Now, while I may still have occasional waves or moments of discomfort, they no longer control me. I'm much less afraid of anxiety. Intrusive thoughts still show up at times, but they don't hook me the same way. I recover quickly, and I'm able to stay present in my life even in the middle of big transitions — like welcoming our second child.

Before, I was scared of my own thoughts and of being left alone with them, but now I am so confident that I can handle anything my brain wants to bring up, and fear no longer controls me, nor do I even care if I feel fear. It's irrelevant now.

What I quickly noticed was Sam's ability to instil confidence that anxiety is not serious and that we just need to follow the process. He has a natural ability to explain everything from the root cause of anxiety to all the things that you are likely to encounter throughout your recovery journey.

I have developed positive self-talk for when I recognize the anxiety cycle amping up. Instead of panicking about the return of my dreaded enemy anxiety, I can recognize it for the bluff that it is, accept, allow, go loose, and remember that the stress chemicals will dissipate and I will experience relief.

The holy grail of recovery: understanding nervous system sensitisation, taught by someone with real experience with anxiety. The issue with everything else I tried is that these methods failed to explain nervous system sensitisation, which explains anything you've got going on.

What an absolute relief to find someone who has recovered from anxiety and who has the skills to help others to do the same. I remember watching a live practice session on YouTube for the first time, sitting back, going loose and not trying to get rid of anxiety. A wave of calm washed over me.