Coping with the anxieties of coronavirus

Webinar with Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk

24 March 2020

Thank you all for joining us at our webinar exploring how anxiety operates in the body and how you can nurture calm for yourself and others. Here are the details of further information that Suzanne promised to send. We hope that you will share these wherever you feel they may be of help in the coming weeks. Every act of promoting emotional safety will help.

The Sabre Tooth Tiger & Teddy Bear divisions of the Stress System

• The autonomic nervous system video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D96mSg2_h0c
• Entertaining crash course in the stress system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71pCilo8k4M
• The body’s brake pedal: https://www.firstbeat.com/en/blog/sympathetic-and-parasympathetic-nervous-systems/

Laughter & Stress

• How to humour your stress TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZMJdhe4xhQ
• Stress is a laughing matter: https://www.6seconds.org/2016/11/22/laughter-to-manage-stress/
• The Laughing Classroom, by Karen Kohlberg: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19420499-the-laughing-classroom

Breathing

• Breath can change your life TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFcQpNr_KA4
• Headspace for breathing techniques: https://www.headspace.com/meditation/breathing-exercises
• How to reduce stress with breathing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQjGqtH-2YI

Moving back into the present

• The Power of Now, with Eckhart Tolle:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykmwCyHlDXM
• How to live in the present moment:   https://positivepsychology.com/present-moment/
• Present-Moment awareness:   https://www.mindful.org/present-moment-awareness-buffers-effects-daily-stress/

Talking to your brain

• From nervous to excited, with Simon Sinek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SUTInEaQ3Q
• Talk to your brain, not yourself: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/talk-to-your-brain-not-yourself/
• How the voice in your head tricks you: https://www.sciencealert.com/brains-think-talking-in-our-heads-is-like-speaking-out-loud

Naming your feelings

• Name it to tame it, with Dan Siegel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SUTInEaQ3Q
• Pixar’s animated film Inside Out – which I LOVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seMwpP0yeu4

Clothing yourself in love – Transitional Objects

• More than just teddy bears: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-guest-room/201407/more-just-teddy-bears
• You are never too old for a blankie: https://www.simplemost.com/are-you-ever-too-old-blankie/

Gratitude

• Gratitude changes your brain: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain
• The science of gratitude video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMd1CcGZYwU