Using Your State of Mind to Relieve Anxiety

When you are learning yoga, one of the key concepts that you must learn to master is how to control your thoughts. Negative thoughts can cause anxiety, so learning to clear your mind of pesky thoughts and worries can help you to gain some control over how you feel.

An article on PsychCentral describes how achieving “flow” can help to reduce anxiety. The writer defines flow as “the mental state of a person when he is completely immersed in one activity or event.”

According to the writer, flow is used by some artists when they are in the process of creating. Painting a picture or writing a novel can induce the “flow” mindset in someone who is fully absorbed in his or her work. The state of absorption in the activity is so great that the person is not aware of his or her surroundings or physical state.

A sense of peace and happiness settles over the individual, leaving no room for feelings like anxiety, depression or anger.

For the writer on PsychCentral, physical activity was what allowed her to experience flow. While she was unable to achieve flow by doing activities like reading or writing, she found that swimming was pleasant and challenging enough to make her feel content.

This shows us that the activity undertaken to achieve flow may differ by person.

If you want to know more about flow and how it affects people, you can visit the link to the original article below.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/07/21/flow-an-antidote-to-anxiety-the-secret-to-happiness/

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