{"id":21061,"date":"2021-09-17T08:51:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T15:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/?p=21061"},"modified":"2023-06-22T07:14:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T14:14:18","slug":"try-social-stretches-for-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/mindfulness\/try-social-stretches-for-anxiety\/0821061.html","title":{"rendered":"Try Social Stretches for Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life and Health Network and I recently developed an online course called Anxiety and Depression Relief<\/a><\/em>. There\u2019s an individual<\/a> course you can take at home as well as a group<\/a> course that can be run by clinics, community groups, and churches. I\u2019ve started to personally run a group workshop on Zoom. So far, the workshop has been very well-received with several people I know making phenomenal recoveries.<\/p>

We set action steps at the end of the sessions\u2014habits that are proven to enhance mood and stress control. Participants have the opportunity to share their experiences with follow through on those steps. I\u2019ve been getting good feedback on the positive effects of deep breathing, grounding exercises, healthy lifestyle, and so forth; but one particular action step seems to resonate the most. I call it \u201csocial stretching.\u201d<\/p>

Social stretching is going a little outside of one\u2019s isolative comfort zone toward connecting with other human beings. See, people with depression and anxiety tend to withdraw socially. Their inner turmoil makes them feel as if no one in the world will understand. They feel walled off, caught up in storms of pain and fear that others can\u2019t see. Loneliness and desperation well up. They begin to tell themselves stories like, \u201cNo one understands.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m alone.\u201d \u201cNo one cares.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t matter.\u201d Social stretches pull us out of these loneliness-reinforcing behaviors into connection. A smile at a stranger here. A conversation with a forgotten friend there. It\u2019s amazing how quickly we feel human again.<\/p>

Here are examples of social stretches you can do on a daily basis. Modify them to personally suit your situation and expand on them.<\/p>