How To Solve Overthinking + Get Out Of Your Head
Overthinking is one of the number 1 leakages of energy, read this guide to help tackle this issue once and for all.
Let’s think about over-thinking - firstly, where does it stem from, and then tangible steps to tackle it. Our modern lifestyles and society have programmed us to stay trapped in our mind - whilst freedom from this is attained in our awareness. With concentrated effort, it’s more than possible to break out of repeated stuck patterns in your psyche no matter how deeply ingrained, and see tangible changes in a week.
What are some of the causes of over-thinking?
Over-thinking essentially comes down to a disconnect between our mind, body, and spirit. If you notice, when you’re immersed in a sunrise, barely a thought crosses your mind. You’re fully into the experience. Likewise, when you’re laughing freely or immersed in your work, you won’t be flitting between the past and future.
You can also understand over-thinking as a lack of being in awareness. At any given point of time, you can either be AWARE, or you can be caught up in the mind space. The more you exercise awareness and become conscious, the easier it is to get not just over-thinking but any thought pattern under control. Eventually, it doesn’t matter how many external aids you take, at the end of the day only you have the power to permanently upgrade your mental state, come out of the web of programming and find integrated holistic awareness and inner harmony.
There are indeed many external triggers and situational factors which feed into the issue of over-thinking. By systematically examining these factors and finding safe spaces, processing methods and grounding activities, you can free yourself from the bondage of over-thinking.
Lastly, on a deeper level, over-thinking comes essentially from a lack of safe space. You need to develop a state of internal safety - a bond of trust with yourself. Our trust has been eroded through centuries of colonisation and societal psychological warfare. But, as we reclaim the trust with our inner spirit all these difficulties start to melt away.
Now that we’ve gone over a few over-arching perspectives, let’s take a look at spiritual tools and methods that you can use to get your over-thinking under control and witness changes in the space of just a few days. See which practices resonate most with you and implement them consistently.
Tools + techniques to self-heal overthinking
1. Developing the faculty of awareness
The first thing we want to tackle is awareness. The more that you can practice awareness and shift into this space, the quicker your over-thinking will subside and eventually heal completely. This is absolutely necessary to tackle patterns of over-thinking because it directly breaks the loop. So, what are so methods to go about this? Let’s take a look at THREE simple exercises.
The most simple exercise to get you out of your head and into the moment is to simply MAKE NOTE of the sounds and sensory perceptions and sights around you. It’s best to pick just one sensory input, like sound, and just place your awareness onto what sounds are coming through right now in this moment. In normal consciousness we don’t notice a lot of sounds. When you pause for a minute to simply place your awareness (and you can close your eyes too), you’ll notice a lot of sounds you didn’t hear before. Practice this for one or two minutes and notice your awareness shift instantly.
The most essential practice to expand and develop your faculty of awareness is simple observation of breath meditation. I’ve already got an 11-point guide on this which will really help you here: read the article here. Take out at least 15 minutes of your day every day and ideally, both morning and evening time. Without this practice it’s hard to achieve tangible and deep shifts in your programming, because this gets to the root. It doesn’t matter if it takes time and if you feel flooded with thoughts in the beginning - you have to persist and you WILL breakthrough - that is guaranteed!
Lastly, one great way to instantly shift your state into awareness is simply place your right hand on your stomach. Do this now. The minute you do this, you notice that the stomach is moving in and out on its own. Take a few minutes to simply be with this motion, don’t try to control. Just be with it and it will instantly calm you down. Do this anytime that you feel you’re getting caught up in your head with worry, anxiety, over-thinking, obsession or any patterns.
2. Trusted outlets for expression
One of the major reasons a lot of us suffer from overthinking is because we have no genuine outlets or rather, safe spaces, for us to simple express ourselves and how we feel. This has become a pandemic in the modern age, with such insane levels of disconnection that we can go weeks without really ever emptying our heart or having a genuine conversation with another real human being. Whilst therapy offers solutions to this, there are other methods too, for you to find outlets. If you are an isolatory creature like me, we tend to normalise not really talking to anyone but this isn’t the most healthy thing at all, and eventually causes us a lot of subconscious pain. Even if you are practising meditation every day, human support cannot be substituted - or even just the simple space to vocalise yourself in real life in a safe environment.
