Episode 11: Practical Advice on Tackling Fear and Anxiety Through the Pandemic with Gavin Andrews.

Hello, well here we are at week 11 the penultimate podcast in this series. And in response to one of the main themes of the catch up calls and (as you’ll find in the podcast) data from the CDC in the USA [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- they play the same role as Sir Chris Whitty and colleagues in the USA] showing that fear and anxiety was the second biggest cause of hospitalisation and death when someone fell ill with COVID.

In this podcast, we speak with Gavin Andrews, MD of HeartMath UK and Ireland, co-founder of WeAddHeart a now global meditation initiative set up in response to the pandemic and also of Syntropy, a new app that integrates digital art, music and meditation to help people get faster and easier results from their meditation and relaxation efforts.

And we also get into the great advice many of you shared in the questionnaire from last week. There were some fantastic contributions showing the care and wisdom in this community. Thank you. 

I have known and worked with Gavin for over 10 years and we recommend the HeartMath tools, techniques and biofeedback devices to help people perform more effectively for less cost. He’s super smart and a really nice chap! 

Here’s what we discuss:

00.00  Welcome and Introduction

02.00   Gavin’s work – Making it easier to live through the heart every day.

07.00    The CDC research – fear and anxiety making COVID worse – the comorbidity you can change the quickest. 

11.42    The UK Government using fear as a motivator – well intentioned but with side effects.

16.00    Noticing, labelling and accepting our negative feelings- fear, anxiety, stress, call it what describes it best for you.

21.00    What is fear and anxiety? What happens in the body? (see diagrams)

26.00    How our stress affects our brain function. 

35.00    Why triggering our recovery response is so important. Clear away the debris.

41.00    Using emotional regulation to get us to Plan-B

44.00    Start with breathing more effectively – here’s how.

50.00    Practice session. Heart Focused Breathing.

1.01       Advice from the questionnaire -stunning stuff!

1.05       Build capacity skills and connection while we can.

1.12       Finding your senses.

1.13       Community and how to learn more.

We go through two slide. I have included them as images in case there was a problem with an attachment on your company systems.

Best wishes 

JB