The most recent global survey of mental disorders reveals that Brazil leads the world in the prevalence of anxiety. The research was carried out by the World Health Organization and highlights how excess stimulation in the modern era is negatively impacting mental health. However, it is pertinent to question: what if it were possible to transform this condition into something beneficial?
Myriam Filippi, a holistic therapist, believes that controlling the clutter of thoughts and reducing mental agitation are the ways to deal with anxiety. Based on more than two decades of research and exploration of self-knowledge, she presents the book “Transforming Anxiety into an Ally”. This guide, written in accessible language, offers effective practices for reshaping mental patterns.
Myriam, a yoga therapist and Hatha Yoga instructor, guides readers on a profound journey of developing emotional self-control. In the first chapters, she shares her own experience with anxiety, identifying the symptoms that deserve attention. Furthermore, it clarifies how holistic treatments work, which address the human being as a whole – body, mind and spirit.
The book also explores the triggers that can trigger anxiety and teaches techniques for coping with the disorder and living with anxious minds. To make learning more practical, Myriam created an interactive book. Readers can access 4 practices through a QR Code, directing them to the author’s YouTube channel, where they will find exercises that promote internal reconnection and the release of emotional and energetic blockages.
“Turning Anxiety into an Ally” offers a treasure trove of wisdom to awaken the healing power that resides within each person, providing powerful tools for developing emotional self-control. It is an opportunity for transformation and evolution, from the inside out, providing benefits for health and well-being.
Myriam Filippi is a journalist with a degree in Performing Arts and a degree in Portuguese. In addition, she has a postgraduate degree in Pedagogical and School Administrative Management and experience in print and television journalism. With a versatile career, she also wrote, directed and acted in plays and films, seeking to bring art and culture to underserved communities and people with disabilities.
Myriam is a specialist in Yoga Therapy and Hatha Yoga, trained at UNIPAZ. Since 1998, she has dedicated herself to studying, researching and experimenting with holistic treatments, harnessing the power of self-knowledge to better understand the individual as a whole. She is a Reiki therapist, performs therapeutic oracle readings and focuses her efforts on personal, emotional and spiritual development, inspiring individuals to write their own stories of success, health and well-being through the Awakening the Journey Project.
Brazil faces high rates of anxiety, with the highest prevalence in the world, according to the World Health Organization. How can your book, “Transforming Anxiety into an Ally,” help people deal with this problem?
In this current life that we lead, it seems that everything leads us to be anxious. The length of time has changed, the world’s time is faster, our thoughts are more accelerated, we are having difficulty relaxing, eating slowly and leading a calmer life.
So, at this point, the book can be a real guide to help people develop emotional self-control. The book covers simple and powerful techniques to change your mental state immediately, before and during these anxiety disorders. And of course, inspiring people to have a better quality of life, health and well-being.
You mention that anxiety can be turned into an ally. Can you explain the concept behind this and how it can be achieved?
All of us, at some point in our lives, may present symptoms of an anxious person. But it is a warning sign when it becomes a chronic problem, damaging our overall health and also preventing us from working, sleeping, relaxing and even in our relationships. Therefore, having the right tools and access to our self-knowledge can be the key to liberation and opening processes and healing. Nowadays, the days are very challenging for all of us, and learning to deal with anxiety disorders, in an immediate society, can be worth a lot!
His book is interactive and offers practices on YouTube. Can you share an example of a practice that readers will find in the book?
In the book, I provide different techniques and tools for dealing with anxiety, but I felt that the practice on my YouTube channel “Projeto Despertar A Jornada” could help more deeply. So, for example, between these videos, I bring some breathing techniques that help you relax and calm your mind immediately.
I will share with you the “Straw Breathing” technique here: inhale deeply and slowly through your nose and exhale through your mouth as if you were blowing through a straw. Repeat for 3 to 5 minutes, when you feel that the crisis is coming or that you need to calm down, relax. It can be practiced before bed to help you relax and calm excess thoughts.
In addition to identifying the symptoms and triggers of anxiety, what do you suggest for people to deal with anxious minds in a healthier way?
The best way to deal with anxiety disorders is to delve into what I call “Medicine of Self-Knowledge”. It is important to emphasize that each being is unique. Therefore, each person carries within themselves their own cure to deal with this or other emotional disorders and imbalances. Experiencing techniques and methods in a more natural way gives us autonomy over our healing processes. We have several ways that help us deal with anxiety, and it is our responsibility to discover which will be the most efficient.
