Hypopressives for anxiety - Annmarie's story

I started to suffer with anxiety and obviously that brings in struggling to breathe sometimes and then panic attacks and that kind of thing.

I was also struggling with putting weight on and was mindful that I needed to do some exercise - I wanted to lose weight but also had anxiety going on.

I felt like all the other kind of exercise that I did - swimming, joining the gym, walking - they just never hit the anxiety. 

So I would do them and never feel relaxed or feel calm. And then I would go to the next session sort of a bit anxious, didn't want to do it. So I kept starting things and giving up and starting things and giving up.

So when I heard about something that would help with my breathing - which is something I was very aware of, that I was struggling with - I just thought you know, this has got to be beneficial for me.

The other problem that I had was more of a commitment problem because for so long I failed at the swimming and the gym and the walking - I start, I stop, I start, I stop. I was worried that I wouldn't keep it up

I feel like the benefits of Hypopressives are huge.

They cover my mental state, my physical state, my general wellbeing.

I can move more freely. One thing that I thought was really interesting is I've learned to separate my body. Like I've always felt my body was just a body, a mass, one whole thing

But now, I can feel my hips and I can feel my ribcage. I'm just more aware of my body parts and how to separate them. And how to work the correct bit and not a different part thinking I'm doing it right. So that's been a really good feeling.

I feel so much more mobile - I felt a bit like a tin man!

But these days I can get out of bed, I can get up and down much more easily.

I work in a building that's got four flights of stairs up to my office - no lift, just these stairs.  And I now get from bottom to top without getting breathless and yet I’ve not increased my exercise amount massively.

So those are the physical things,

The mental things:

I'm beginning to manage my anxiety better and slow it down. Stop it sooner. I've been aware of my breathing but now I'm actually doing it deeper and more effectively. That helps me to get my anxiety into check a little bit sooner than it developing which is just massive for me.

I just feel taller, slimmer, my body shape feels like it's changing.

It's contributing towards my weight loss as well because I can be more present in what I eat and what I don't eat

I've done a lot of mindfulness over the years because I find that interesting as well. But even that didn't altogether come through for me.

But I feel like the breathing is the core of it.

It's like that's what runs right the way through everything. And if you get that right, everything else will start to stack up better. And so I just feel like this breathing has become the thing that's brought together all the little bits of knowledge that I've got, all the tiny snippets of things, it’s bringing them together, and it all makes sense.

From the minute I wake up, I try to do something to kick start in a positive way. Or when I’m making a drink at work in the kitchen, just whenever I get an opportunity.

It's not always because I'm not feeling good. It's not always because I'm getting a bit anxious. Sometimes. It's because I feel good. And I think let's have some more of this!

It's not right to say it doesn't take any effort, but what it is is becoming for me a way of my body, you know, a way of life.

And if you were thinking of giving Hypopressives a go?

I would say you absolutely have to do it. Do it before you do anything else.

Get your breathing, right. And then whatever else you go on to do - so if you're a gym bunny or like to swim or anything or whatever your thing is - get your breathing right.

I find it quite overwhelming what it can do to your body, how it can change, how it feels inside, the open spaces and that it can strengthen your core. And it’s difficult at first - occasionally I had sessions where, not for the whole time I didn't get it, but I think I struggled sometimes with concentration. And if I let my mind go, thinking about something else, then it was like I don't even know what that was for!

But bring yourself back, just keep persevering, keep trying and the rewards - they are just so beneficial for your well being and everything

You don't need to have pelvic floor issues. You don't need to have anxiety or you know, mental health issues. If you have it will definitely, definitely help you.

But do it just for a sense of well being. They talk a lot about the fight or flight thing, don't they? All the things that modern times have brought to us - undoing all of that stress, the hunching, you know, the too busy a brain and all of that

Hypopressives is taking us back to those things that make us well.

Find out more about Hypopressives and how you can introduce it into your life here

Intro to Hypo online workshop