1] Let me tell you how can manage anxiety by taking conscious control of your awareness.

Two weeks ago I did a session at The Stoa and, being perfectly honest, I was very nervous in the hours before it started.

Here's a thread on how I managed it

2] First of all, let's clarify that awareness — which is not the same as attention — has shape and size, both of which you can influence.

Right now, as you read: there were an aircraft going overhead, check that you *could* hear it.

What changed? https://twitter.com/m_ashcroft/status/1216449202080878593?s=20

3] You 'expanded' your awareness, consciously becoming aware of a larger space around you.

Keep playing with this as you're reading and notice how easy it is to lose that space.

Have you already 'lost' the space that aircraft is in?

This is a habitual response to stimuli...

4] When something grabs you, it's common for your awareness to 'collapse'.

Like when you're scrolling Twitter, you might find that your awareness of the space you're in shrinks, and you're only really aware of the screen and your own thoughts.

We can use this as a tool...

5] Anxiety is a powerful stimulus.

When I feel anxious, my habitual response seems to be the same kind of collapse of awareness.

My entire world shrinks to something the size and shape of the anxiety, such that there is nothing BUT the anxiety.

This, as you may know, sucks.

6] It's common to try to fight the anxiety head on at this point using thoughts.

"I shouldn't be anxious!"

"It will be fine!"

"I've done this kind of thing before!"

"It's a friendly crowd!"

And the anxiety remains firm, unmoved by logic. It's too powerful.

7] Let me show you a different path.

Stop trying to fight it on its terms.

Let it be there, exactly as it wants to be, but while ALSO giving yourself more space to respond.

Here's the secret: the anxiety itself has a fixed size, while your awareness is effectively infinite...

8] When you 'zoom out' with your awareness, taking in more of the world in all directions around you, the anxiety is still there.

BUT SO IS EVERYTHING ELSE.

The anxiety is now a smaller proportion of your total awareness. This makes it easier to move and still act in the world.

9] This is exactly what I did when my Stoa session was about to start.

I noticed the anxiety.

I noticed the collapse in awareness, as the anxiety became everything.

I didn't try to fight the anxiety, but I did expand my awareness.

The anxiety was *there*, but didn't dominate.

10] This is what I offer you.

I'm naturally an anxious person, believe it or not, but this is an extremely powerful tool.

I use it all the time, particularly when doing big public speaking engagements.

Here's one, for example: https://twitter.com/m_ashcroft/status/1295412687862747136?s=20

11] If you experience anxiety then I hope this helps you.

If you'd like to read more about this (it's Alexander Technique, surprise!) you can start with this master thread of threads... https://twitter.com/m_ashcroft/status/1216144745619165184

12] And if you're really keen, you can sign up for my newsletter here:

https://twitter.com/m_ashcroft/status/1216144745619165184

I'm currently building a course to allow this stuff to reach more people.

And, finally, thanks again @peternlimberg for inviting me onto the Stoa. I had a great time