Meditation for anxiety helps us center our thoughts and prevent them from running away from us in the direst situations. Anxiety comes in many shapes and forms and learning how to control it can be a journey in and of itself. Let’s talk about anxiety and meditation for anxiety so that you can learn to master your own stress and fears.
Anxiety is an aspect of life that no one should ever have to deal with. And yet, many of us do on a daily. Anxiety can ruin an otherwise perfect day, send you into spiraling thoughts, and skyrocket stress for no reason. That is why it is so crucial that we learn to cope with anxiety in the best ways possible. For that, meditation for anxiety becomes an essential tool.
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What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is simply a feeling of unease or discomfort about a specific situation or action. This event can lead to you feeling a whole host of symptoms ranging from nausea to cold sweats and even extreme panic. This is the basic understanding of anxiety as we know it. However, for most of us, things aren’t so simple at all.
It can be tough to quantify what anxiety is and isn’t. Each individual experiences stress and anxiety differently, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the feeling itself and what leads to it.
Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their lives. We can find ourselves anxious about a football match we are going to play in, or a test we have to take, or a presentation we have to give at work. These are all feelings of genuine anxiety. However, for others, anxiety can become a chronic condition that cripples the way they experience life. For many, anxiety is a little monster that creeps into the mind for seemingly no reason. This can lead to panic attacks–sometimes daily–for those who suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorders.
Anxiety isn’t just a mental state of being either. It’s important to note that feelings of anxiousness are a physical response to stress. When the body feels like something exciting may happen, good or bad, – it floods the senses with adrenaline from the adrenal glands. This condition results in the brain triggering a ‘fight or flight’ response. And then it manifests in anxiety, especially when in situations where fighting or fleeing are not necessary. This feeling can also persist for hours or days on end in those with Generalized Anxiety Disorders.
The Effects of Anxiety on the Body
Anxiety is not merely an unpleasant experience for anyone involved. It is also potentially dangerous when left unchecked long term. Anxiety adds unnecessary wear and tear on the mind, body, and spirit.
When the body experiences excess stress, it produces stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine. These hormones can lead to an increased risk of heart disease and an increased risk for stroke, in addition to increased blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It’s safe to say that stress isn’t good for the body. Hence managing and controlling anxiety is key to a long and happy life.
So, what do we do about these feelings? Do we embrace them? Do we ignore them? Well, maybe the answer is a little bit of both.
Meditation for Anxiety
The best way to conquer an obstacle is to understand it fully. We have to understand what needs to be done to get over it, to beat it. There can be a difficulty with something as tricky as anxiety and generalized anxiety disorders. However, it is not impossible. Meditation is a key that can determine whether you find a life of peace amidst the stress and anxiousness.
Meditation and mindfulness are simple ways to center our minds and adjust our focus to a more calming state of being. It allows us to slow down the racing thoughts and sense of fear and reevaluate what is happening in any given situation. Meditation can also help us learn to identify what triggers your anxiety and prevent it from occurring in the future.
When we talk about meditation for anxiety, we don’t mean something overly specific that requires you to be a guru of any kind. Meditation for anxiety is something that anyone and everyone can learn and practice–no matter your age, faith, or experience in meditation.
Meditation helps us to really dig deep into the root of the problem and weed it out-so to say. Meditation can lead to a reduction in stress and anxiety in everyday life. Meditation for anxiety has been linked to numerous health benefits as well. These can range from reduced blood pressure to an overall better sense of wellbeing. Meditation for anxiety can help improve sleep, increase energy levels, reduce stress, and uplift your life in every way. So, with that in mind, let’s get into how it all works.
How to Practice Meditation for Anxiety?
Meditation for anxiety is an exercise in something known as mindfulness. Mindfulness is the concept of learning to live in the moment and center your thoughts onto a single subject or source. For example, mindfulness can be focusing solely on your breathing patterns. Or it can be merely reflecting on the events of the day in chronological order.
Mindfulness helps us blur out the added stress and sensory overloads occurring at the moment and place our thoughts on a singular path. This practice is not something done hastily and takes quite a bit of practice, but it is a beautiful tool in the long run.
To practice mindful meditation for anxiety, you need to prepare yourself for the process in the first place. That, as always, begins with acceptance.
A Guide To Mindful Meditation
When it comes to anxiety, fighting against it is very rarely the path to success. Anxiety is like a wave to the shores of your mind, and it can be almost impossible to try and push back against it. Trying to fight against anxiety can often prove to be more harmful than beneficial.
Meditation for anxiety allows us to accept that anxiety is coming. It teaches us to embrace the feelings we have at the moment and process them as they are. Open the flood gates, and allow the wave to come in. The sooner you accept the feelings of anxiety, the faster you can process them and deal with them.
Once you have accepted that you are feeling and experiencing anxiety, it’s time to process those feelings. Begin to focus on where they are coming from. Do external forces cause them, or are they solely internal? Are they caused by something that you can even identify at all?
Focusing on the feeling of anxiety itself can help you to learn what triggers your anxiousness. This kind of awareness will help you understand the best way to relieve these feelings and prevent them in the future. When it comes to anxiety, you must accept the things that you cannot control and then work to improve your mind’s handling them.
Once you have learned to practice acceptance, you can learn to practice some effortless mindful meditation for anxiety techniques. Here are two examples of how to meditate when feeling anxious:
Focused Breathing
Begin by taking a moment to accept that everything is going to be OK. It may feel like everything is spiraling out of control, and you might begin to feel disconnected from reality, but this is not the end. Focus on being thankful that you are alive, and for the moment, that is enough.
Once you have accepted that you are here and present and alive, you can begin to focus your thoughts on another area. This focus should ideally be an area that you can control. For most, this comes from focused breathing – in through the nose and out through the mouth. Focus on your breathing pattern and try to let all other thoughts and concepts of reality around you melt away. Just breathe.
Body Scanning
Another way to meditate when feeling anxious is to perform a body scan. Begin by wiggling your toes, and focus on how they feel in the moment. Slowly flex and focus on areas of the body upwards from your toes bit by bit. Do this until you get to the crown of your head, and repeat as necessary. This practice forces you to realize that you are still alive, you are real, and you are present at the moment.
These two basic practices are great for centering the thoughts and refocusing the mind away from the anxiety and on to something new and less threatening. Over time, you will find that this process of meditation becomes more comfortable and more manageable. Over time, you will find it easier to allow the anxiety to pass and move on with your day and life.
With enough meditation practice, you will learn to identify your anxiety before it grows out of hand. Then you will know how to let it wash over you without destroying everything in its wake.
Final Thoughts
Anxiety can be crippling. It can make us feel like we can never live a normal life ever again. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. Becoming the master of your anxiety can be done through the practice of mindful meditation for anxiety. This way of calming the mind takes a lot of practice and a lot of work. But in the end, it can lead to a beautiful life free of anxiety and fear.
DISCLAIMER: Medical conditions cannot be treated, cured or diagnosed by practice of meditation or using apps. Meditation at best can be a complimentary to a health care plan monitored by qualified health professional.
Zen Lounge helps create an ambiance for relaxing the mind and practicing mindfulness meditation. The app is simple and easy to operate and comes with mood music which can be mixed with nature and atmosphere sounds. Download an try the free version:
