Are you a self-described Anxious Overachiever?

Or perhaps you prefer Type A, highly driven, passionate, hard-working, and a bit tightly wound?

Are your standards incredibly high...so high that it is nearly impossible to hit the mark?

When you fall short, even in the most minor way, your inner critic becomes overwhelming?

On the outside, you look like a successful, productive person who "has it all together". Perhaps you have many degrees, a list of life accomplishments or you regularly complete triathlons.

But...this outer presentation hides a "secret" internal world of pressure, expectation, stress, and worry. It feels like if you take your foot off the gas pedal everything will fall apart.

You get yourself through the pressure by thinking..." NEXT week...or NEXT month things will calm down and THEN I can rest. "

BUT that rest never seems to come as you continue to pile new tasks on your plate...because it is so hard to say NO.

THIS is the experience of "High-Functioning Anxiety" (HFA)

HFA is not a medical diagnosis, but rather a collection of experiences that are very common in "successful" people.

The first time I read a description of HFA I l almost fell over!

It was like the article was written about ME in every detail.

They knew about the internal pressure that made it almost impossible to rest (without feeling guilty). They knew about the constant drive to achieve because the NEXT accomplishment would prove that I had done enough. They even knew about the physical symptoms that had shown up in my body...frequent headaches, muscle tension, grinding my teeth at night. It was all there.

I could no longer deny that anxiety was a part of my daily life...and it was running the show!

The next realization was even harder...WHY are these patterns so strong?

As I dug deeper into the experience of HFA it became painfully clear.

The undercurrent of feeling never enough, the constant "people pleasing" to gain external approval, the drive to work at the cost of my health and my happiness. It all came from a deep disconnection from MYSELF.

I was not listening to MY needs. I was not respecting my OWN Boundries.

This was a HARD realization to come to, but once I had this awareness there was no going back.

I dove into therapeutic meditation that went DEEP into my relationship with SELF. I finally learned how to BE WITH my EMOTIONS instead of shoving them down, ignoring or distracting myself with work. I looked at the icky feelings I had been avoiding for so many years. I allowed myself to see what was upholding the patterns of High Functioning Anxiety...and it was not pretty.

I began to see how High Functioning Anxiety puts a sparkly exterior on an internal experience that can be classified as emotional self-neglect at best, and emotional self-harm at worst. It is wrapping all this up in a package that is palatable to the outside world so that no one around me would feel uncomfortable.

I consider myself fortunate to have over 2 decades of yoga and meditation practice to lean on, but I had to take my practice to a new depth to find real healing. Modern Western yoga can open the door for many of us to LOOK at our inner world, but it can also be another place where anxiety and a never-ending hunger for achievement are in the driver's seat.

In a future blog, we will look at the sneaky ways High Functioning Anxiety can hijack your yoga practice.

For now...If you want to bring AWARENESS to the patterns of HFA and learn some simple Yoga Therapy practices that can support your Inner Healing you can join me in the FREE course I created in the Virtual Yoga Studio.

Go and enjoy that- it is chock full of the information and practices that started my own internal healing.

This is my gift to you- as someone who knows the INCREDIBLE pressure of HFA & how much a healthy approach to yoga can put you on the path to creating a SUPPORTIVE inner world.

Thanks for Being here!

I hope to see you in the Virtual (Yoga Therapy) Studio!

<3

-Laura