In This Episode
Dr. Russell Kennedy joined Heather Alice Shea today to talk about something 40 million American adults (roughly 18% of the population!) experience: an anxiety disorder.
Dr. Russel is very rare among physicians in that he specializes in the very disorder he suffers from himself. Dr Kennedy has degrees and advanced training in medicine, neuroscience and developmental psychology. He knows more about the understanding, treatment and healing of anxiety from more perspectives than anyone else in the world. It's not all science though, as he is also a certified yoga and meditation teacher and was a professional stand up comedian for over a decade. While under a therapeutic dose of LSD he discovered how he could heal himself from anxiety and now he shares those insights with others who struggle with chronic emotional pain.
If you suffer from anxiety, or know someone who does, you'll definitely want to tune in!
You'll hear a refreshingly progressive, psycho-spiritual, psychedelic and neuro-scientific look at the issue. Dr. Russel's extensive professional research and personal experiences with anxiety give him an unparalleled and unique perspective that will forever change the way you look at trauma, the mind-body connection, bio-hacking, anxiety and self healing.
Highlights
9:27 - Anxiety is not a "mind" problem, it's a mind-body issue
10:00 - The difference between "alarm" and "anxiety" and why it's important
17:23 - How and why your mind creates "run away" stories that create panic... and what to do about it
20:00 - Stop throwing gasoline packets on your anxiety fire
25:12 - Dr. Russell gives an awesome trick to deal with anxiety in the moment
39:18 - How you can "hack" your stress response through understanding some basic super interesting neuroscience!
32:47 - Why mindfulness is not enough to help alleviate anxiety (what it "misses")
35:38 - Why anxiety makes us blame, shame, attack ourselves ourselves. The "J.A.B.S" of how we internalize anxiety
43:52 - Compassion as the healing antidote to anxiety - and some tips on how to get started
Quotes
"You can't think your way out of anxiety. You have to feel it to heal it."
"All anxiety is separation anxiety...separation from other people...separation from yourself. So what it really comes down to is being able to connect with yourself"
"How can I really love myself? How can I really be compassionate towards myself?"
Links Mentioned
www.theanxietymd.com
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