We live in a world where there’s a wealth of resources to help us live our best lives. But because there’s so much choice, it can be tougher to find the best methods for our physical, mental, and emotional ailments. We’re always seeking out the alternatives, and when we experience something like anxiety, many alternative therapies can help us. It’s important to focus on holistic health as much as possible, ensuring that you’re taking care of all aspects of your health. So let’s show you a handful and what they can do for you.
Crystal Healing
Crystals can definitely be viewed as incredibly off-centre, but there are so many people who swear by various types of tumbled crystals and essentials like quartz, citrine, and amethyst. Crystals are believed to have energetic properties that can influence the mind, body, and spirit, and Crystal healers use their knowledge of the stones to facilitate healing. It’s believed they work by interacting with the body’s energy fields and chakras to promote balance.
Crystal healing aims to promote relaxation, pain relief, enhanced focus, purification, and connection to one’s intuitive self, which are all components that are severely lacking when we experience anxiety. Many people report positive experiences with crystals for mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being so it’s definitely worth exploring.
Homeopathy
Homoeopathic remedies are often pursued with the goal of anxiety reduction. Remedies such as Ignatia, Sepia, and Natrum Muriaticum are commonly used for treating various types of anxiety. While there’s limited available research on homoeopathy, many people do find it helpful as a complementary therapy alongside conventional treatments such as medication and counselling.
However, if there’s one thing to be taken from this, it’s that herbal supplements can potentially be helpful. There’s a huge variety of herbs available that have been used for centuries. For example, chamomile is one that has been shown to help reduce symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder and is known to have a mild sedative and anti-anxiety effect. Likewise, Valerian is a herb that has been used to help with sleep problems and is believed to work by increasing the levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain, resulting in a calming effect. Another one used to help with mild anxiety and low mood is St. John’s Wort; however, it can interact with many medications. Anyone who is taking antidepressants or any other type of medication needs to consult a doctor.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy, particularly practices using essential oils like lavender, can help reduce two different types of anxiety: state anxiety, which is anxiety triggered by specific situations, and trait anxiety, which is more chronic and generalised. Aromatherapy has been shown to induce a relaxation response.
Certain aromatherapy oils can also help elevate mood, for example, rosemary and peppermint, but it’s also vital to remember that aromatherapy is often used in conjunction with other anxiety-reducing therapies such as massage. Massage is one of those things that everybody can benefit from as well, and in conjunction with aromatherapy, it can be a fantastic tool.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is sometimes viewed with scepticism, but it involves stimulating specific acupuncture points to rebalance body, mind, and spirit and facilitate the body’s own natural healing potential. For those who do not necessarily like the idea of acupuncture, it is considered a safe therapy and is used in hospital settings. Because acupuncture can induce a relaxation response, regular treatment can be effective in reducing generalised anxiety disorder (GAD).
Journaling
While it’s not considered an alternative therapy like aromatherapy or acupuncture, several studies have shown that journaling can reduce overall levels of anxiety and distress. From a purely logical standpoint, it makes sense because journaling allows us to process thoughts and feelings in a non-emotional way.
When we experience stress, we can become caught up in our own thoughts, but the process of putting our experiences into words can help us develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and patterns of behaviour, which can be fantastic when we don’t have the finances to take part in counselling or other forms of therapy.
For the sake of your wellbeing, it is essential to undertake some form of therapy. The modern world can easily trigger anxieties. Part of the solution is not avoiding stress because this is not realistic, but rather coming up with a variety of tools and tactics to bring out during these tough times so that you can develop a tolerance to these troubles. Alternative therapies should not just be used when we get these issues but should be a regular practice in our lives. Once we have an understanding of the types of therapies that benefit us, we will view stress in a far more positive way.
