| Yesterday morning, as I was sipping a cup of what I | | | | from your right hand, to your left hand, with your |
| always refer to as "The World's Best Cheap Coffee" | | | | elbows bent at 90 degrees. (This will put the ball |
| at the Lakeview Motorlodge, my caffeine infusion was | | | | around waist level when being tossed from side to |
| interrupted by the vibrating of my phone. When I later | | | | side for most people) |
| listened to the message the caller had left, I heard the | | | | Toss the ball, creating a rhythm or sorts, of about one |
| voice of a friend; a 70 year old man who was clearly | | | | toss every second, slightly arcing the ball upward, and |
| in a fearful frame of mind. | | | | down to the other hand. |
| I had worked with him a decade ago to assist him in | | | | Keep your eyes open, initially, if it helps you. If you drop |
| eliminating the anxiety "attacks" that had become a | | | | the ball (and you will) just pick it up and begin again. |
| nuisance in his life. For 10 years he had been symptom | | | | Work to eventually do this with your eyes closed. |
| free, and then, with the news of some new health | | | | Toss the ball for 10-15 minutes at a time. |
| issues and the death of a friend just days before, he | | | | In short, by involving both hemispheres, and engaging in |
| was, once again, starting to feel his "attacks" coming | | | | a motion that crosses the midline, your are "lighting" up |
| back. | | | | (increasing blood flow) to areas of the brain that are |
| I called him immediately. "Do you have any new | | | | less active during an anxiety "attack" |
| tricks?" he asked. I just chuckled, "Yes, I do!" He was | | | | Done daily (several times a day is better), anxiety |
| already sounding relieved. | | | | "attacks" usually taper off significantly within a few |
| Over the next 15 minutes, I explained a simple method | | | | days, and the feedback I've received with the limited |
| he could use. | | | | number of people I've had employ this technique (40 or |
| Anxiety is almost always correlated with a functional | | | | less) indicates that "attacks" can be completely |
| imbalance between the right and left hemispheres of | | | | eliminated within a couple of weeks. |
| the brain. More specifically, a Positron Emission | | | | Chances are good, that if you have been dealing with |
| Tomography (PET) scan will show a considerable | | | | anxiety or panic for months or years, a couple of |
| disproportion of blood flow in the right and left | | | | weeks of relaxed effort is feasible, to say the least, |
| hemispheres, while someone is having an anxiety | | | | for the relief you are seeking. |
| "attack" | | | | I'm often asked "What if they (anxiety attacks) come |
| Each hemisphere of your brain, communicates with the | | | | back weeks or months after they stopped?" |
| other hemisphere, through a sheath of some 250 | | | | Uhhhhhh...use what worked so well the first time, |
| million nerve fibers called the called the corpus | | | | again? |
| callosum. | | | | When a lady complained to Zig Ziglar, that she had to |
| By "re-distributing" blood flow, thus altering brain activity | | | | listen to motivational tapes daily, or the motivating |
| and hemispheric dominance, even "wicked" anxiety | | | | impact wore off, Zig replied "The results of bathing |
| "attacks" can be quickly cut short, by getting the | | | | wear off too; that's why we recommend bathing daily!" |
| hemispheres to begin "talking" to each other. | | | | Believe nothing I tell you; find out for yourself. There |
| While meditation and other methods can help, they are | | | | are no "gurus", only people with information that can |
| often slow to "work" and for the person in the grip of | | | | help us to achieve certain outcomes, or not. If this |
| an anxiety or panic "attack", slow, "just ain't no good." | | | | method works for you, (and there's no reason for me |
| as one client told me. Furthermore, unless someone is | | | | to think it won't) then I'd love to hear about it. If not, |
| properly trained in the use of meditation for anxiety, it | | | | ditch it, move on, and simply do something else. |
| can even make an anxiety "attack" worse. | | | | Oh, one more thing, I often use this method just before |
| The method I'm about to outline is something I've called | | | | sitting down to write, or before going out on stage to |
| "Hemispheric Integration" but call it "tuna casserole" if | | | | present to a group. The increased mental clarity and |
| you like; the theoretical underpinnings matter very little | | | | focus is a wonderful "side-effect" of the "ball-toss". |
| to the man, woman or child seeking relief. | | | | How many ways can you discover to use this method |
| Get a small bean bag, "bouncy ball" or tennis ball | | | | to your benefit? Enjoy! |
| While seated or standing, toss the ball back and forth, | | | | |