I can see where worry is addictive & I know it something that’s been passed down in my family. I know with work I can break this negative & harmful habit. Thank you for this great video!
The 3 step anxiety practice works if you do it regularly. If you’ve worked hard at creating a negative loop of worry thoughts over many years and it’s Worked, you can create a more positive habitual response with practice.
I use this technique myself and with clients.
It’s been very effective and much better than just using CBT to change a thought process. I use both with clients and in the main it’s very effective.
Thank you ??
I haven’t been the one who worries about things until I began work as a therapist. It always seemed to be a waste of energy to me. My anxiety began as I feared not being good enough. Mindfulness and meditation has helped. This explains the phenomenon and how to manage it.
Worry can be addictive. Many times the various “inevitable” context(s) that people inhabit evoke addictive worry. People need to assess whether they have the ability to remove themselves from these contexts–or NOT.
Each time I listen I hear something different and that’s a good thing, because I am aware at times that I listen with my thinking mind and then when I am open I listen with my heart mind. Worry had been a constant companion with me for years, and when I am feeling very vulnerable and doubtful, it makes it’s presence known once again. Mindfulness removes those doubts and childhood fears as I breathe into the moment, and I thank you for sharing your knowledge and your beautiful heart. 🙂
I have been anxious my whole life. It started in my early years, about age 9 or so. I learned to worry about everything. It truly does become addictive. I have been on different medications and have felt awful from them.
It takes more than 50 % of my time night and day with no control or awareness of it. But It ´s better until I started méditation I can see it more clearly
I try to accept what is now. I do not resist or struggle.
Try to start where I am and be or allow…relax or soften.
I find that often worrying is a loop of sorts. So I persist with interrupting this loop. Easier stated than accomplished.
These are good exercises to help the client with tools to begin the process of moving fear and fearful thoughts out of their mind and learning how to live in the here and now. They are simple and yet profoundly intuitive in that they get inside the person mine and body helping to alleviate negative thoughts.
This isn’t for myself. We are working hard in our education setting to support a child with anxiety until the family can get professional support. Our children’s welfare is or utmost priority before any education. I was hoping this may help us.
Yes, I totally see how my clients become overwhelmed by their self-doubts, even addicted to the cycle of thoughts, worry, incapacitated. This three step process gives me a concrete tool for helping them through this, able to watch the thought, feel the emotion and use the power of discerning “real but not true”.
Hi Tara, there are more than 9 million people on this planet who have ME/CFS and most of us experience anxiety that ranges from extreme to mild. This is because of the worry loop that you describe, but also because the amygdala are hyperactive as a result of the illness. I understand your use of the term addiction but I prefer to think of it as a conditioned loop that is hard to break. I hope in the future you might look into how to help those of us who struggle with this as it impairs our potential for healing. Yes, we fear failure, we fear failing to get well.
Very inline with what I practice and teach. I am a yoga teacher and a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology. Both disciplines blend beautifully and transcend into how I instruct and conclude my classes. I also bring such skills into my general psychology class, which are very essential to the students.
Thank you for articulating the reasons and skills. I learned and reinforced a few things watching your video. Namaste.
This technique is the MOST impowering thing I’ve learned and practiced to be in command of my worry thoughts. It gives me such joy to teach it to others and tenderly help them learn to stay present in their bodies with compassion. Thank you Tara!
I look forward to trying this practice the next time I’m anxious. I’m sure I won’t have long to wait! I particularly appreciated the reminder that feeling anxious all the time won’t ensure we won’t have problems.
Yes worry can strangle my life creating further isolation and damage. Including the inability to take in the beauty that is often in front of me, or experience the positive emotion of gratitude for the many gifts I have in my life. In the midst of worry I forget how not real it is! Darn habit!!!! Thank you for the tools you are offering Tara, I can see it’s important to repeat and repeat the exercises you offer to create a change.
Wonderful lesson, clear and easy to follow
One “just” needs to learn to stop and acknowledge the feeling when it arises, with time it will be sooner and sooner and shorter and shorter
Thank you Tara
I have had trouble getting to sleep and as a result have taken sleep aids for years now, mostly herbal. Now I find myself feeling anxious starting at around 8:30 every evening. I wonder if it is possible I will fall asleep unaided and then become sure I won’t be able, so I take something. I wish I could relax and be normal about this fall asleep process. Right now, it seems I will forever be like this- worry, anxious, not able to fall asleep, take a sleep aid.