For example, Floral Therapy rescues the patient as an agent of their healing process. Flower remedies treat diseases at their origin, making the interactant, no longer patient, understand and modify their vision regarding their imbalances, eliminating negative or harmful patterns. The best-known flower remedies are those of Bach, an English doctor who formulated medicines based on flower essences, aiming to balance the negative emotions that, according to him, are responsible for illnesses.
In the book, you highlight the role of holistic therapies. Could you share a little more about how these approaches can help treat anxiety?
Plato advocated holistic well-being, stating that: “Healing the part should not be attempted without treating the whole. Attempts should not be made to cure the body without the soul, and if the head and body are to be healthy, it is necessary to begin by curing the mind, for man’s great mistake in treating the human body is that doctors first separate the soul of the body.”
In these more than 25 years of research and experimentation, I discovered that we are complex and multidimensional beings, that is, we are mind, body, energy and spirit. So looking and understanding this whole can help us achieve deeper and more accurate cures, and holistic therapies look at and work with this whole.
Currently, we have a growing number of holistic therapies, now over 1,000 options, aiming to treat the individual as body, mind and spirit. Brazil is already offering 29 integrative practices through the SUS, including: Yoga, Circular Dance, Reik, Floral Therapy, Phytotherapy, Aromatherapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chromotherapy, Meditation, Acupuncture, Reflexology and others.
The important thing is that, more and more, people are seeking these therapies. But, although natural, they can be harmful and can cause serious health problems when done incorrectly. Therefore, it is essential that professionals in the field are properly qualified and trained to offer these therapies, as each patient needs the right dose, whether in traditional or holistic medicine.
Many people who suffer from anxiety turn to methods such as self-medication or avoid confronting the underlying causes. How does your book encourage people to go within and face anxiety head-on?
The mind is vitally important to health. Emotional states trigger reactions, which affect the chemistry of our physical body. Our nervous and immune systems react to chemical signals, activated by our thoughts and emotions.
On the other hand, understanding that we are the consciousness behind the mind, and not just the mind, can help us a lot in this process of freeing ourselves from everything that sickens our soul and prevents us from connecting to our true essence in a more profound sense. deep. Understanding these internal and external processes that led us or lead us to these anxious conditions corroborates so that true healing can happen, delving into our “Medicine of Self-Knowledge”, which is the unique path of each one, as my healing process is different from yours.
You mentioned powerful tools for developing emotional self-control. Can you give us an example of these tools and how they can be applied in everyday life?
According to Swami Svatmarama: “The mind is the master of the senses, but the breath is the master of the mind”. When we finally understand the connection between our breathing and our mind, we can begin to walk this path of freeing ourselves from the triggers that manifest anxiety in us. As long as breathing is irregular, the mind is unstable. When we breathe consciously, we gain more mental control during crises.
I realized that breathing is the quickest and most efficient way to calm the mind. Therefore, in the book, I bring some breathing techniques. Just the fact that we breathe more calmly, deeply and consciously helps the body to understand that everything is ok, and it starts to release hormones that help with the feeling of well-being.
What was your personal journey like in trying to understand and overcome anxiety? Are there personal experiences that inspired you to write this book?
This book is the result of my research work and personal experience with anxiety. I talk in the book about how I discovered these effects on myself and how anxiety often prevented me from doing things, relating, sleeping, being happy and living in the present moment. Anyway, for over 25 years I have been investigating and experimenting with what I call “Medicine of Self-Knowledge”, searching for techniques and tools that can help me with my health, quality of life and well-being.
In addition to offering guidance about anxiety, what do you hope readers achieve by reading your book?
As the creator of the “Projeto Despertar A Jornada”, today I seek to inspire people to have more success, health, well-being and quality of life, sharing with them my incessant search for methods, therapies and techniques that really work and free people from these various ills of modern life. Saying more “YES” to what heals us strengthens the mind and nourishes the soul!
How did your background in journalism, performing arts and Yoga influence the approach of the book and the way you approach the topic of anxiety?
The in-depth study of the human body, the mind, the energies, the physiology of the soul and the investigation into the most varied themes and approaches allowed me to see the complex individual, in its various dimensions. So, knowledge put into practice offers us the path to inner wisdom, which is achieved with a lot of dedication and personal commitment. The journey towards self-knowledge does not stop, but it frees us from the darkness of ignorance and illuminates our mind and soul so that, in this way, we can have more mental clarity in life and choose the best choices.
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