Anxiety and Meditation

Written by
Karla Solano

What is anxiety?
•Anxiety, anxiousness ((psychiatry) a relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic). A vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune)

We all experience anxiety at one point or another in our lives; the constant state of emergency which we live in causes our stress levels to rise and our defense mechanism to drop, thus, causing our body to reach a breaking point when faced with difficult experiences.

Anxiety is a form of fear and worry; these feelings are just energy, in this case it is energy that causes a negative emotion. Since energy is transmutable it can be altered to its opposite state of being. It is important to keep in mind that we have the power to change this negative energy into positive energy that can bring us peace and pure bliss. We just need to learn to expand our minds and recognize this power of change within ourselves. This is when meditation comes to play an important part of our lives, because it can help us transform our inner turmoil into peace and it can also give us clarity of mind and a true connection with our natural state of being.

Anxiety & meditation

Deep, relaxed breathing by itself can help reduce high levels of stress. This helps you get plenty of oxygen and activates the relaxation response, which is the body’s antidote to stress.

Other ways to reduce stress and anxiety include but are not limited to:

•Listening to relaxing music, spending time in nature, reading a book, dancing, playing with a pet and children, talking to a close friend, finding time to laugh and be youthful.

10 minutes of deep breathing meditation

The best way to deal with anxiety at the moment we feel it creep up is to maintain calm, close your eyes for a few minutes and take deep breaths. Count 1 as you inhale, 2 as you exhale, 3 as you inhale and so forth & so on. Do this exercise for 10 counts. Become aware of your breath going in through the nose and out the nose. Do not follow the breath through your lungs. Just keep focusing on the refreshing feeling of the breathing, put the palm of your left hand in your heart and connect with the beating of your heart as you breathe, feel the rhythm of the heart synchronize & slow down as you begin to center yourself.

Keep breathing in and out, if thoughts of worry or fear begin to distract you, let them be, notice them and let them go as you continue to count your breaths. Do this for as long as you need to, until you feel the anxiety, fears and worries slowly dissipate.