AYAHUASCA FOR ANXIETY: A GENTLE , HONEST LOOK
As with our recent article on depression, anxiety is another mental health condition on the rise. Similar to depression it is no doubt symptomatic of the fast paced changes to our culture and society. The pressures of social media and the continued bombardment of propagandised bad news.
In turn it is no less debilitating than the sickness of depression. A simplified shamanic version of depression and anxiety is that depression is staying stuck in the past whilst anxiety is worrying about the future.
Is anxiety just worry or an extreme sense of worry? Comedian turned philosopher, Jimmy Carr, would say we’ve pathologised emotions into sicknesses with words such as depression and anxiety and in doing so given them power over us and our lives. Again another simplified version. If the problem were so simple then surely the solution would be equally as simple?
Once again, the number of reported sufferers rises massively in the United States when compared with the rest of the world (4.4% globally compared with 19.1% in the US according to National Alliance on Mental Illness).
Which begs the question, what is going on in the United States?
The problem of western cultural and medical frameworks when it comes to anxiety
It’s not a complicated answer and it’s one we probably all know. There exists a pharmaceutical industrial complex that incentivizes the over diagnosis and prescription of drugs, which can be sold at a premium through a complex system of overpriced health insurance. Doctors in the US will happily and quickly reach for the prescription pad in many circumstances when they need not, because that is what they are paid to do. And the more they do it the more they get paid.
Within that diagnosis/prescription theory there is also an issue. If people are going to their doctor in the first place there is clearly a problem. Is it perhaps the non stop schedule of drug advertisements? A practice illegal in most countries around the world. Or is it the pace of life being focussed largely on a hustle culture that eulogises material wealth and chasing individual success over more traditional community based family values?
Whatever the issues around a profit driven healthcare system and intense work schedule that gives little thought to personal time, human biology has clearly not caught up to a new system and way of doing things where speed is of essence.
With the arrival of AI and constant updates around technology getting faster and faster, our sense of reality and the future is becoming more obscure by the day.
This lack of security around the future in a world that’s changing faster than even social media can keep up with, is without doubt a key driver of general anxiety.
What types of anxiety are there?
Anxiety has its own different subcategories.
GAD (general anxiety disorder) - is an ongoing persistent worry about everyday things like work, homelife, relationships, finances.
Panic disorder - Sudden intense fear paired with dizziness or a racing heart
Social anxiety - fear of being judged, embarrassed or humiliated in public in everyday social interactions that should not evoke such feelings.
Phobias - of flying, animals, heights, balloons etc
Agraphobia - fear of going outside in public spaces
Separation anxiety disorder - severe distress and excessive worry at becoming separated from loved ones or family.
Selective mutism - Choosing not to speak in certain social situations because of severe anxiety
As well as those more clinical categorisations of anxiety you may also notice anxiety showing up in your life in more recognisable ways. Feeling disconnected or irritable can both be signs you’re suffering from anxiety.
Feeling indecisive or constantly needing reassurance from others whilst feeling regular self doubt are signs that anxiety is taking over. Procrastinating on projects or struggling to enjoy wins when you achieve them is also a signal that anxiety is stealing your life force and joy.
What actually is anxiety? Anxiety is deeper than worry - it is fear.
It’s often quipped that worry never solves anything and there is truth to that statement. Worry vs planning is always a spectrum to balance. Worry and in particular excessive worry is a complete waste of energy.
Spiritual teacher, Manly P. Hall taught that worry is a destructive mental habit that drains spiritual energy, which he urged people to replace with thoughtful planning and constructive action.
In his famous essay Ten Basic Rules for Better Living, Hall listed stopping worry as the very first rule. He advised substituting idle fretting and doubt with calm, organized mental preparation.
In fact it is his first rule:
“The popular idea that a worrier is a thoughtful and conscientious citizen is false. The Egyptians realized this when they included worry among the cardinal sins. Do not confuse thoughtfulness and worry. The thoughtful person plans solutions, but the worrier merely dissolves in his own doubt. If you think straight, you will have less cause for worrying. The worrier not only suffers the same disaster many times, but undermines his health and annoys all others with whom he comes into contact. There are many things in this world that require thoughtful consideration, but there is really nothing to fear but fear.”
