Over 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of worry and fear that just won't go away. Anxiety can be triggered by stressful events or major changes in our lives. There are studies showing continual anxiety can cause health issues and disease.

At the Baltimore/Washington Institute of NLP I have worked with hundreds of clients over the years and have found these five strategies to help clients overcome anxiety and get back to living happier more productive lives.

There are many forms of anxiety

• Agoraphobia – a fear of being in a public place
• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) – anxiety symptoms not linked to something specific
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) – obsessing over thoughts and/or compulsive behaviors 
• Panic attack– feels like you are dying 
• Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – panic attack linked to a traumatic event
• Social phobia – anxiety induced by social situations

This is what anxiety looks like

• Your heart rate speeds up
• Your heart rate may become irregular
• You breathe becomes shallow and speeds up
• You feel weak and may sweat a lot
• Your stomach feels tight 
• You lose focus and find it hard to concentrate
• You feel dizzy
• You feel frozen
• You have hot and cold sweats
• You feel like you may die

Five ways to overcome anxiety

1. Mindfulness to overcome anxiety

Mindfulness and meditation can give you control of your thoughts. Your thoughts are a contributing factor to how you feel and how you behave. The theory goes, if you control your thoughts, then you can overcome your anxiety. The reality is, it takes a long time to master your thoughts and not enough people that suffer from anxiety can take command of their mindset.

2. Therapy to overcome anxiety

Therapy can be a very effective tool for addressing anxiety. Unfortunately, people with anxiety, sometimes have spent years in therapy, trying to take control of the thoughts and behaviors. They are still there hoping for relief.

3. Psychiatric approach to overcoming anxiety

Psychiatrists prescribe pills more than they help their patients get a handle on their anxiety. The pills help but the side effects can be debilitating. Patients function at a higher level but do not get to the level of happiness they deserve. They can cope with life but not thrive in the way they desire.

4. Early warning system to overcome anxiety

In workshops, I ask the attendees what comes first? A thought or a feeling? Do you think about something happy and that creates happy thoughts or you feel happy and that inspires happy thoughts? 

It turns out it does not matter which one comes first they almost happen at the same time milliseconds apart. And another few milliseconds later your body takes on the physiology of the feeling you are experiencing. It is one system, a change in any segment and it impacts the other 2. Go from feeling happy to grieving and your thoughts and body posture will follow immediately.

As soon as you feel anxiety coming on change your physiology and your thoughts and feelings will follow. For example, if anxiety is coming on, your thoughts and body posture will reinforce it. Pretty soon you will spiral down into a bad place. What if you felt the inklings of an anxiety attack coming on and you thought to yourself, “I am a sexy bitch!” and took on the body posture to match. It does a few amazing things. First, it shocks you out of a familiar pattern. Two, it sends your thoughts and feelings down a different path. Both reinforcing your physiology to go along for the ride. As soon as you feel better go back to your normal non-anxious self. 

My first exposure to NLP was in 1990. I was running a computer consulting firm, and things were going great, till I took up squash. I sucked at it, but I love squash, I had passion for it, drive for it. Two months later I got a good bit better, and then three months in I
got better. Better, better, and better.

On one day, was like, wait a minute, what's going on here?   I love my business and squash.  I have a passion for it, drive for it.  How come to sports I can improve dramatically, but in my business life, I'm coasting?  Someone suggested go see this woman, her name is Una Elliott, and she's an expert at NLP.  So, I went to see Una, and it was a life-changing event.

Whatever the block was stopping me from excelling in my business just disappeared.  And as I walked out of that session, I made a promise to myself, I must learn this.  And more importantly, I've got to teach this to the world because we need to learn how to break through our barriers so we become awesome.

The question is what is NLP.  NLP is the tool kit you need to understand how you can control your mindset because your mindset controls everything in your life, and if you don't know how to control it, you're a victim of your mindset.  You might be getting good results, but you can't get to greatness unless you've mastered mindset.  That's what NLP does better than any other discipline.  It allows you the fastest path to breaking through your limitations so
you step into awesomeness.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is hard to define because the founders wanted to make NLP an open source discipline.  when it was founded of the way it was founded. In many disciplines a set of guiding principles are established. Often one of the principles is “This is the best and only way to accomplish a particular task.” This principle often blocks that discipline from evolving. Participants discount or ridicule other options because ‘Our way is best.”

The founders of NLP thought that NLP is the best technology for change in existence for the time being. But there is always a better way and when we find it we will add it to the knowledge base known as NLP.

The notion of there’s always a better way allowed NLP to evolve in different directions simultaneously. This is the strength of NLP because it’s always getting better. But since it is a moving target it is difficult to define. The definition of NLP differs among the thought leaders in the field.

What is NLP?

To me NLP is what happens in your mind and body at the moment of change. Armed with this knowledge anyone can use it to create change in a fraction of time of traditional therapy.

A more traditional definition of NLP begin with the name. Neuro – represents neurology meaning how our brain connects with every part of our body. Linguistic – represents the language we use to communicate with others and to ourselves. Programming – the mental processes that determine one’s behaviors in any situation. Put simply NLP is the way we use our minds to get spectacular results.

NLP’s guiding principles

The map is not the territory. In English, what this means is there is no such thing as reality only our interpretation of it. We experience reality through our senses but before we can make meaning of our experience it goes through a set of filters (our life’s experiences). A good example of this in action is a salesperson and a customer remembering their meeting quite differently. For the salesperson the customer is super ready to buy, “This is in the bag!” For the customer the salesperson did not address my concerns so I am not going to buy. But I will be polite. Both parties are certain this is what really happened. 

We are part of the system. We have to take the system into account when we are trying to create change. Our environment and the people in it shape our experience of reality and the lessons we take away from it. For example, a sales manager could give constructive criticism to a salesperson in a crowded sales meeting. Or the sales manager could meet privately with the salesperson, lets say over lunch and say the exact same words. For the salesperson the two experiences would be radically different. The same would be true for the sales manager. Meeting at a different restaurant would have changed the experience as well.

NLP is all about studying excellence

Excellence in the traditional sense could be how a leader gets his or her people to deliver exceptional results. Or how the world’s best basketball player throws three-pointers. Excellence in the NLP sense could also mean how someone becomes instantly depressed. In all cases NLP looks at what process was used by the person to deliver these exceptional results. Since 90% of the process is happening at a deep unconscious level outside most people’s awareness they can’t articulate how they get exceptional results. NLP has the tool to go deeper inside one’s psyche to uncover the entire process. Once captured it can be taught to others so they deliver exceptional results as well. 

Let’s say a salesperson who has trouble speaking to large groups wants to get help. They go to a psychiatrist for six months. Then one Thursday afternoon the psychiatrists says something meaningful and the salesperson has a breakthrough. Now the salesperson can talk to large groups comfortably and easily.

NLP is not concerned about the six months of therapy but is keenly interested in what happened that Thursday afternoon. Think about it, a moment before the salesperson was stuck. A moment later and the salesperson had a breakthrough and could speak with ease. A miracle!

If you asked the salesperson how the change happened they wont be able to tell you. NLP uncovers what happened and how to repeat that breakthrough in other situations for other people.

NLP is the fastest and most powerful technology for change!