The Free & Easy Way To Release Anxiety In Just 10 Minutes
My dad is in his 60s now and has been living with heart disease for over 30 years. He’s the type of person who doesn’t need to go through the airport security gate — not because he has a friend at security, nor because he looks suspicious enough to warrant a manual check. Instead, he has a small machine inside his body that stabilizes his heartbeat, ensuring it doesn’t stop when his heart gets tired. This tiny device, called a cardiac pacemaker (an implantable device that delivers electrical pulses to regulate a slow heart rate), is made of metal — so you can see why he avoids the security gate…you can’t exactly take it out and place it in the tray!
Just a few weeks ago, out of the blue one afternoon, he felt weak and had difficulty breathing. It felt as though a heart attack and anxiety hit at once. Without hesitation, I grabbed a yoga mat and asked him to lie down. I’ve been practicing yoga for a few years and have always loved the final part of every session — Savasana (corpse pose). It’s the easiest and most accessible way to relax, requiring no advanced technique. Everyone can master this pose, even if they’ve never set foot on a yoga mat. Yes, it’s that easy.
I instructed my dad to lie flat on the mat, with his arms and legs in their most comfortable, relaxed positions. (You can place a yoga block or any support under your head if your neck feels strained.) Then, I imitated my yoga teacher (it was actually my first time, I’ve never done such thing before), guiding him to relax every part of his body — starting with the brows, forehead, jaw, mouth, neck, shoulders, and moving all the way down to his limbs, fingers, and toes. Every part of the body, fully relaxed.
Within a few minutes, his stress level dropped significantly (he was wearing a Garmin Venu 2 Plus, so we could track it). It worked! He had calmed down completely, as if the tension melted away from his entire body. After just 10 minutes, I asked him to sit up and reassess how he felt. The nervousness and anxiety had vanished.
Later that night, he confessed that before I brought out the yoga mat, he was considering calling an ambulance and heading to the ER. He never imagined that just 10 minutes of “lying on the floor” could have such a profound impact. For someone who has never done yoga and only trusts medical solutions, this experience shifted his perspective on self-healing and the power of oneself.
Our body performs what our mind projects.
If you or a loved one struggles with anxiety, give this a try. If you’re helping someone, guide them by verbally naming each part of the body to relax — it helps much more than having them imagine it on their own. For those who live alone or don’t have anyone available to help, there are plenty of resources on YouTube. Just type the keywords: “guided savasana”.
If it works, maybe you can skip a pill, and over time, things might improve greatly without you even realizing it. And if it doesn’t work, no harm done — try again later. Either way, you have nothing to lose!
