Hi, my name is Sebastiaan van der Schrier. Welcome to this Anxiety-Buster video for the Coronavirus.

I’m a specialist not in a Coronavirus, but I specialize in helping people overcome social anxiety.

I decided to step a little bit out of my expertise because the techniques and the strategies that I use to help my clients get over their social anxiety and feel at ease socially, are very effective for dealing with the “emotional suffering” that goes along with the coronavirus. Follow along with this video until the end.

I’m going to guide you through a pretty unusual technique. You’ve likely not heard of it before. What it’s going to do is going to reduce or maybe even release all the fears and worries that you have associated with the virus. It’s very normal to feel worried at the end to having anxiety about all that you’re hearing and that you’re bombarded with. But it’s not necessary.

Here’s why I decided to do this video. I managed to overcome my own social anxiety and I don’t have that problem anymore. Since I’ve made that journey to no longer having anxiety, I have become very aware my emotional state.

I just arrived in the Philippines a week ago. I was aware of the coronavirus because my salsa festivals had been cancelled. But in Indonesia, where I live, there weren’t any cases so it wasn’t really on my mind.

But now I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in China with her kids. She was locked in her house for a week and a half. She now made it to the Philippines and doesn’t have the virus, but she was really in fear. She experienced a lot of the distress along with it. I spoke to her. Then, I spoke to another friend who gave me some statistics about what’s going on. I’m like, “Whoa, this is pretty bad. It sounds a lot more serious than I thought.” It was then I started checking the news, and I saw the death count, and how it was growing at an exponential rate.

Soon after that, my flight going out of the country back to Indonesia got cancelled. The whole airport didn’t have any flights out anymore. Now I started to get worried a bit more. I rebooked my flight. A day later, that one got cancelled as well. I’m here stuck in the Philippines.

Anyway, what happened to my emotional state was that I started worrying. I’m like, “Oh my god, what if I get the virus? What if I die? What if the whole economy falls down, and I run out of money, and one of my family gets sick. I started having all these worries. Soon enough, I had this sense of dread in my stomach and in my chest. I didn’t have that happy good feeling state that I’m used to. Wow, I’m very much affected by this, but it might very well be justified the way that I’m feeling because of what’s going on.

Then, I did some online research looking for the facts of the situation from multiple perspectives. So, I’ve read perspectives of a biologist, scientist, psychologist, the news and various resources. There were certain things that were reassuring me, like that the mortality rate is estimated at 1% by Anthony Fauci from the NIH (the National Institutes of Health), and that the vast majority of that 1% that died is actually people that are already over the age of 65 who have underlying health conditions.

So, if you’re young and healthy, even if you do catch the virus, your immune system will just fight it off, like it does with flu. You’ll be back to full health after a brief period of staying at home and sticking it out. And that I can do my part by social distancing and going into self-quarantine for two weeks if I suspect that I might have it. Wash your hands and for 20 seconds, not touching my face and so on.

After having read that, it decreased a little bit of my anxiety and my worry. But even though I had the facts, and the facts should actually get me to a place where I’m like, “Okay, I’m pretty much fine. Everything’s going to be fine.” I didn’t emotionally feel that way.

Therefore, I had to apply these techniques in order to release the excess, the disproportionate stress, anxiety, and worry that was stuck in my system. So I did.

Now, I’m going to guide you through that experience and through that technique so you have an experience of it in just a moment. What I’m doing myself, because I’ve travelled internationally, and I’ve been in a plane with people, I don’t really think that I have the virus, but you can have it symptomless. So, just in case, I’m isolating myself for days. I stocked up on food. Being a white guy here in the Philippines, people were quite scared of me. Anyway, I stocked up on food and I’m staying indoors for 14 days. I read that that’s the recommendation so that’s what I’m doing.

Now, let’s get into the actual exercise. What I did was I sent an email to everyone on my email list. I asked them, “Hey, what are your top fears about the about the coronavirus?” I got a whole bunch of responses back and it’s too much if I read them all out to you.

Basically, if I have a summary of it, it’s like:

I’m afraid to catch it, and then die.

I’m afraid to catch it, and then affect others.

I’m afraid to catch it, and then affect my family… My family dying,

I’m afraid of my parents and the people that I love that have impaired immune system catching it, and then dying.

I’m afraid of getting it and developing some kind of a problem with it.

I’m afraid of the economy. I’m afraid for it to be falling apart and not having a job.

I’m afraid of my finances.

I’m afraid of my anxiety about getting out of control.

Those are roughly the things that people have written to me about. You might have your own, I don’t need to exactly specifically know what it is for you.

