Overcome Anxiety and Achieve Emotional Balance with Havening®: A Holistic Approach

In today’s fast-paced world, emotional balance and resilience have become vital to maintaining our overall well-being. As we navigate the constant challenges of modern life, it’s crucial to have effective tools to process and release anxiety, stress and trauma. One holistic approach gaining increasing recognition for its powerful impact is Havening®.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much information we absorb each day? From the constant stream of social media updates to news, advertisements, and notifications, our brains are bombarded with messages nonstop. In the midst of it all, our nervous system works tirelessly, sorting through these inputs to determine what’s safe and what might pose a threat. To protect us, our brain’s amygdala—responsible for triggering the “fight or flight” response—stores memories of past traumas. When anything in our environment, whether it’s a smell, sound, or even a body position, reminds it of those past wounds, it activates that same response. This can occur in an instant, often without us fully understanding why we’re feeling anxious and overwhelmed.

You might notice physical signs: a racing heart, shallow breathing, a tight stomach, headaches, or sweating. These are clear signals that your body has gone into “stress mode,” with your amygdala working overtime to keep you safe. Often, we don’t even know what caused these reactions, making it difficult to begin the healing process.

Having spent many years working in hospitals and community health centres across Australia, I’ve witnessed countless individuals experiencing these very symptoms. In the short term, this stress response is beneficial—it provides the strength we need to fight or flee from danger. However, it’s also possible for our bodies to become trapped in this state. If triggered too often, the prolonged release of stress hormones can lead to chronic conditions such as anxiety disorder, pain, disease, and other serious health issues.

So, how do we heal? What can we do?

The founders of Havening, Dr. Ronald Ruden and his brother, Dr. Stephen Ruden, spent decades studying the impact of touch on the brain. Their research led to a groundbreaking discovery: through specific touch techniques, they found a way to activate a neurochemical process in the brain that directly affects the amygdala. This is the basis of Havening Techniques®.

Havening helps us access the amygdala and, through safe and therapeutic touch, soothes and heals past traumas. This process rewires the neural pathways linked to painful memories, allowing us to achieve emotional balance, reduce the impact of past trauma, and build resilience against future stressors.

Years ago, I attended a silent meditation retreat, spending ten days meditating for twelve hours a day, without any external influence. No music, no books, no phones—just me, my thoughts, and the deeper intelligence of life. It was incredibly challenging, and the experience didn’t become easier as the days went on. When the vow of silence was lifted, I found myself overwhelmed by the mere act of speaking to others. All I wanted was to return to the peaceful solitude of my inner world.

When I returned home, though overjoyed to reunite with my family—especially my children, whom I hadn’t seen in ten days—I still found myself longing for solitude. I remember watching the birds fly overhead, marvelling at their effortless beauty. I felt at peace observing the miracle of flight and the space that surrounded them. But when I opened a newspaper, the flood of information felt like hundreds of arrows, all competing for my attention. It became overwhelming, and the only way to find peace was to step outside and reconnect with nature.

Almost two decades later, with an even greater onslaught of daily messages streaming from every direction, I realize the importance of quieting the noise in order to create inner peace. This is no easy task. The temptation to scroll through social media or check the latest news updates often feels irresistible.

So, how can we find emotional balance when the world around us, and sometimes within us, seems chaotic?

The answer begins with awareness. If you’re asking yourself this question, you’ve already taken the first step toward change. By recognizing that something needs to shift, you’re opening the door to healing.

There are many strategies to help soothe an overactive nervous system, which may be on high alert due to all the “noise” interfering with your sense of calm and self. One powerful technique is Self -Havening—a simple yet profound psychosensory method that uses self-touch to create transformative changes in the body and mind. In Self-Havening, touch is applied to the palms of your hands, your shoulders and down your arms to your elbows, and your face.

The founders of Havening discovered something extraordinary about the connection between the brain and touch. They found that by applying touch to specific areas of the body, we can calm the brain’s electrical activity. When we’re highly stressed, our brain produces gamma waves. Havening helps slow these down, guiding them all the way down to the soothing delta brainwaves—the brain’s deepest state of relaxation.

This form of self-touch activates calming, restorative brain waves and unlocks a release of feel-good hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin, GABA, and serotonin. These hormones not only improve our mood but also support the immune system, enhance overall well-being, and promote lasting emotional healing.

The magic of Havening is that while you enter a deeply relaxed state, you remain fully conscious, able to return to the present moment whenever you wish. As you apply this touch, it’s also helpful to use affirmations like, “I feel calm,” “I feel peaceful,” or “I feel relaxed.” If this feels too far-reaching, you can start with something gentler, like, “What if I could feel calm?” or “What if I could feel peaceful?” Keep applying the touch until you feel a shift within yourself.

Havening is a simple and effective tool that helps to soothe and recalibrate your nervous system, moving you from a state of stress and anxiety to calm.  

If you’d like to learn more or feel you need support in achieving emotional balance and resilience, consider exploring the transformative power of Havening® at Melioristic Wellness. Through personalized consultations and supportive programs, you can embark on a journey toward greater emotional well-being, personal growth, and lasting change.

Feel free to have a look around our website – Melioristic Wellness. Enjoy the resources we have there for you, and should you feel you would like to know more, feel free to reach out.

In Love and Gratitude,

Andrea