Thank you Tara for your simple and profound words of wisdom. I am a chronic worrier – to the point where sometimes I’m not even sure what I am worried about – just a general sense of unsafety and dread. It affects my breathing and digestive system the most and interferes with my life and goals. I will remember these steps and work towards being more present. Thank you so much for all of the amazing work you do!
I really like the simplicity and straightforward explanation of looping and the possibility of breaking these cycles of worrying. I have been trying to help people learn that we can do physical therapy with our brains and this just fits right in. Thank you ! Julie
It’s so true. Some clients seem to wear their addiction to worry like a badge of honour.? These 3 steps are very practical for helping a client to deal with the anxiety in the moment. I use a short series of questions called the cognitive correction quiz that allows the client to become aware of the thoughts attached to the anxiety and impact on their mood, then adjusting their thoughts to generate a more positive mood. This 3 step process ties in nicely. Thanks!
Thanks for this reminder and teaching about anxiety. Yes, it is a deeply ingrained habit! I think I will be more mindful of it because of this video. I look forward to the next one on relieving self-doubt, which I have realized is at the root of many anxieties.
Chronic, lifelong addiction. Taking medication, yoga, meditation & discussion with friends & therapists have helped. Worry has been a family tradition, most likely for generations. I have copied your link to my son.
I keep worrying that because I dyed my hair when I was pregnant and I think I may have had a sore patch on my head, loads of dye will have got into my body and harmed my baby ?
I understand now that I am addicted to worry. I didn’t used to be but after having several tragic events in my life, in my mind, subconsciously, I would say these words “What’s gonna happen next?!” This colored all my actions and inside I was not a hopeful person. So I became very limited in most of my interactions. In the last year, I am finally dealing with these thoughts and emotions. I am now redirecting these thoughts and using my beliefs in God to truly help. I also kike the mindful tool shared in this video and will start practicing that to stop this addiction to worry and it’s fear.
Thank you so much Tara. I spent a weekend with you at Kripalu and it was life changing. I travel around the world working with women in leadership and the universal theme is fear and self-limiting beliefs. And of course we are teaching what we ourselves need to learn. Love and hugs, Jean Corson, Stratham NH
I have ‘peptic ulcer’ .I put it in quotes because I have always been aware even a young age ,it is psychosomatic. .I’ve had it since I was 11 years old.It comes when am certainly anxious about the future…when I am uncomfortable with things that I cannot control..which is everything.It had become a habitual way of being…Using the mindfulness tools and meditation ,I have discovered in Buddhism, really help.
Tara Brach You Rock! Grateful for this video series.
Sometimes worrying feels like we’re doing something when it’s actually being on that wheel in the hamster cage. I often tell my clients (and myself) to schedule worry time because we don’t worry very effectively when we worry all the time. My mother was a worrier (and a wonderful person) and it takes practice to counter those old messages!
Also my late husband had 3 separate cancers over 13 years and it took practicing all my skills to manage long term valid worry. Breathing through the worry, gratitude, staying in the day and compassion helped. Plus there are so many kind experts out there like yourself when we can’t find the words for ourselves at the moment!
This morning, I awoke with a sense that there was something wrong. I just watched the video last night, so went through each of the 3 steps to handle worry. I wasn’t sure how things were going when quite suddenly the feeling of worry was gone!
I have been addicted to worry for most of my adult life as I was raised with this way of thinking. It causes so much uncertainty and unhappiness and so many times is a waste of energy. It affects me both mentally and physically. It is a bad habit that I have a difficult time disposing of as it appears to be cyclical.
In my mind I always knew what’s going on but it took a long time to feel it in my body and trusting my body. After 30 years of anxiety and worrying I am able to connect with myself deep inside and to say „hi little girl I give you the love you never got. I do care about you!. I will protect you. I will feed you.“ many decades of therapy and retreats are lying behind me. Getting this deep connection to my body and within my body is a exceptional moment and step in my life. This video supports in connecting mind and body.
