When fear takes over and controls our patients or clients, especially when they are suffering with a chronic condition, it can keep them away from the people they love and what they value the most.
To help your patients or students, you can use
the F.A.C.T.S- Foundational Attentional Centering Techniques.
Now these strategies have the origins in the Eastern philosophies such as yoga. They include things like meditation on a object with positive qualities or meditation on a positive mental attitude like Love and Kindness; breathing and Visualisation of positive settings or situations .
These are strategies you can use with your clients to focus their attention in different ways. And these are skills that can be learnt.
Particularly for people with a lot of anxiety that possibly is caused with the fear about their health, being able to ground themselves in the present, in their bodies, in their breathing and visualise something positive or even recite mantra, can be centering and meaningful.
Following the FACTS, Reflection Exploration strategies are also very useful for managing chronic conditions causing anxiety and stress. In the yogic philosophy this is called SVĀDHYĀYA. These could include journaling, writing, avenues for self-reflection where the patients can take a step back and start the witnessing of the or self-observation as if people watching. Ask reflective questions such as
"What am I thinking?'
What am I feeling?"
Self monitoring questions could be- "What do these things come up?"
What triggers my anxiety?"
So the reflective explorations is about getting your patients to know themselves a bit better. These strategies could help them understand their triggers, thoughts, emotions and feelings. These can help your patients to become observers of their own interior of the mind- thoughts, feelings and emotions and the triggers.
Both of the above strategies, can help them move AWAY from the disease and the fear and the worry that it brings.
If you feel you or your loved one or your patients will would like to dive further into any of the strategies, please be in touch. I would more than happy to see how I may be able to help.