What I’d like you to do is I’d like you to rate your level of stress about the Coronavirus right now. Then, we’ll do an exercise. Afterwards, you can rate your level of stress and anxiety and worry about coronas then.

All right. So just close your eyes for a second and think about the virus.

Think about it and make the anxiety right now as bad as you can. Make it because that’s going to help you in doing this exercise and getting the most benefit out of this particular exercise.

So, we’re first going to bring up all the stress, the worry, and the anxiety about it.

So think about all the worrisome thoughts that you’re having, how you’re afraid that you’re going to catch it, that your family is going to catch it, that the world is going to end, that everyone’s going to get it, and it’s going to be the apocalypse, and it’s the end of the world. You’re going to run out of food, and water, and die.

I hate to be so grim but think about all of it. Get into the uncomfortable feelings of it, the feelings in your body. You’re going to be okay.

Alright, and then rate on a scale of zero to 10. Zero being “I’m calm about it” and 10 as “I’m as anxious as I’ve ever been about it”.

Okay, good. Now open your eyes if you had them closed. Now, what I want you to do is I want you to imagine that you’re pulling these feelings out of your body, and you’re dumping them behind you on a big pile. This is just a metaphor.

Imagine doing that even if it’s like, “Oh, this is a silly exercise, stupid, doesn’t do anything.”

It’s true, it doesn’t do anything. This is not the technique. This is not the exercise. This is a metaphor.

Imagine you’re pulling it out of your body, you’re piling it up behind you. Now behind you, you’ve got this massive pile of Coronavirus fears, and worries, and dreads, and concerns. We’ll call this your Coronavirus stress and anxiety, okay? Then, give it a rating of a scale of zero to 10. It might be the same number as you gave it earlier when you tuned into that stress and worry while closing your eyes and things about it.

Now, I’m going to do is I’m going to guide you through a particular exercise. It’s called tapping. It is very similar to EFT which stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques. It is a psychological form of acupuncture, but instead of using needles, you tap with the tips of your fingers on specific acupressure points in the body.

Now, if you’re seeing this for the first time you’re like, “Yeah, right. Okay, I was with you for a bit, but now you’ve lost it. You’re a moron. This is totally crazy.” Get it. When I first saw this, I thought it was a scam. Right? But my dude, this is a free video, right? So just go with it. Try it out and see what happens. I’ve used this to overcome my social anxiety and many other problems. I’ve helped hundreds of clients overcome their social anxiety using this technique. It’s used by millions of people worldwide, there are more than a hundred scientific studies that prove the effectiveness of EFT.

It’s approved as a valid treatment by the APA (the American Psychological Association). Studies have shown that this tapping sends a signal to the part of your brain called the amygdala, which regulates your hormones. Studies have shown that it reduces the production of cortisol (your stress hormone) and it increases the production of serotonin (your happy hormone). These biological, biochemical responses create a sense of calm, so you can focus on a particular problem.

As you think about the Coronavirus, it brings up thoughts and feelings in your system, and it makes you feel “bad”. As you do the tapping, that starts to decrease, the feelings associated to the problem that you’re thinking about.

I know it’s hard to believe that’s why I’m going to guide you through it. I’m also going to use some other techniques, and one of them being is the “Intention Based Energy Technique” from Steve Wells. He’s a psychologist. Download or check it out and it is going to be at least interesting. So just try it out, see what happens, and then you go.

So, what I want you to do is tap where I tap. Then, repeat what I say out loud. It’s that easy.

Now, if you don’t know exactly where I’m tapping, just tap where you think I’m tapping. It’s a very forgiving technique that you do not have to do perfectly in order to get results. Just play along and see what happens. How hard do you tap? As hard enough to feel it, not so hard that it hurts you. Alright, here we go.

So just tap here. Basically, fingers on the base of the wrist point. This fleshy part, with three fingers continuously, quite rapidly, and just repeat it for me out loud.

Even though there’s this Coronavirus

and I have all these worries and fears about it

I have all of this Coronavirus stress… (remember referring to all of the stuff that you dump behind)

and it sucks.

The Coronavirus sucks

and so do my feelings and thoughts about it.

Even though they make sense to me

and they’re normal to a degree.

I don’t really like feeling that way.

Even though I don’t like feeling that way

There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to let go

of my Corona virus stress.

But I do want to try to accept myself and my feelings.

Good. Now tap on the beginning of the eyebrows. You can tap on either side, it doesn’t matter. You can tap with one hand or with two hands, with left or right, it doesn’t matter. Just copy. So just say,

I refuse to let go of this coronavirus stress.

