tapping-basics/how-to-do-eft.html

8 ©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 30 Holistic Tools to Help You Reclaim Your Life

Psychological Tools

1. Recognize That This Is an Anxiety or Panic Attack. Simplistic as it may sound, the most important step to overcoming the terror you’re experiencing is realizing that you are not having a heart attack, or any of the other alarming conditions that anxiety or panic attacks can mimic. If you can step far enough out of the emotions to objectively recognize the experience, you have taken the first step toward managing it.

2. Shift Your Focus Once you have recognized what is happening, you can choose to shift your focus away from the source of your fear. This may take some doing, and all of the tools that follow give different approaches to accomplishing it. Closing your eyes may help you to concentrate, as it blocks any sight that might have triggered the anxiety or panic response.

3. Occupy Your Mind Simple, repetitive mental exercises can help you to distract yourself: reciting the alphabet backwards, reciting the multiplication tables, or remembering the words of a favorite song, prayer, or poem.

4. Journal Your Experience…By Hand When you write out the experience of an anxiety or panic attack as an observer, recording your symptoms, your sensations, and your possible triggers as a doctor would, you are stepping away from pure reaction into analysis. And, if you write out your experience by hand, rather than on a keyboard, you are using complex mind/body processes to form each letter and word. This slows your thinking further, allowing you to step further out of the immediate crisis.12

5. Speak as a Parent to the Part of You that is Triggering Often our inner child13 is the part that reacts to triggers out of deep childhood wounds. When you begin to feel triggered, mentally ask yourself “How old am I now?” and listen to the inner response. If your inner child is the part of you that is reacting, step back mentally and talk (in your mind) slowly, calmly, and lovingly to that terrified part of you, as if you were his or her parent. You might tell yourself: • I love you. • You are good and innocent. • You didn’t deserve what happened. • You couldn’t protect yourself then, but I am here to protect you now.

12 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefits-handwriting-decline- typing 13 https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/own-inner-child-breaking-free-of-anxious-attachment- 0613164

©Phila Hoopes, All Relations Reiki, 2018 9 Defuse Your Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

