Overcome anxiety in the time of Covid-19

This is part one of Mindsprings anxiety course that I've been teaching since 2013. And originally it was a downloadable self-study course. But in this time of social isolation, I thought it would be great to do it together with you. 

So I'm leading  a group together for three week in April, starting Monday 20th. We'll try and keep the numbers small and work together with weekly zooms and lots of feedback. 

It's also 50% off during the Great Confinement. Use the code COVID50 at the check-out. Please look at the material below and sign up if it feels like a good fit for you. 

Watch Intro Video

Alistair talks about the anxiety course...

Less than a week to go...

We're starting together on 20th April.

Book here
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Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the Mindsprings Online course...

    • Navigating the Course Screen

    • Some preliminary thoughts from the garden...

    • The check-in

    • Medical Disclaimer

    • Please download and read through the workbook!
  • 2

    Session 1a: Getting the measure of your anxiety

  • 3

    Session 1b: Your anxiety has ancient roots

  • 4

    Session 2: Survive your fear and panic

    • Recap of FEAR and PANIC short-term in animal world

    • Alistair at the chalkboard... the chemistry of anxiety

    • Cortisol: a double-edged chemical

    • Did you get everything?

  • 5

    Session 3: Three body-based ways to master the monsters

    • You know what's going on and why it feels awful. But how to stop it?

    • Three body-based interventions - Tune up, vagal breathing, calm point

    • Demonstration of these three interventions

    • Test your learning
  • 6

    Session 4: Your magic bullet against anxiety - VVT!

    • Things are about to get even more powerful. We need to dive deeper into neuroscience.

    • Meet Stephen Porges

    • The importance of feeling the reality of VVT

    • See what you remember
  • 7

    Session 5: The failsafe way to access your ventral vagal tone

    • What do you do to calm your anxiety?

    • What you're doing to soothe yourself may well be making things worse. What Porges says about our strategies.

    • A short way of accessing VVT - the 'Basic Method'

    • Let's have a breather - and look inwards...

    • How to access VVT in a lasting profound way - Polyvagal Tuning

    • Leaning into your reality

    • Test your learning
  • 8

    Session 6: Grounding yourself long-term against anxiety

    • Where have we got to?

    • Using the Earth to metabolise - the indigenous solution

    • Earth Breathing - The "How To" Slideshow

    • Recordings of Earth Breathing to download for your practice

    • Earthing with bare feet

    • Consolidate your learning...
  • 9

    Session 7: Three more methods to metabolise your fear and panic

    • Stocking our toolbox: introducing three new stress busters and recapping the previous four

    • Demonstrations of collar-bone breathing, 5-finger tap and nave tap

    • Nuts and bolts of these three

    • What do you remember?

  • 10

    Session 8: Building an anxiety-free life

    • Congratulations!

    • Before rushing on, let's take a moment to go inwards...

    • The Check Out

    • Resources, reading etc.

    • Please give me feedback!

    • A final word from Alistair

A friendly group for mastering our anxiety together.

Use code COVID50 to get the 50% discount

Pre-book your place now

Meet the instructor

Alistair Appleton

Alistair is a broadcaster, psychotherapist and meditation teacher. He's worked for the BBC for more than 20 years, works as a UKCP accredited therapist in Brighton, UK runs Mindsprings, his therapeutic meditation organisation which teaches body-based and Buddhist solutions to many of our everyday problems. Since 2004 he's been running popular meditation-based courses on many subjects: helping people with anxiety, dissociation, stress. working with mental health in the LGBTQ community. exploring the growing field of embodiment and somatic practices. teaching Buddhist practices for mental health and well-being He teaches in England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland and the Netherlands.

FAQ

  • When does the course start and finish?

    The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.

  • How long do I have access to the course?

    How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own. I encourage you to work through it as many times as useful and re-visit it often.

  • What if I am unhappy with the course?

    I don't want you to be unhappy at all! The last thing I want is the course to make you anxious. So, if you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and Mindsprings will give you a full refund. But I'm confident that you'll be very happy indeed to have discovered our work.

  • Can I trust you with something so sensitive?

    I'm a accredited psychotherapist regulated by the British UKCP board. And I have more than 7 years experience teaching this course to many hundreds of people. However, I know that anxiety can make us very vulnerable and would never want you feel unsafe. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course then please contact me with your questions. (The contact button is below!)

  • Couldn't I just read some books and do this on my own?

    Yes, of course, book-learning is great. And I have studied a great deal in the field of pyschotherapy, neuroscience, human physiology and Buddhist psychology. But as we'll explore, anxiety breeds in our thinking mind. And for me, getting some direct coaching on how to stay in the body and find non-thinky ways of dealing with it was a break-through... So let me save you time and dead-ends by sharing my experience direct...

  • I want to take the course but I don't know if I can afford it?

    I know that money is an issue (and a source of anxiety!) for many of us. And at Mindsprings our inspiration is to help everyone free themselves from anxiety - whether they're wealthy or not. We think that we have priced the courses fairly and ask those who can afford them to help those who can't by paying the full course-fee. And there's a payment schedule to help spread the load. However, we also have a number of bursaries available to those struggling financially, so please contact us to ask about financial aid. (The contact button is below).

  • Is this course psychologically safe?

    If you're suffering from really severe anxiety and are worried about your safety, then you should see your doctor and ensure that you have medical support. Normally, I teach these courses in person, and as a therapist I can help people if difficult material comes up. But this course is self-led. This means you can pace yourself if it is getting difficult - but it also I'm not there physically to attend to you. It's a non-pharmaceutical, body-based course which has help lots of people in a lasting way. But please use your prioritise your safety when deciding to sign up.

  • Will my anxiety really go away?

    As we explore in the course, anxiety is a natural feature of being a human with a thinking mind. Humans will always trigger their innate fear and panic systems with their thinking. But this course can really diminish the amount of unnecessary anxiety and stress we create and give us a method for metabolising the painful chemistry of fear and panic in our bodies. We CAN live with way less anxiety than we do now and it is possible for you

  • Will these changes last or is it just a quick fix?

    The simple answer is: the longer you do the practices, the longer the anxiety will stay away. As we know, there's no magic bullet. And these practices change the way our brains are wired and the way our body-chemistry works. That's an organic process and takes time. But when we have the support of the insight and the practice, then the 'penny drops' and we stop doing the things that unconsciously make us more anxious. Over time that makes anxiety an occasional visitor rather than a permanent partner.