In my mind I always knew what’s going on but it took a long to feel it in my body. After 30 years of anxiety and worrying I am able to connect with myself deep inside and to say „hi little girl I give you the love you never got. I do care about you!. I will protect you. I will feed you.“ many decades of therapy and retreats are lying behind me. Getting this deep connection to my body and within my body is a exceptional moment and step in my life. This video supports in connecting mind and body.
Thank you so much for your tireless advocacy of our wellness. After many years of listening to your lessons, now just the sound of you voice has a soothing effect. I am a single, working mother of two teenagers who are getting ready to launch into their own lives, which is worry enough for any mother. I also may potentially have a degenerative brain disease as well. I’m waiting for test results now.
Every day I worry about how my children will manage once I begin to fail. I don’t want to be a burden to them so will try and plan for when I’m no longer able to care for myself. I also worry that it may cripple them emotionally to lose their mother. I worry about both of my children out in the cold world alone. My daughter particularly is very shy and we are extremely close.
I will incorporate your techniques into my daily routine and try my hardest to make life beautiful NOW, regardless of the test results. Thank you.
It’s helpful to me consciously shift my thought patterns from what I’m
not receiving to gratitude for people and for love that I do receive and also give to others. I feel less alone and afraid when I pay attention to the comfort I receive from relationship with others.
I’ve spent a lifetime in a state of worrying, first introduced with an alcoholic parent & the various outcomes of that addiction. It (worrying) as you are explaining, has become a loop of fear based addiction for myself in everyday life. Fear of dental work, fear of ill health, fear of so many things. The 3 step program of allaying those fears is definitely a process I can begin to use & I look forward to helping myself with this process. Thank you!
I can see where worry is addictive & I know it something that’s been passed down in my family. I know with work I can break this negative & harmful habit. Thank you for this great video!
The 3 step anxiety practice works if you do it regularly. If you’ve worked hard at creating a negative loop of worry thoughts over many years and it’s Worked, you can create a more positive habitual response with practice.
I use this technique myself and with clients.
It’s been very effective and much better than just using CBT to change a thought process. I use both with clients and in the main it’s very effective.
Thank you ??
I haven’t been the one who worries about things until I began work as a therapist. It always seemed to be a waste of energy to me. My anxiety began as I feared not being good enough. Mindfulness and meditation has helped. This explains the phenomenon and how to manage it.
Worry can be addictive. Many times the various “inevitable” context(s) that people inhabit evoke addictive worry. People need to assess whether they have the ability to remove themselves from these contexts–or NOT.
Each time I listen I hear something different and that’s a good thing, because I am aware at times that I listen with my thinking mind and then when I am open I listen with my heart mind. Worry had been a constant companion with me for years, and when I am feeling very vulnerable and doubtful, it makes it’s presence known once again. Mindfulness removes those doubts and childhood fears as I breathe into the moment, and I thank you for sharing your knowledge and your beautiful heart. 🙂
Thank you for that. A clearly stated and presented guide at Just the right pace.
I have been anxious my whole life. It started in my early years, about age 9 or so. I learned to worry about everything. It truly does become addictive. I have been on different medications and have felt awful from them.
It takes more than 50 % of my time night and day with no control or awareness of it. But It ´s better until I started méditation I can see it more clearly
I am learning lots for myself personally and for understanding my loved ones & friends. Thank you for doing this through this medium ♡.
Calming. Centering.
I try to accept what is now. I do not resist or struggle.
Try to start where I am and be or allow…relax or soften.
I find that often worrying is a loop of sorts. So I persist with interrupting this loop. Easier stated than accomplished.
For me: Trust in the Divine.
All I do is worry and then I worry about worrying. This vicious cycle is no fun.
These are good exercises to help the client with tools to begin the process of moving fear and fearful thoughts out of their mind and learning how to live in the here and now. They are simple and yet profoundly intuitive in that they get inside the person mine and body helping to alleviate negative thoughts.
This isn’t for myself. We are working hard in our education setting to support a child with anxiety until the family can get professional support. Our children’s welfare is or utmost priority before any education. I was hoping this may help us.
I suffer from depression and problems tied to TBI. I have found some improvement but still have lost a lot. I am trying to use mindfulness to grow.
Yes, I totally see how my clients become overwhelmed by their self-doubts, even addicted to the cycle of thoughts, worry, incapacitated. This three step process gives me a concrete tool for helping them through this, able to watch the thought, feel the emotion and use the power of discerning “real but not true”.