Easy to write down in a book, much harder to put into practice on a daily basis. It is also fair to note that anxiety is not simply worry. It is the growth of worry into fear. A crossing over that creates a physical response in the body, whether that be immediate such as shortness of breath or a racing pulse. Or something more long term and consistent such as stomach issues, high blood pressure, migraines etc.
The connection between our brain and our body is explicitly felt during feelings of anxiety. The roiling of the stomach, the quickening of the heart, the release of adrenaline. A reminder that we inhabit an integrated system where parts have an immediate and dramatic impact on each other. Why then do some people seem to handle worry, fear and anxiety more gracefully than others?
Why building resilience and resources can help with anxiety
The answer, we feel, comes down to capacity and a person’s capacity can come down to a number of things:
Trauma and how much trauma a person has been through will have a definite impact on anxiety. Particularly if those trauma loops are running through the nervous system without any sense of completion. It can lead to strong hypervigilance, a foreboding sense that something is about to go wrong that will cause overwhelm to the system. In itself this can be self sabotaging and lead to opportunities not being taken because everything is seen as a threat.
Conversely, someone who closed the loop on their trauma cycles, who has brought a sense of completion and feels capable of navigating life’s ups and downs is less likely to suffer from anxiety.
This can sometimes develop in the form of experience. The more challenges and resistance you’ve faced in life whilst overcoming. The more likely you are to feel a sense of centredness and calm when facing difficulty. It is perhaps why today’s younger generations are so ill equipped to deal with the challenges of life and suffer greatly from anxiety.
That being said, someone who has faced too much challenge, challenges that were destabilizing with dire consequences, is probably dealing with an overwhelmed and anxious nervous system.
Tools to help reduce anxiety
Our relationship with our mind and the breath is often a key point of consideration when assessing our relationship with anxiety.
As Rajneesh Osho said: “The mind is an excellent servant but a terrible master.”
Translated one of the main functions of the mind is to assess danger and keep us safe. Historically that might be other humans, predators or natural disasters. In today's world a work, email can sometimes threaten our sense of safety and without discernment, all of sudden every social media post, message or interaction is setting off our warning systems. Anxiety.
It’s our job to bring the mind in line, to help it discern the true threat from the nonsense of modern life. And when our system slips into panic, we can use breath to bring it back.
Navy Seals who experience huge levels of threat to life understand this and use box breath to bring a sense of operational calm. Four seconds in, four seconds hold, four seconds out, four seconds hold. Repeat. There are a huge number of resources regarding the breath in terms of calming anxiety. Yoga nidra and NSDR (Non sleep, deep rest) are also excellent resources to help quiet the mind and bring us back into our bodies and full integration.
Ayahuasca retreats on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to help with anxiety
Ironically, Ayahuasca in itself is a huge cause of anxiety for many people. The journey with these powerful plants can seem daunting and foreboding. Of course it does, you’re potentially opening up to the darkest most shameful parts of yourself and putting a microscope and a mirror on them at the same time. Understandably this will generate anxiety.
Like going on a scary roller coaster, you’re often afraid beforehand but feel exhilarated and a sense of accomplishment afterwards.
More than that, Ayahuasca is a healer of trauma and illuminates the path to closing our trauma loops. It heals the mind and reorganises the neurological pathways allowing for more healthy connections. Sometimes reshuffling and reorganising our thoughts altogether.
It can of course go wrong if the space is not well held. The horror stories and bad reports online add to the sense of anxiety around this medicine. When done in immature, poorly made spaces these medicines have the potential to do great harm
Our retreats and ceremonies are meticulously designed to reduce anxiety. Through titration, through trauma informed consent, careful screening and 15 years of experience and training, small group sizes of 6 or fewer, we build a space that can hold the weight of anxiety and dissolve it.
The individualised approach to this healing work means everyone feels supported and cared for no matter what they may be going through. The jungle itself in Costa Rica and the lapping waves of the Caribbean sea have their own special rhythm to help us forget anxiety.
If ayahuasca asks one thing of us it is to be present, and in the present moment we are able to meet life with our full power. With no future or past to think about we feel the connection to the flow state. To what life could be like for us if we could give it our full attention.
And through whatever challenges the Ayahuasca journey presents, the medicine is always leading us back to love. To true integration of the heart and mind.
Image credit: www.alexgrey.com