July 15, 2025
The big question is: at what point did we disconnect so deeply from our essence that we began to believe living with anxiety is normal?
Much has been said about anxiety—and rightly so. According to the World Health Organization, Brazil is the most anxious country in the world. Around 9.3% of the Brazilian population lives with generalized anxiety disorder. We live in times of hyperactivity, information overload, and relentless pressure. What used to be seen as an occasional discomfort has now become a way of life and survival.
But do we truly understand what anxiety represents?
I wrote this article to show you that anxiety is more than a psychological issue: it is a spiritual phenomenon that reflects how far we’ve strayed from our true self.
Many say that anxiety is an excess of future. While this statement is true, it is not complete.
Anxiety can be seen as a symptom of attachment to the illusion of control—typical of a world of duality, where we distance ourselves from the truth of the spirit and lose ourselves in the endless pursuit of recognition and external achievement.
From a spiritual perspective, anxiety arises from the clash between forces that resist human ascension—forces that trap the mind in recurring thoughts and unreachable desires. It manifests as a loss of personal power, an emptying of the energy center that governs conscious action. That’s why anxiety so often shows up physically as shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, or discomfort in the stomach area.
Anxiety becomes so deeply rooted in daily life that resolving one concern brings no relief—it simply makes room for the next.
It is a cycle that can only be broken through deep understanding and inner transformation.
Anxiety is not limited to the spiritual realm. Its effects extend to the psychological, emotional, social, and physical levels. We live in a society that glorifies urgency and demands constant performance.
This pressure can lead to biochemical imbalances in the body, which often result in the use of medication such as anxiolytics. In many cases, these medications are necessary and serve an important role in the healing process. However, we must be alert to the trivialization of their use—as if anxiety were merely a chemical noise to be silenced, rather than a call from the soul that must be deeply heard.
Not to mention how an anxious mind affects sleep, eating habits, and the overall rhythm of life.
Many times, anxiety is sustained by pride: an attachment to an idealized self-image that believes everything must be perfect. As a result, we learn to value hyper-productivity as a sign of competence—even if it costs us our inner peace.
At this point, a sincere look is needed, answering the following question: who allowed your schedule to become so tight that it turned unsustainable?
This question reveals the relationship between fear, pride, and anxiety. Fear of failure, of disappointing others, of being rejected. Fear that we often carry without even realizing.
To break the cycle of anxiety, we must return to presence. The harmonization practice I’ve been teaching for some years is a simple and transformative path. It begins with body awareness, moves through conscious breathing, and culminates in silent presence.
It’s important to clarify: we’re not talking about a performative silence, produced to fit into social media or the shop windows of modern spirituality.
Body, breath, presence—these three elements form the foundation of an inner state that fosters serenity and opens the path for self-inquiry. Because it is in silence that we reconnect with our essence. And it is in silence that we begin to recognize which thoughts are dominating us and what truly pulls us away from the present moment.
Each person may find their own doorway to peace. Some find it in meditative silence; others, in prayer; still others, in the practice of japa—the repetition of mantras.
True peace is not appearance—it is the fruit of presence, surrender, and sincerity. It is born when we stop fighting life and begin to listen to it. When we look within with courage and allow silence to reveal what needs to be seen.
I have been teaching japa practice to my students—a time-honored tool that helps discipline the mind and clear away the excess of thoughts. One could say it works like a “machete” that opens a path through the overgrown garden of repetitive thoughts.
In other words, repeating a mantra—any mantra—is a way to reclaim command over the mind. Over time, the practice becomes an act of tenderness toward the soul, sowing virtues and creating space for deep silence to arise.
But it’s not the practice alone that heals. It’s the consistency, the commitment to self-knowledge, and the sincere desire to be free from suffering.
That’s why I also encourage you to keep a self-inquiry journal: a space where you can record your insights, fears, patterns, and discoveries throughout this journey.
Overcoming anxiety is not about silencing symptoms with quick fixes. It is a process of internal cleansing, of reclaiming personal power, and of realigning with the love that lives within us.
At some point, we must declare: “enough.”
We must take back the key to our inner home and say to anxiety: “you no longer rule here.”
This is a deep commitment to the soul. A commitment to cultivating serenity, to tending the mind as one would tend a garden, to opening space for silence to flourish.
Anxiety may still knock at your door, but with the right tools, it doesn’t have to live inside you.
May each conscious breath be a reminder: you are already home.
The home of the present moment is always available.
And within it, peace is possible.
Namaste
Prem Baba