It’s not safe to let go of it.

Oh my god, I need to be vigilant enough.

It’s irresponsible to be calm right now.

Chin.

I should be worried and stressed and anxious.

Collarbone. Just wherever you think, right?

It would be selfish to not feel stressful about this.

Under the arms. If you’re a lady, it’s where your bra strap which means its directly under your armpit. If you’re a guy, just guess where that might be for you if you were wearing one, okay? It’s directly under your armpit, follow your nipple, there. So just say,

I don’t deserve to let go of this fear, worry and anxiety

I’m attached to this anxiety.

This anxiety is part of my identity.

And I can’t let go of it for whatever reason,

logical or not.

And I release

all my emotional attachments

to my resistance

to letting go of my Coronavirus stress.

Good. So, what I now want to point out is, that anxiety and worry, those kinds of feelings are actually there to warn you and to help you. They try to serve a function. When you feel anxiety in a social situation, your brain is telling you, “Hey, there’s danger. It’s risky. You’re going to get rejected. You’re going to make a fool out of yourself. You know, danger.”

It’s doing the same in this kind of situation. So, it’s trying to protect you now. It’s very uncomfortable to feel the sensations in your body. But it’s actually your system perceiving threat and trying to warn you away from it.

It’s the Fight-Flight-Freeze response. It’s saying “Hey, there is this attacker. Fight this threat.” It’s a biological defense mechanism. So, fight this threat (for example, a wild bear) or run away from it (if you can’t fight it, or play dead if none of these are options).

This is a very old response. This anxiety is actually there to serve you. You want to have a different relationship with the anxiety. So, let’s do a little bit on that. Let’s tap on the beginning of the eyes.

I don’t like feeling the way that I do.

I shouldn’t feel this anxious.

I am afraid of feeling this way.

It sucks to feel this way.

On the chin.

But maybe…

On the collarbone.

This just means

Under the arms,

That my system is seeing threat

and it’s trying to keep me safe.

I appreciate that intention to keep me safe.

Top of the head. Take a deep breath.

Now, back to the side of hand and repeat after me out loud.

Even though I have all of this Coronavirus stress.

I want to accept myself and my feelings.

Again, this Coronavirus stress

Side of the eyes.

This Coronavirus stress

Now, I want you to notice where you feel it your body. Maybe you feel it in your chest, maybe its locking up on your throat, maybe it’s resting in your stomach. We need to put your attention on where is that you’re feeling it. It might be in your head, it might be behind your eyes. Just be aware.

If you don’t know where it is, that’s okay. Just follow along, tapping on your eyes, put your attention on where it is that you’re feeling it. It’s actually the easiest way to use this technique to focus on the feeling and apply to tapping. Then, just allow the feelings to be there. Just observe them. Like you’re watching them. Get curious about them. You’re not running away from them. You’re allowing those feelings to be there. You’re giving them permission to be there, while you’re watching them. It’s like you’re watching TV, but now you’re watching your own internal TV if you will.

Keep breathing.

Keep tapping.

You’re doing good.

On the collarbone, then repeat after me again.

I’m afraid I’m going to catch the virus.

Under the arm

I’m afraid I’m going to die.

On the liver point

I’m afraid of it.

On the wrist point.

I’m afraid my family’s going to die.

I’m afraid the economy is going to crash

At the beginning of the eyebrows

I’ll end up without a job

without any money

without any food

and will starve.

I will be miserable.

By the way, with this technique, you’re going into the negative in order to bring up the feelings that evokes, so that you can release them. So they don’t have so much of a hold over you anymore. It’s okay to be negative here. You don’t always want to be positive, because it’s fake if it’s not congruent. We’re going into the negative to take the charge out of it. That’s what we’re doing.

Under the arms

I hate feeling the way that I do

On the wrist point.

It’s so scary.

Top of the head

I release all my emotional attachment

to my resistance

to feeling calm and centered.

Beginning of the eyebrows.

I’m still scared.

Side of the eyes

And that’s okay.

I’m still worried about my parents or my family.

And I accept that I feel that way.

Chin

I shouldn’t feel so nervous and anxious and intense

Collarbone

But I do

Under the arms.

I’m allowing myself to feel this way.

Wrist point.

The world is going to come to an end

or maybe not.

Take a deep breath.

Now, maybe there’s more to do, likely there’s more to do, but you can go back to the start of this video and repeat it again, or you can focus on specific thoughts or feelings that you’re having, and keep one thought or one feeling in mind. Then, just tap through all of the points while you’re keeping that particular thought in mind.