Starting with journalling, which you must already know. This simple practice will definitely help you a lot in feeling lighter and combatting the root cause of your over-thinking. Simply take a notebook and pen and put your timer to 10 minutes. Now write down absolutely anything and everything that is coming to your mind. Don’t try to control or strategise what you write, just free flow write whatever you feel and allow yourself the space to do this. Practising this once a day before sleeping will really help you with processing and integration.
Second, make a list of people who you can speak to who actually understand you and you can communicate openly with. We may not be able to openly communicate with everyone, but write it down nevertheless. Oftentimes, we have people we can speak to but we forget it. And this can’t be someone who simply listens and doesn’t actually have anything else to offer. This does not make us feel supported or heard. A good space holder will meet you at your level of understanding.
Lastly, try to find new outlets that can provide you with a safe space for expression. This could be finding a good therapist that resonates with you, or finding an online community space where you have consistent community connection and a space to share. I’m in the process of launching my own spiritual and self-healing orientated community so stay tuned for that if you are looking for something that resonates with you.
3. Regulating your breathing
Regulating your breathing is one of the single most effective things you can do to regulate the state of your mind, and eventually gain mastery over it. The meaning of the term Pranayama literally means mastery over the life force energy. There are several pranayama techniques you can perform, but for overthinking one of the best and instantly effective is Anulom Vilom practice. This is also termed as ‘alternative nostril breathing’ and essentially involves you closing your right nostril with your right thumb and your left nostril with your fourth finger. Keep the other two fingers on your third eye region. Breath in first through the left nostril and keep the right nostril closed, and then before you fill to the total capacity of your lungs, close the left nostril and release through the right. Then repeat the same practice by breathing in through the right nostril and start the cycle again. Doing this practice for 10 minutes will help you a lot to combat overthinking.
This practice essentially balances the right and left hemispheres of the brain. It helps with preparing the system for Kundalini ascension and clears the energetic channels or nadis of the system. You can easily practice this in any situation, sitting outside or inside with a straight spine.
4. Cognitive support + nutrition
Then comes the angle of tackling overthinking with direct cognitive support, supplements and healing modalities. There are many different herbs and supplements that can help regulate your brain activity and bring you into better balance and harmony. Let’s take a look at some different natural options:
India Hemp Organics has an excellent Ayurvedic full spectrum cannabis extract. This helps to regulate brain activity and emotions, along with many other health benefits. Cannabis is known as Vijaya in Ayurveda, and this extract helps to directly relieve stress, regulate cognitive activity and is 100% organic and natural. To find out more, please visit their website by clicking here and use my discount code ‘kamya10’ for 10% off their organic hemp products.
Ashwagandha is an excellent Ayurvedic herb which alleviates stress and depression. It helps to regulate mental and emotional activity, and lowers cortisol levels. Make sure the Ashwagandha you find is genuine and pure, and not from large corporate brands like Patanjali. If you care about what is true and false, then stop purchasing from large corporate brands and make the effort to find natural, organic, independent and pure sources. Ashwagandha can be taken in milk before sleeping or also after breakfast. Please consult a good Ayurvedic doctor if you have any doubts.
Apart from this, you need to look into your basic nutrition and health if you are struggling with constant anxiety, overthinking and mental/emotional imbalance. Nutrition is absolutely crucial for healing these issues - for example, a lack of Vitamin B12 and serotonin is linked to issues like depression and anxiety. So, you can get a nutritional test but also look at natural supplements and changing up your diet. Half of your problems can literally be solved by doing some research and changing your diet, including switching to Desi cow products from ethical Gaushalas and finding organic produce only. This in itself completely changes your nutritional profile. If you are keep to learn more about functional nutrition and analysis your nutritional needs, I highly suggest this consultancy iThrive who are India’s most legitimate functional nutrition experts, please click here to read more.
5. Physical movement and integration
Lastly, but not least - make time for physical movement at least once a day. This could be swimming, dancing, running it doesn’t matter. But try to make this exercise as organic as possible. There’s not much benefit of walking on a treadmill in a concrete building for 30 minutes with your mind drifting here and there, neither for your body nor for your overthinking. High cardio activities can really get you out of your head. For example, whenever I put on psytrance and rave in my room I instantly feel about 50x times better if I’m feeling quite down.
If physical movement is not a regular part of your lifestyle, then write down ways you can integrate this more into your life. Expand out of your comfort zone. Connect with your physical strength and this will directly correlate to your mental and emotional strength too. The human body is a divine, intelligent instrument and the more we connect with and nourish it, the better our state of mind for sure.