When you are in a safe place, with a counselor or support group to help you, you may also want to try an Inner Child exercise14 to access the child and allow him or her to release feelings and share repressed memories. There are many resources for dealing with the inner child’s wounds, from the books of John Bradshaw15 and Melody Beattie,16 to Codependents Anonymous groups,17 to Dialectical Behavioral Therapists.18

~~~

Emotional Tools

1. Picture Your Happy Place In your mind, completely remove yourself from your immediate surroundings and imagine going to a place where you feel completely loved and completely safe. Imagine it as vividly as you can, soaking up the sense of love and security. Is it inside? Outside? In the mountains or by the sea? Is it a place in your memory, a place in a dream, or a place you have imagined? Is anyone there with you – a loving protector? Bring every detail to your mind and bask in the emotions that arise.

2. Cuddle a Pet (or an Emotional Support Animal) Pets are such healers, with their unconditional love. If you have an animal companion whom you love, s/he is probably already aware of your terror, and may be hovering around, concerned about you. If s/he will allow it, get close and snuggle, feeling your love and care for each other. If you have been diagnosed with a disabling emotional disorder, you can register for an Emotional Support Animal letter (which may cover dogs, cats, even miniature pigs, miniature horses, and other species) and have your companion protected under federal law19.

14 https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/traumaptsdblog/2015/10/the-use-of-inner-child- exercises-in-ptsd-recovery/ 15 John Bradshaw’ works: https://tinyurl.com/y9dmx3b9 16 Melody Beattie’s works: https://tinyurl.com/y9zl3cqa 17 Self-Parenting Workshop, Codependents Anonymous: https://tinyurl.com/y8kemn39 18 https://behavioraltech.org/resources/faqs/dialectical-behavior-therapy-dbt/ 19 https://www.certapet.com/faq/how-to-get-an-emotional-support-animal/

3. Connect with Nature This actually is an emerging school of psychology, called ecotherapy20, working with the beneficial effect that humans experience in nature. The Japanese have a simpler name for it – forest bathing21. Simply go out, slow down and become immersed in the sights, smells, sounds, and sensations of the natural environment: earth under your feet, the sound of birds, the feeling of tree bark under your hand. Whether you are walking in a park or hugging a tree in your own backyard, the natural world can help to balance your emotions.

The soil has minerals that reduce depression, so gardening is therapeutic. The air in a forest is full of negative ions, which lift your mood and improve your health. The studies of biologist George David Haskell among indigenous rainforest cultures indicate that trees indeed communicate, and we can learn that language.22

Go out with respect and ask for the help of the natural world, plants and animals. We all share similar DNA, we are all related (this is a core belief of indigenous traditions), and indigenous teachers and intuitives agree that both plants and animals can show tremendous compassion when approached with honesty, humility and love. Reach out to your relations – and don’t forget to give thanks when they respond.

4. Practice Laughter Yoga Sounds crazy, doesn’t it – just forcing yourself to laugh? But according to Laughter University,23 “releasing pent up feelings and suppressed emotions by changing the breathing pattern. With laughter exercises and deep breathing, one can let go of all disturbing emotions in the sub conscious mind.” Daily laughter exercises are best, but even in the moment of a panic attack, laughing will shift your energy.

5. Call a Friend or Family Member If you have a friend or family member you can trust to support you, reach out! It can be challenging to allow yourself to be vulnerable, and those we love can surprise us with their level of acceptance at times of need. Too often shame leads us to keep silent when caring help may be close at hand. If you choose this approach, it is best to use “I” statements to express your experience, with precise emotional words – “sad,” “mad,” “glad,” etc., rather than “-ed” words that put you in a victim’s position and start a blaming conversation (if you are feeling betrayed, who betrayed you?) rather than owning how you feel and what you need.

20 http://www.ecotherapyheals.com/whatisecotherapy.html 21 https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-a-walk-in-the-woods-or-a-dip-in-the-ocean-is-so- great-for-your-health 22 https://qz.com/1116991/a-biologist-believes-that-trees-speak-a-language-we-can-learn/ 23 https://laughteryoga.org/laughter-yoga-helps-cope-with-anxiety-and-panic-attacks/

Spiritual Tools

These are tools I have learned through practicing with various spiritual teachers in a number of traditions, from the Judeo-Christian to the Earth-based. They can be helpful no matter what your religious tradition, or if you embrace none.

1. Ground Yourself Stand or sit solidly on the ground. Picture your feet growing roots that reach down through the soil…down, down, all the way to the core of the earth. Reach into the molten heart of our planet and feel all the strength of Earth supporting you…give thanks…then pull up that fiery golden energy, miles upon miles up through your roots into your feet… legs… pelvis… chest... shoulders… neck... head… and out through your crown to soar into the air, all the way past the atmosphere into space. Connect with the starry energy of the universe, dip into it and take some of that silvery energy back down through the galaxy, the solar system, the Earth’s orbit, down, down and through the crown of your head to meet in your heart with the golden energy of Earth and wrap you in a shimmering, protective cocoon. You are one with the energy of Earth and Heaven; this is your natural state, and nothing can take it away.

2. Imagine Your Pure Awareness in a Bubble Take a moment and connect with the light of your pure awareness, the pure light of your soul before you were conceived or born, before you gained family, friends, history, wounds, a story. Now picture that awareness as a flame surrounded by a clear, protective bubble. You can see all the elements of your life, the people and events of your life and the causes of your anxiety and the energy around them, you can identify and understand them, but they can’t touch you through the bubble. You are completely sheltered and safe. It’s important to practice this exercise daily so you can switch into bubble space reflexively whenever you’re in danger of panicking: feel the beginnings of the anxiety and immediately switch. The more you practice it, the easier it will be when you need it. If you are in a position where people are continually draining your energy, this exercise will give you the space you need to replenish yourself – they can’t feel your energetic field to “hook” you.

3. Meditate on Spirit Guides and Helpers If you practice a spiritual tradition that includes Divine Being(s) and/or helping entities such as ancestors, angels, saints, or totem spirits, light a white candle and sage or incense, and call out to those loving unseen beings of Light who support and protect you. Picture them standing before you, radiating pure love and acceptance. Breathe in their love, breathe out your fear. Ask for their guidance and protection.

4. Repeat a Prayer, a Mantra, or an Affirmation The practice of repeating (or chanting) a prayer or a mantra is found in countless spiritual traditions. You can use this practice to disrupt the anxiety or panic process or adapt it with affirmations24 such as “I am whole and complete” or “I am greater than my fear.” There is also the Litany Against Fear from the novel Dune by Frank Herbert: I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.25

5. Create a Circle of Protection around Yourself This is similar to the visualization of bubble space around your pure awareness, but instead creates a circle of protection around your physical body. Through millennia, spiritual traditions have used this technique to create safe and sacred space. It helps if you know how to orient yourself to north, east, south and west – but even if you don’t, you can call on the powers associated with the four directions. In Judeo-Christian tradition, they are four archangels: Uriel/North, Raphael/East, Michael/South, and Gabriel/West26. If you are called to an Earth-based tradition, you may call on the powers of the four elements: Earth/North, Air/East, Fire/South, and Water/West. See yourself surrounded and protected by the tremendous power of your heavenly or earthly guardians.

~~~

Environmental Tools

While this goes beyond most of the advice given for treating anxiety or panic attacks, my training in Reiki, Feng Shui, and other traditions has taught me that the influences we bring into our environment can have a profound impact on our emotional and mental state, our energy-body, and our physical health.

1. Take a break from activities involving fear, anger, outrage, or (even imagined) violence. Do you spend hours watching TV news or scrolling through Facebook feeds? Watch horror movies or violent police shows regularly in your home? Play first-person-shooter games? Listen to music with angry or violent messages? Just as an experiment, consider turning them off for a day…or a weekend…or a week. If you feel resistance to this idea, make note of your reaction, then set it aside, and see what a short vacation does to change your energy. If you notice your anxiety or panic dwindling as you fill your space with other types of energy (see below), try extending your vacation.

