Does everything around you feel like too much right now? Between other people’s panic, constant noise, and a non-stop news cycle, it can easily feel like the world is spinning much faster than you can keep up with.
If you are trying to hold yourself together in the middle of it all, this session is for you. True calm is not something that happens to you only when the chaos stops—it is an internal strength you build so it remains steady regardless of what the external world is doing. In this episode of Calming Anxiety, clinical hypnotherapist and former frontline paramedic Martin Hewlett shares the invaluable lessons learned from 25 years of responding to emergency crises.
00:00 – Introduction: Building Calm from Within An exploration of how our nervous systems automatically absorb and mirror environmental chaos, and why internal peace is an active skill rather than a passive state.
The script
Transcribed from the audio, so the odd word may be off. Tap any line while it plays to keep the words in step with Martin's voice.
Everything around you now feels like too much. Are the people's panic, are the people's noise, the news, the nivans, the sense that the world is spinning faster than you can keep up with. And somewhere in the middle of all that you are trying to hold yourself together. This session is for you.
Because calm is not something that happens to you when the chaos stops. Calm is something you build inside yourself, so it's there regardless of what the world is doing. In the next 10 minutes, I'll show you how. Welcome to calming anxiety.
I'm Martin, clinical hypnotherapist and former frontline paramedic. 25 years responding to other people's worst moments taught me something that no textbook ever can. The people who hold the room together in a crisis are not the ones who film nothing. They are the ones who have learnt to breathe through the fear whilst everyone else is ruled by it.
That is what we're building today. Every day, 10 minutes, always. A quick note before we begin. The GoFundMe campaign to bring AnkitApp to iOS is still open but closing at the end of the week.
Every person who donates gets a lifetime free access to the premium part of the app. Just send your receipt if you haven't done so already. To Hello at calminganxerity.org and I'll take care of the rest. If you would like to donate and help bring this to market, please do so.
There's a link in the show notes. Thank you. And speaking of Ankit, it'll be here next month. If you want to be the first to know, do subscribe and share this show.
The more people who find us, the sooner we can get this in the hands of everyone who needs it. Right. Find your quiet place now. You can sit or lie down, whichever you prefer.
Let your hands rest open. Unclench your jaw. Drop your shoulders. And if it's safe, close your eye.
Here is what I want you to understand before we breathe. When chaos surrounds us, other people's anxiety raised voices, bad news, an environment that feels out of control. Our nervous system does something automatic. It absorbs it.
It mirrors it. Within moments, someone else's stress has become your stress and you didn't notice it was happening. It's not weakness, it's biology, your wide throat. But this is what you can do.
I want you to feel your breathing intimately now. So as you breathe in, expand your awareness and feel the way your chair, your ribcage, rises, expanding outwards to draw deep within the space in your lungs, every moment of hope, of positivity, of unmet ambitions. Be mindful of the pause between the in and the out breath. And then as you breathe out, truly relax, feel the muscles unwind and loosen.
Feel the tension drift away. Fitting your breath on a cold winter's morning, every time you breathe out, you see the small clouds of vapor, twisting, tumbling and turning. Now, on the in breath, imagine all the stress that's around you. Fill your lungs with it.
On the pause, now, as you exhale, imagine seeing it. A gray darkness, the negativity of others, the anxiety of those, the noise, the darkness, you see it as these clouds. Watch as if caught by a gentle breeze as they drift away, twisting, tumbling and turning before disappearing from view, disappearing from thought. Disappearing from memory, to leave your mind, body and soul in harmony, reunited once more.
The monologue of your thoughts now calm and serene, while all around is a noise that could coffin you, become a beacon of hope and tranquillity.
Relax now. The all that out breath, relaxing deeper and deeper and deeper still. And within this moment of calm, within the beauty of your mind's eye, visualise and repeat these beautiful words, allowing them to sink deeply and safely within your soul.
I do not need the storm to stop in order to find my calm.
I am the steady presence in the room, my calm is a gift I give to those around me.
Chaos around me does not mean chaos within me.
I breathe, I stand, I shine, but is enough.
I am grounded, I am lit from within, I am the lighthouse.
Deeper now. Now those words to move beneath the sinking mind into the quieter layers, the ones that run your automatic responses. The parts that have learned to tense when others tense, to panic when others panic. You are writing a new instruction there now, one breath at a time.
I do not need the storm to stop in order to find my calm.
I am the steady presence in the room, my calm is a gift I give to those around me.
Chaos around me does not mean chaos within me. I breathe, I stand, I shine, that is enough.
I am grounded, I am lit from within, I am the lighthouse.
Good, let those words rest, they will do their work.
And now to carry this forward with you through the day, your three daily caring tips. One, notice who emotions are you carrying? When you feel anxious in a group setting, pausing us, is this mine? Or did I absorb this from someone else?
Simply naming it, this might not be my feeling, creates enough distance for your nervous system to stop mirrored and start regulating. Two, anchor yourself physically before you respond. The next time someone brings chaos to your door, a difficult phone call, a fraught conversation, a room full of tension. Press your feet firmly into the floor for three seconds before you speak.
This is a somatic grounding technique, it fires those signals of "I am here, I am safe" and three, let calm be contagious, deliberately. Search in social neuroscience shows that nervous system trains to one another. When you slow your breathing and lower your voice in a chaotic environment, the people around you begin to regulate too, often without realising it. Your calm is not passive, it is one of the most active things you can offer another person.
You've got this. You begin to come back into the room. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Take a slow breath in and then as you breathe out, stretch out the muscles in your arms and legs and then open your eyes.
The world outside the window may still be loud, that's okay. You came in here and did the work. You built something today, a little more steadiness, a little more light. That matters more than you know, because when you walk back into the room, karma, more grounded, more present, you change the room.
That is the quiet power of what you've just done. If you found this session helpful, please do share it. Send it to one person who needs it today. Word of mouth is the only reason my show exists and this is the reason Ankit is coming to market next month.
It will help us build a kinder, more peaceful world. And if you want to go deeper, my anxiety circuit break, of course, is five full clinical hypnotherapy sessions designed to rewire anxiety at its root. You'll find it at calminganxiety.fm. It's only $67.
Have a lovely day my friend. It's reconnect tomorrow, smile often, spread positivity and a bubble, be kind.