The Most Effective Tools for Managing Stress and Anxiety with Noa Belling
Are you aware of how stress physically shapes your life? Sean Loots sits down with award-winning, bestselling author, psychotherapist and corporate consultant, Noa Belling to discuss her latest book, Stress Less: Managing anxiety in a modern world. In this episode, Noa shares the physiological impacts of stress and the transformative power of body awareness. For example, have you ever caught yourself holding your breath while checking emails? Noa Belling talks us through "email apnea," a stress-induced freeze response triggered by our digital habits. Discover the array of stress responses—fight, flight, freeze, and the cell danger response—and learn how to shift into a state of relaxation with simple techniques. Don't miss the valuable insights on cultivating a relaxation response to enhance your overall well-being as Noa shares practical tips and exercises to combat anxiety and depression, highlighting the crucial role of mindfulness and the body-mind connection. Quotes from Noa: "When you feel like it's tipping over and you can't cope, that's when you know you're on the slippery slide into too much stress." "When you are in that kind of a frozen response, you've been sitting really still, unnaturally so." This episode was originally published by Pagecast and is followed by a short series of guided Stress Less practices exclusively for Something Shifted listeners, led by Noa Belling. https://noabelling.com https://somethingshifted.co.za The introduction (00:00:01) Introducing the podcast and the guest, Noa Belling. Stress levels and coping (00:02:20) Discussion about stress levels, coping mechanisms, and practical stress-reducing techniques. Physiological reasoning for stress (00:04:16) Exploration of the physiological reasons for stress and its role as a survival mechanism. Differentiating good and bad stress (00:05:58) Differentiating between good and bad stress, and the impact of chronic stress on mental health. Inspiration for writing "Stress Less" (00:07:57) Noa Belling's inspiration for writing the book "Stress Less: Managing Anxiety in a Modern World" and the impact of the pandemic on stress levels. Body-mind connection and stress management (00:10:06) The connection between body awareness, mental health, and stress management, and the importance of self-awareness in managing stress. The importance of body movement (00:14:44) Discussion on the significance of body movement in reducing stress and anxiety, and its impact on breathing awareness. Email apnea and dissociation (00:16:13) Exploration of the concept of email apnea and dissociation experienced while being on screens, and its impact on stress response. Understanding stress responses (00:17:56) Explanation of different stress responses, including fight-flight-freeze and frozen-stilling responses, and their effects on the nervous system. Cell danger response (00:21:31) Insight into the cell danger response and its impact on the body's protective and regenerative functions under stress. Developing the relaxation response (00:26:38) Explanation of the relaxation response and its benefits in fostering presence, ease, and compassion, along with practical tools for growth. Identifying stress styles (00:29:01) Exploration of different stress styles, including anxious freeze and its physiological and emotional manifestations. Differentiating freeze responses (00:30:08) Comparison of anxious freeze and numb blank freeze responses, and their respective physiological and psychological characteristics.