Say, the one fear of you is that “I’m afraid I’m going to catch the virus and infect someone”, keep your focus on that thought. Just keep thinking about that thought. You can say it out loud, “I’m afraid I’m going to catch the virus. I’m afraid I’m going to catch the virus. I’m afraid I’m going to catch the virus. I’m afraid I’m going to catch a virus.” Just keep tapping like that for a whole round. Do that for all your thoughts individually, and just see what happens.

You can focus on the feeling that you’re having your body say, “this feeling on your chest” and you’re like, “Oh my god”. Keep your attention on it while you tap while allowing the feeling to be there. Just noticing what happens as you sit there, and you tap for three to five minutes. That is going to shift and change, most likely in most cases.

Now, in some cases, if you already have pre-existing anxiety and other kinds of problems, you might need to work with a practitioner. They can help you with that.

I want to do one more thing. What actually started triggering my anxiety was that I spoke to my friend and she was worried about it, and then other people were worried about it. I was kind of picking up on the collective fear and panic about it.

So, I want to do one more round of tapping on that. Just tap on the top of your head starting there and just say,

Everyone is in panic.

I can sense it. The Coronavirus panic is in the air.

Side of the eyes.

So, I should be panic too.

Under the nose.

I release all my emotional attachments.

To my Coronavirus panic

whether it’s mine or not.

Chin

I want to feel a bit more calm.

Collarbone.

And I release all my emotional attachments

to my resistance to that.

So while you tap under the arm, anxiety, a lot of it, comes from trying to control things you cannot control. Well, what you cannot control is the spread of this virus by yourself. That’s a communal effort. That’s why we’re all in this together. That’s what we’re all trying to accomplish together. But what you can control is your emotional reactions to what is going on, that’s inside of you. That’s what you’re doing with this tapping. You’re taking control of your well-being.

On the wrist point.

It’s okay to calm down.

Because as I calm down,

I’m in a more resourceful state

to help myself and those I love

and to do the right thing.

Very good. Take a deep breath.

Now, close your eyes again.

Check in with how you’re feeling now, compared to 15 minutes ago before we started this tapping.

Notice if it feels the same (unlikely), or if it feels worse (uncommon), or if it feels better (better might mean less intense, lighter, or different, you might feel different emotions). Most people will experience that it’s less strong, and for some, they’ll feel pretty calm.

Now, what I want you to do is I want you to leave a comment below this video. Let me know what your experience was. What your number was before to tapping and what your number was after the tapping. What your experience was of doing this exercise.

If you have any questions, not related to the coronavirus (I’m not a coronavirus expert), related to this technique, leave them below in the comment section. I’ll get to them as much as I can.

Further, feel free to share this video if this helped you, with someone that you care about, someone that you know is worried or is in stress or is anxious.

There you go. This is a pretty special time. Normally, when you watch the TV and it’s like, “Oh, wow, there’s a tsunami in Thailand”, or “Oh, wow, there’s this earthquake in Bali”, or “Wow, there’s this massive storm in the Philippines”. Right?

But now, it’s something that we’re all in this together. We all got to get it together and do the right thing. I hope and expect that something quite beautiful is going to come out of this. It might just be me being an optimist, but that’s what I expect. So, good times.

If this was helpful for you, great. Leave a comment below and share this video.

Also, what I’m going to do for people with social anxiety (in case you’re having social anxiety, if not, you can end the video here), but if you’re suffering from social anxiety, we’re now doing social distancing, and isolating yourself, and quarantining yourself at home.

Oh my God, this is what a lot of people with social anxiety naturally do. Normally, you have to come up with all these excuses to self-isolate, and keep your distance, and let people not infiltrate your personal space, and all of that kind of stuff. Now, that’s naturally happening.

So, I want to make use of that amazing opportunity to do a 30-day Social Confidence Challenge from the comfort of your home. So, we’re then going to be using this technique to significantly reduce your social anxiety from the comfort of your home. So then, your isolation becomes very productive. So that once coronavirus has been dealt with, and you go out there, you can face the world with increased social ease and social confidence.

If that’s of interest to you, you can go to bit.ly/socialconfidencechallenge. That is bit.ly/socialconfidencechallenge

This is Sebastaan van der Schrier from social-anxiety-solutions.com.  Thanks for watching and we’ll be in touch soon. Bye for now.

I just touched my face, I shouldn’t do that. Bye.

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Sebastiaan

Sebastiaan van der Schrier is a Social Confidence Coach and ex social anxiety sufferer. He helps socially anxious people become confident using a unique and painless approach. He is the host of the Social Anxiety Solutions podcast show and runs the first ever online Social Confidence Community.

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