Hi Tara, there are more than 9 million people on this planet who have ME/CFS and most of us experience anxiety that ranges from extreme to mild. This is because of the worry loop that you describe, but also because the amygdala are hyperactive as a result of the illness. I understand your use of the term addiction but I prefer to think of it as a conditioned loop that is hard to break. I hope in the future you might look into how to help those of us who struggle with this as it impairs our potential for healing. Yes, we fear failure, we fear failing to get well.
Very inline with what I practice and teach. I am a yoga teacher and a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology. Both disciplines blend beautifully and transcend into how I instruct and conclude my classes. I also bring such skills into my general psychology class, which are very essential to the students.
Thank you for articulating the reasons and skills. I learned and reinforced a few things watching your video. Namaste.
This technique is the MOST impowering thing I’ve learned and practiced to be in command of my worry thoughts. It gives me such joy to teach it to others and tenderly help them learn to stay present in their bodies with compassion. Thank you Tara!
I look forward to trying this practice the next time I’m anxious. I’m sure I won’t have long to wait! I particularly appreciated the reminder that feeling anxious all the time won’t ensure we won’t have problems.
So helpful Tara, love your straightforward style, so helpful for personal and professional use. Thank you very much.
So helpful Tara, love your straightforward style
Thank you so much for sharing. This is for sure very helpful in my daily life.
Yes worry can strangle my life creating further isolation and damage. Including the inability to take in the beauty that is often in front of me, or experience the positive emotion of gratitude for the many gifts I have in my life. In the midst of worry I forget how not real it is! Darn habit!!!! Thank you for the tools you are offering Tara, I can see it’s important to repeat and repeat the exercises you offer to create a change.
Wonderful lesson, clear and easy to follow
One “just” needs to learn to stop and acknowledge the feeling when it arises, with time it will be sooner and sooner and shorter and shorter
Thank you Tara
I have had trouble getting to sleep and as a result have taken sleep aids for years now, mostly herbal. Now I find myself feeling anxious starting at around 8:30 every evening. I wonder if it is possible I will fall asleep unaided and then become sure I won’t be able, so I take something. I wish I could relax and be normal about this fall asleep process. Right now, it seems I will forever be like this- worry, anxious, not able to fall asleep, take a sleep aid.
Thank you Tara for your simple and profound words of wisdom. I am a chronic worrier – to the point where sometimes I’m not even sure what I am worried about – just a general sense of unsafety and dread. It affects my breathing and digestive system the most and interferes with my life and goals. I will remember these steps and work towards being more present. Thank you so much for all of the amazing work you do!
I really like the simplicity and straightforward explanation of looping and the possibility of breaking these cycles of worrying. I have been trying to help people learn that we can do physical therapy with our brains and this just fits right in. Thank you ! Julie
It’s so true. Some clients seem to wear their addiction to worry like a badge of honour.? These 3 steps are very practical for helping a client to deal with the anxiety in the moment. I use a short series of questions called the cognitive correction quiz that allows the client to become aware of the thoughts attached to the anxiety and impact on their mood, then adjusting their thoughts to generate a more positive mood. This 3 step process ties in nicely. Thanks!
Thanks for this reminder and teaching about anxiety. Yes, it is a deeply ingrained habit! I think I will be more mindful of it because of this video. I look forward to the next one on relieving self-doubt, which I have realized is at the root of many anxieties.
Chronic, lifelong addiction. Taking medication, yoga, meditation & discussion with friends & therapists have helped. Worry has been a family tradition, most likely for generations. I have copied your link to my son.
I keep worrying that because I dyed my hair when I was pregnant and I think I may have had a sore patch on my head, loads of dye will have got into my body and harmed my baby ?
Thankyou Tara i like this because it’s simple & short. i will try these steps. Yes my anxiety is strangling me.i want to change it!
Thankyou Tara i likes this because it’s simple & short. i will try these steps. Yes my anxiety is strangling me.i want to change it!