24 https://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/treatment/affirmations 25 Frank Herbert, Dune https://tinyurl.com/yalnn5f2 26 Hazel Raven, The Angel Bible https://tinyurl.com/y775q65b

2. Add calming influences. Try spending your day with background music that carries calming and healing properties: • Native American flute music by R. Carlos Nakai and others27 • Medieval chants of Hildegard of Bingen28 • Music in the “Solfeggio frequencies”29 or “Angelic Hertz” (look up 396, 432, 528, and 963-Hz music videos on YouTube).

3. Declutter Your Space Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of energy flow, teaches that clutter traps stagnant energy and can lead to feelings of depletion, scatteredness, depression, and anxiety30. Go through one room at a time, connecting with each object to experience the energy that arises in you. If you don’t feel joy, pleasure, love, or positive interest, tell the object goodbye, thank it for its service, and send it on to another home, whether by giving it away, taking it to a thrift store, selling it on EBay, or sending it out with the trash or recycling.

4. Dedicate Your Bedroom to Sleep (and Sex) ONLY – Evict the Electronics! Lack of sleep can be a prime cause of anxiety, depression, and other psychological/ emotional ills…and one common cause31 is the number of electronics in the bedroom. Televisions, computers, even cell phones can generate the blue wavelength light32 that increases the production of the “stress hormone” cortisol and decreases production of the “sleep hormone” melatonin, thus keeping us awake and alert.

5. Cleanse Your Space and Invoke Protection Many spiritual traditions offer ways of dislodging and removing stagnant, stuck, or negative energies: through blessed water; salt; sage, cedar, or other herbs; incense, bells or chimes; clapping hands or other means.33 Afterward, call on spirit helpers from your chosen tradition to protect the space, fill it with light and love, and support your emotional balance and healing. You will need to do this at regular intervals to keep the energy clear.

27 http://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/view/48 28 https://healthyhildegard.com/hildegard-music/ 29 https://www.gaiameditation.com/sound-healing-research/solfeggio-frequencies/ 30 Karen Kingston, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, https://tinyurl.com/yay7674x 31 https://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/insomnia-causes-and-cures.htm 32 https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-shows-how-anxiety-and-technology-are-affecting-our-sleep 33 Denise Linn, Sacred Space: Clearing & Enhancing the Energy of Your Home https://tinyurl.com/ycs85zo4

Holistic/Alternative Healing Tools

While mainstream doctors prescribe pharmaceuticals to treat panic/anxiety disorder – and these remedies are entirely effective for some – other healing traditions also offer effective treatment approaches which may be used individually or in combination. Links to professional resources are given in the footnotes.

Holistic Physicians Bodywork Therapies • Naturopathy34 • Massage Therapy37 • Osteopathy35 • Somatic Experiencing Therapy38 • Homeopathy36

Nourishing Remedies Psychological Therapies Note: always consult a holistic nutritional • Biofeedback40 therapist39 before exploring these approaches. • EMDR41 • Dietary changes • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy42 • Vitamins, Herbs and Minerals • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy43 • Hypnotherapy44 45 Bioenergetic Therapies • Sound Therapy • Shadow Work46 48 • Acupuncture • Soul-Centered Psychiatry47 • Aromatherapy49 • Reflexology50 • Reiki51

34 https://www.naturopathic.org/ 35 http://www.aacom.org/become-a-doctor/about-om 36 http://www.homeopathycenter.org/ 37 https://www.amtamassage.org/findamassage/index.html 38 http://sepractitioner.membergrove.com/ 39 https://www.nutritionaltherapy.com/ 40 http://www.bcia.org/ 41 http://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/ 42 http://www.findcbt.org/xFAT/ 43 https://behavioraltech.org/resources/faqs/dialectical-behavior-therapy-dbt/ 44 http://www.natboard.com/index.htm 45 https://istasounds.org/ 46 https://shadowwork.com/ 47 http://www.psychiatrywithsoul.com/about 48 http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/abc/ 49 http://aromatherapycouncil.org/?page_id=244 50 http://reflexology-usa.org/ 51 http://www.allrelationsreiki.com

About Phila Hoopes

Phila Hoopes is a Reiki Master Practitioner in the Usui/Holy Fire and Metta Reiki® traditions, with an M.A. in Applied Healing Arts from the Maryland University of Integrative Health. During her long journey with complex PTSD, depression and anxiety, she has worked with mainstream, alternative, and spiritual/shamanic healers, as well as healing and personal growth communities. She has practiced Reiki for more than 20 years, and has trained with Medical Reiki researcher/master teacher Pamela Miles52 and master teachers Tracy M. Houchins53 and Jackie Rettberg54. She is a member of the International Center for Reiki Training,55 and practices as a member of the Catonsville Counseling and Wellness co-op.

To learn more, or schedule an appointment, see http://www.allrelationsreiki.com. If you have questions about how Reiki can help you, contact Phila at [email protected] .

52 https://reikiinmedicine.org/ 53 http://www.sacredhealinghands.com 54 http://www.animaltalkwithjackie.com 55 http://www.reiki.org