Acupressure for Anxiety & Nervousness

The Anxiety Point & Foods to Avoid

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a common human emotion, a feeling of distress. We all may feel anxious sometimes, either from fears, various types of stress in our lives, or anticipation of something important.

Intensity of anxiety ranges from mild levels to gripping, overwhelming emotions. Anxiety can be occasional or it can come in waves throughout the day and night. Traumatic experiences and unfinished emotional relationships can certainly make anxiety or nervousness worse.

Fortunately, you can help yourself feel better with a combination of holding Acupressure points, deep breathing, a balanced whole foods diet, and getting plenty of daily aerobic exercise. This comprehensive approach gives you all the elements you need.

In this article, you’ll learn an exercise that uses deep breathing with a key Acupressure point for relieving anxiety. You’ll discover more about deep breathing and exercise, and also explore the foods that are good and which foods to avoid. Finally, there are additional Acupressure Resources for anxiety relief. All of these work to further your healing journey. Below you’ll learn healing approaches on how you can release stress and anxiety or nervousness.

How Acupressure Reduces Anxiety & Nervousness

Acupressure Therapy relieves anxiety and nervousness by relaxing muscular tension and increasing circulation of the blood and the Chi, the life force. When Acupressure points are held, the life energy flows more freely, balancing the body and calming the spirit.

As tension is released, your breathing naturally deepens. This also helps you to relax and to feel calmer. When you feel better physically, you also feel better about yourself. Deep relaxation can increase your awareness and help you gain a new perspective on the conflicts or issues that can underlie your anxiety, distress, or nervousness.

Acupressure Exercise for Relieving Anxiety

When you’re feeling anxious, you can hold the Sea of Tranquility point (CV 17) for relief. It’s located on the center of your breastbone. To increase its calming effect, concentrate on breathing slowly and deeply into this point. Holding CV 17 is also excellent for reducing and calming a panic attack.

Keeping your palms together, use the back of your thumbs against your breastbone to firmly press CV 17, the Sea of Tranquility, at the level of your heart. Or you can gently hold it with your middle fingertips, with either one or both hands. Close your eyes and concentrate on breathing slow, even, deep breaths into your heart, to completely dispel any anxiety.

Focus on breathing deeply for two minutes. Gently control your respiration, making each breath grow longer and deeper than the last one. Breathe out any tensions that you feel are restricting your lungs from moving fully and naturally. Feel your mind clear with each breath.

Notice the resistance your mind creates – the worries and judgments it comes up against. Take several deep breaths and dissolve these barriers. Breathe deeply and gently, remembering that you are breathing in life itself.

Hold the breath at the top of the exhalation for a moment, feeling its fullness. Then exhale smoothly, letting your hands drift down into your lap, and relax, feeling the vitality of the breath circulate throughout your body. The Sea of Tranquility point CV 17 can be used to strengthen and balance your system and also to prevent nervousness.

A Comprehensive Holistic Approach

For everyone to get the best results, it’s recommended to combine Acupressure, deep breathing, a balanced whole foods diet, and daily exercise, especially aerobic exercise.

Deep Breathing
You can learn to relieve your anxiety in just a few minutes by focusing on how you breathe. Long, deep breathing is important for releasing tension as well as for emotional balancing.

The next time you are nervous or anxious, check out how you are breathing. When you are anxious, your breathing will often be shallow.

Instead, purposely increase the depth and and capacity of your breath. By doing this, you can relieve your nervousness.

Sometimes it’s difficult to breathe deeply, due to a number of factors. These include constriction in the chest due to emotional pain or anxiety; great grief or sadness; holding on to an unfulfilled expectation; or even a physical disability.

Make time to practice holding the Sea of Tranquility point with the breathing techniques given in the exercise above. As you do this on a regular basis, you will begin to feel calmer.

Movement & Exercise
Get plenty of daily exercise. This could be walking, yoga, stretching, or aerobic exercises, such as swimming, biking, dancing, jogging, or running.

Find activities you enjoy, and vary them from day to day. That way, you’re working different muscles for a more complete program. It also keeps things fresh and interesting.

Dietary Considerations to Counteract Anxiety

Eat a balanced, whole foods diet with lean protein, healthy fats, and lots of vegetables.

Enjoy Greens
Green vegetables, such as spinach and kale, supply the body with a large quantity of B vitamins to calm anxiety.

Increase Whole Grains
Grains will give you an ample amount of B vitamins, which have a calming effect on the nervous system. Be sure to use whole grains, such as brown rice.

Foods to Avoid
Either eliminate or greatly reduce refined foods made with white flour and sugar, as well as coffee and foods that have a high salt content.

Sugar, salt, artificial flavoring and coloring, white flour, additives, and preservatives can weaken your body. These debilitating foods, especially sugar, can make your anxiety worse.

Food cooked with a moderate amount of salt is not harmful, but adding salt or soy sauce directly to your food at the table can create an internal imbalance.

Acupressure & Psychotherapy

Anxiety is an all-too-common result of the fast pace and stress of modern life. Frequent or severe anxiety, however, can become harmful. People with significant anxiety may also need psychotherapy and sometimes medication. Acupressure Therapy is an excellent complement to these Western approaches, increasing the overall effectiveness for you. It is advisable to see a holistic medical doctor or a psychotherapist if your anxiety is not relieved after practicing the Sea of Tranquility point with deep breathing exercise for twenty minutes, twice a day, for a week.

Acupressure Resources

Anxiety & Emotional Healing Articles: Acupressure for Emotional Healing and Acupressure for Depression provide additional content on achieving Emotional Healing. As well, Healing Emotions & Trauma is one of the main benefits of Acupressure.

There are also many more pages dedicated to the topic of Emotional Healing
within the Self-Acupressure A to Z section of this website.

Acupressure for Emotional Healing
is a complete self-care guide for trauma, stress, and common emotional issues. With more than 400 photos, line drawings, and illustrations, it offers gentle and effective guidance, wisdom, and practical self-care routines.