Important message. Just understanding that it is a loop is very helpful. Thank you
I understand now that I am addicted to worry. I didn’t used to be but after having several tragic events in my life, in my mind, subconsciously, I would say these words “What’s gonna happen next?!” This colored all my actions and inside I was not a hopeful person. So I became very limited in most of my interactions. In the last year, I am finally dealing with these thoughts and emotions. I am now redirecting these thoughts and using my beliefs in God to truly help. I also kike the mindful tool shared in this video and will start practicing that to stop this addiction to worry and it’s fear.
I experienced the 3-step process and it helped me to be more conscious of my anxious thoughts. I will use it in a regular practice, it’s so useful…
Thank you so much Tara. I spent a weekend with you at Kripalu and it was life changing. I travel around the world working with women in leadership and the universal theme is fear and self-limiting beliefs. And of course we are teaching what we ourselves need to learn. Love and hugs, Jean Corson, Stratham NH
I have ‘peptic ulcer’ .I put it in quotes because I have always been aware even a young age ,it is psychosomatic. .I’ve had it since I was 11 years old.It comes when am certainly anxious about the future…when I am uncomfortable with things that I cannot control..which is everything.It had become a habitual way of being…Using the mindfulness tools and meditation ,I have discovered in Buddhism, really help.
Tara Brach You Rock! Grateful for this video series.
Sometimes worrying feels like we’re doing something when it’s actually being on that wheel in the hamster cage. I often tell my clients (and myself) to schedule worry time because we don’t worry very effectively when we worry all the time. My mother was a worrier (and a wonderful person) and it takes practice to counter those old messages!
Also my late husband had 3 separate cancers over 13 years and it took practicing all my skills to manage long term valid worry. Breathing through the worry, gratitude, staying in the day and compassion helped. Plus there are so many kind experts out there like yourself when we can’t find the words for ourselves at the moment!
This morning, I awoke with a sense that there was something wrong. I just watched the video last night, so went through each of the 3 steps to handle worry. I wasn’t sure how things were going when quite suddenly the feeling of worry was gone!
I have been addicted to worry for most of my adult life as I was raised with this way of thinking. It causes so much uncertainty and unhappiness and so many times is a waste of energy. It affects me both mentally and physically. It is a bad habit that I have a difficult time disposing of as it appears to be cyclical.
In my mind I always knew what’s going on but it took a long time to feel it in my body and trusting my body. After 30 years of anxiety and worrying I am able to connect with myself deep inside and to say „hi little girl I give you the love you never got. I do care about you!. I will protect you. I will feed you.“ many decades of therapy and retreats are lying behind me. Getting this deep connection to my body and within my body is a exceptional moment and step in my life. This video supports in connecting mind and body.
In my mind I always knew what’s going on but it took a long to feel it in my body. After 30 years of anxiety and worrying I am able to connect with myself deep inside and to say „hi little girl I give you the love you never got. I do care about you!. I will protect you. I will feed you.“ many decades of therapy and retreats are lying behind me. Getting this deep connection to my body and within my body is a exceptional moment and step in my life. This video supports in connecting mind and body.
Thank you so much for your tireless advocacy of our wellness. After many years of listening to your lessons, now just the sound of you voice has a soothing effect. I am a single, working mother of two teenagers who are getting ready to launch into their own lives, which is worry enough for any mother. I also may potentially have a degenerative brain disease as well. I’m waiting for test results now.
Every day I worry about how my children will manage once I begin to fail. I don’t want to be a burden to them so will try and plan for when I’m no longer able to care for myself. I also worry that it may cripple them emotionally to lose their mother. I worry about both of my children out in the cold world alone. My daughter particularly is very shy and we are extremely close.
I will incorporate your techniques into my daily routine and try my hardest to make life beautiful NOW, regardless of the test results. Thank you.
My anxiety disorder is one of my symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. I will have other symptoms but this one is terrifying for me.
It’s helpful to me consciously shift my thought patterns from what I’m
not receiving to gratitude for people and for love that I do receive and also give to others. I feel less alone and afraid when I pay attention to the comfort I receive from relationship with others.
I’ve spent a lifetime in a state of worrying, first introduced with an alcoholic parent & the various outcomes of that addiction. It (worrying) as you are explaining, has become a loop of fear based addiction for myself in everyday life. Fear of dental work, fear of ill health, fear of so many things. The 3 step program of allaying those fears is definitely a process I can begin to use & I look forward to helping myself with this process. Thank you!
Worry–Myself. My aunt, and some clients. Thank you!