What you can do to reduce your anxiety

Fear and Attention Processes: How Peripheral Vision Can Help with Anxiety Issues

Are you familiar with that feeling of overwhelming fear, where you can only focus on what might go wrong? In this blog article, you will discover how your attention plays a crucial role in anxiety and how you can find more peace through a special technique – the use of your peripheral vision.

Why Your Attention Is So Important with Anxiety

When you are anxious, your brain tends to focus on potential threats. Scientists call this "attentional bias." It works like a magnifying glass: everything that could possibly be dangerous is magnified and gets extra attention.

Imagine this: you have social anxiety and you are at a party. You notice someone frowning, and suddenly that frowning face is the only thing you can think about. This makes you miss the friendly smiles of others and the relaxed atmosphere in the room. This is a classic example of how attentional bias works.

The Vicious Cycle of Fear and Attention

This attentional bias, the focus on danger, creates a domino effect:

1. Your attention narrows (tunnel vision)

2. Your body goes into stress mode

3. Your heart rate increases

4. Your breathing becomes shallower

5. You feel even more anxious

6. Your attention narrows even more 

The Power of Peripheral Vision

Interventions that break the attentional bias (your fixation on the problem) are effective in reducing anxiety symptoms. Training your peripheral vision is one of these proven methods. 

This is the part of your visual field that you perceive at the edges of what you are looking at.

Recent research shows that widening your attention directly impacts your nervous system. It activates your parasympathetic nervous system – your 'rest and recovery' system – which results in a decrease in your heart rate, a deepening of your breathing, relaxation of your muscles, and a clearer perspective on the situation.

Practical Exercises to Train Your Peripheral Vision

1. The Panorama Technique

Sit or stand upright

Choose a point directly in front of you to look at

Keep looking at that point, but try to become aware of what you see at the sides of your visual field

Do this for 2-3 minutes

Notice how your breathing naturally slows down

2. The 180-Degree Exercise

Stand in a space where you can see a lot

Stretch your arms out to the sides

Slowly move your arms forward until you can barely see them

This is approximately your full field of vision

Try to become aware of everything you can perceive in this entire field

Do this daily for 5 minutes

3. The Anti-Anxiety Application

When you feel anxiety rising:

Stop for a moment what you are doing

Consciously activate your peripheral vision by looking 'broad'

Notice what else is around you

Feel how this creates space in your mind and body

Take a few deep breaths

Your attention is a powerful tool in dealing with anxiety. By consciously using your peripheral vision, you can break the vicious cycle of anxiety and experience more peace. Start small, practice regularly, and notice how these simple yet effective exercises help you reduce your anxiety.

Professional Help for Persistent Anxiety Issues

While the techniques mentioned above can be very effective for mild anxiety issues, some fears are deeper rooted and require more guidance. For these situations, I offer a specialized 3-session program, in which I combine hypnotherapy and NLP techniques to help you resolve your anxiety.

Would you like to discover how this program can help you feel freer and calmer in life?

Then contact me for a no-obligation introductory conversation.

Together we will discuss your situation and see if this program is right for you.