Calming Anxiety
You've Been Doing Too Much. This Is Your Permission to Stop.
Have you spent your day—or perhaps your entire week—carrying a mental load that feels too heavy to drop? In a world that demands constant movement, stopping can actually feel wrong, as if you’re forgetting something vital. Today’s session is a clinical permission slip to pause. We explore why your nervous system feels like it’s running on a high-speed loop and how to send the signal that it is finally safe to rest.
I’m Martin, a clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic. I’ve spent years working with people at the absolute edge of their capacity. I want you to hear this clearly: You are not failing; you are simply a human being who has been running very hard.
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.
I want to start by saying something that nobody may have said to you today. You have done enough. Not just today, although today too, but in general. The lists, the responsibilities, the mental load of keeping everything and everyone going. The managing and the planning and the quietly absorbing of things that are hard. You have been doing so much for so long that stopping actually feels wrong now. Like you're forgetting something like you should be doing something. You're not forgetting anything. There is nothing you should be doing. For the next 10 minutes, the only thing you have to do is be here and even that, I'll do most of the work for you. Welcome to calming anxiety. I'm Martin, Clinical Hitness Therapist. I've spent years working with people at the edge of what they can carry, and what I know clinically and from my frontline experience as a paramedic is this, the nervous system was never designed to run at the pace most of us are running at. What you're feeling right now, that low level hum of too much, that inability to fully switch off even when nothing is actively wrong. That is not a character for. That is a dysregulated nervous system that simply hasn't been given the signal that it's safe to stop. Today, we send that signal together. There are over 2,300 sessions in my library, every one of them yours. So why not subscribe, explore and enjoy. Now find somewhere comfortable, you can sit or lie down and if it's safe to do so, gently let your eyes close. Before we go anywhere, let's slow the body down together because the mind won't follow until the body leans. I want you to breathe mindfully, slowly in through your nose, pause at the top for a moment, then breathe out through your mouth, relax and slow. With me, I'll do the count you follow along in 2 3 hold 2 release 2 3 4 5 again in 2 3 hold 2 release 2 3 4 5 that extended out breath it's not just relaxation it is a direct measurable physiological moment that activates the vagus nerve it simply tells your nervous system the emergency is over you can put the arm down now one more time ready my friend in 2 3 hold 2 exhale 2 3 4 5 feel the difference between the person who arrived here a while ago and the person breathing right now even a fraction of a degree of softening notice it that's real that's your nervous system beginning to believe you let your breathing find its own rhythm now and follow me somewhere quiet I'd like you to imagine a kitchen it's a evening not late just that particular hour when the light outside starts to go amber and the day begins to loosen its grip the overhead light isn't on yet there's a lamp somewhere nearby warm and low the kind of light that makes everything feel a little softer a little slower there's a drink on the counter whatever you would want right now tea something warm something that smells familiar and good the mug is the perfect size the warmth of it fits exactly in both hands you pick it up and for a moment you don't do anything else you just hold it outside something is happening the world is still doing what the world does traffic somewhere maybe the sound of other lives at a comfortable distance but in here in this kitchen in this specific warm and ordinary moment none of what is required of you notice your shoulders when did they last not be somewhere near your ears let them drop all the way further than feels natural there notice your jaw let it go soft the teeth unclenched the face released of whatever expression it's been holding for the last however many hours you don't have to perform anything in here there is no one to hold it together for this is what the research cross mindfulness neuroscience and clinical hypnotherapy all converges on the nervous system recovers not through effort but through the absence of demand you cannot force yourself calm but you can create a moment so ordinary so safe so completely without requirement that calm simply arrives on its own so let it be feel the way to the mug the warmth moving through your palms the quiet of this kitchen the amber light the sense just for now that everything on this list can wait that the world will still be there in ten minutes that you allowed yourself to be here in this ordinary beautiful sufficient moment you are not behind you are not failing you are a human being who has been running very hard taking ten minutes to remember what stillness feels like this is not indulgent this is intelligent now let these words arrive gently not as instructions but as remind of things that are already true I have done enough today resting is not falling behind it is how I go further my nervous system is allowed to be quiet I do not have to earn stillness I am allowed to simply stop taking care of myself is not selfish it is what makes everything else possible in this moment I have everything I need I am enough exactly as I am right now and before we close your three daily caring tips for the person who is being doing too much one schedule the stop before the start most people plan what they need to do and hope the rest fits in around the edges it never does before tomorrow begins identify one specific moment even ten minutes that is protected from demand not scrolling not catching up an actual stop put it in first before everything else fills the space to notice what you're carrying that isn't yours a significant portion of what exhausts us is borrowed anxiety other people stress other people's problems some of it will be but today gently ask is this mine put some of it aside you don't have to carry everything that lands near you and three let one thing be unfinished today just one choose the least important thing on the list and consciously decide it doesn't get done today not because you fail but because you've chosen there is a profound nervous system difference between a task that escaped you and a task deliberately put down now my friend very gently begin to come back into the room wiggle your fingers wiggle your toes take one slow breath in all the way and on end the out breath let your body stretch arms and legs and when you're ready open your eyes take one moment now before you pick your phone back up or return to whatever comes next just one moment to notice that you feel even fractionally different to when you arrived that is not nothing carry a little of that kitchen with you today the amber light the warmth of the mug the permission to be sufficient as you are right now if you found this helpful if someone else in your life is running on empty and they haven't found their way here yet please share this session with them it costs nothing but it might mean everything and if you're ready to go deeper check out my anxiety circuit break a course it's only sixty seven dollars it could change your world it's at calminganxiety.fm I'm Martin this is calming anxiety I'm here for you every single day so my friend in everything you do to yourself be kind