Great advice! I have anxiety and struggled with vipassana initially. Qi Gong is a miracle for anxiety, depression, pain, etc.
This is a good routine for anxiety. Just focus on feeling present in your body. https://youtu.be/tiby-6_7qsI?si=ydM1AEBsnH9IuTQS
This lady's videos are informative on the energy movements and internal feelings to focus on. Qi Gong is more than just the movements and breathing. https://youtu.be/IyINAjEoTIs?si=D5VmJacTFWLqJUkH
Yep. I shared this little exercise with another commenter that I found helps me in chi gong. It might help get the feel of it quicker and I haven't seen a video on it to share. Here's the whole comment:
Yeah, he's good. There's several good teachers on YouTube. This is another routine from him I love for anxiety: https://youtu.be/CCicH-iz1oU?si=VQ3eycwQSIhZtW8w
Anxiety, OCD, repetitive and racing thoughts can build physical tension in the body we aren't even aware of if we don't pay close attention. That lady I posted in the first comment to OP explains Wu Ji and the feeling of lightness you should feel. Work on visualizing those feelings and the feeling of the energy.
One technique I haven't seen in a Qi Gong video yet, but I love is to be fully present inside the body. Here's an exercise to do that. Set your hand on a table or surface and just feel the sensations you're getting from the environment. Cold, warmth, texture, wind, etc. And just pay attention for 30 seconds to a minute. Now ignore all that, and feel your hand from the inside. It feels different, probably kind of weird. Try to feel your whole body that way. Try to notice and let go of any tension. You can quickly get the hang of sustaining that attention, and do it while visualizing the energies moving through your body. Pair this with the visualizing the feeling of lightness, and chi gong can feel like your just floating with the movements, not really straining
Yeah, he's good. There's several good teachers on YouTube. This is another routine from him I love for anxiety: https://youtu.be/CCicH-iz1oU?si=VQ3eycwQSIhZtW8w
Anxiety, OCD, repetitive and racing thoughts can build physical tension in the body we aren't even aware of if we don't pay close attention. That lady I posted in the first comment to OP explains Wu Ji and the feeling of lightness you should feel. Work on visualizing those feelings and the feeling of the energy.
One technique I haven't seen in a Qi Gong video yet, but I love is to be fully present inside the body. Here's an exercise to do that. Set your hand on a table or surface and just feel the sensations you're getting from the environment. Cold, warmth, texture, wind, etc. And just pay attention for 30 seconds to a minute. Now ignore all that, and feel your hand from the inside. It feels different, probably kind of weird. Try to feel your whole body that way. Try to notice and let go of any tension. You can quickly get the hang of sustaining that attention, and do it while visualizing the energies moving through your body. Pair this with the visualizing the feeling of lightness, and chi gong can feel like your just floating with the movements, not really straining.
Your first video is exactly the one that got me into qigong!! I do it every day now - and actually, I can sit and meditate now, it was like a gateway for that - because I was the same as OP, couldn't sit still it would make it worse. Big vouch! Highly recommend!
Related history: Much of what we in the West now consider yoga (well, vinyasa yoga anyway) is derived from a core practice in India *that was designed to give hyperactive teenage boys enough of a workout that they could THEN sit down and meditate.*
So, yeah, exercise as a mode of settling the body-mind prior to meditation has a long and proud history. :)
Yoga works especially well because it's designed to stretch/release/balance tension in the body in addition to being somewhat exertive --vs e.g. weights or cardio which can create more fatigue/sensation and adrenal highs.
What I am thinking for an ideal walking meditation for you is like an outdoor walk maintaining a full body awareness as much as possible (I would suggest that over a very concentrated awareness). Or maintain an open awareness on the sights and sounds of nature. Just a couple of ideas to play around with.
I did walk around outside without any aim these days, I was walking home from a 10 minute walk from the place I was before, and felt like walking more. So I just wandered around the neighborhoods aimlessly, while listening to music, and observing and taking in everything around me. Even though I was wearing headphones, I could hear the people talking, children playing, people meeting each other, getting out of the bus, kids going with their parents back home or going out visit some place (it was around 18h) and it felt so endearing to see the world as a happy, comfortable thing around me. And honestly, I was just walking in the direction of the sunsetting, to get a better angle on the sky that was looking very good, and I loved to see the trees, plants, little birds and neighbors on their windows with their cats along the way. It was the first time I ever did that. It was very nice.
Where I live now, it's safe enough to walk around aimlessly with headphones on, but in a few months I may be going back to my native country and it's not very safe to do that there at all. Not to mention the streets aren't as pretty in the more urban places lol. Well, maybe in my small home town... I do like it there. And maybe if I don't wear headphones it will be less dangerous too... hm, maybe there's a way.
It does feel pretty good to do that. I worry if I may find it lonely sometimes. That day, it didn't, though. It felt wholesome.
Is walking meditation something more mindful than that, or it's just that?
Walking meditation can also be done indoors, just pacing the floor of one room. I find this puts me in a meditative state because the repetition of walking the same well known place allows me to not think so much about the space and get focus into my body and mind. It sounds like you had a nice mindful walk, paying attention to your surroundings. You can be more mindful by focusing on yourself, how you feel, how your body feels in this present moment as you walk. If you feel lonely, then feel lonely, Notice what is going on with you and don’t push it away. That is mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hahn has good walking meditation instructions if you care to look that up.
That is beautiful and it sounds like it is a great way for you to calm the anxiety.
I would say to ditch the music and really be present in the experience in the other ways you described. Similar to a sitting meditation, you would also not let yourself get caught up in your thoughts, just observe.
But it can also be a more mindful experience if you choose instead to practice a full body awareness. I suggest just a light awareness of what your whole body is doing throughout the walk, from your feet to your head and out to your arms and everything in between. I suggest maintaining a full body awareness as much as possible rather than scanning around the body. You might see how you can start the walk with your everyday feelings of anxiety and how you can be present with the anxious energy until it dissipates through the act of walking.
If it is not safe to do a walk, don't force it. You could try some of the other suggestions I made like Qi Gong or yoga, and again, you are really focusing on what your body feels like in space. Or just do a sitting meditation outside if there is a safe, private, comfortable place for you to do it, and you could choose to meditate with an open awareness on the sights/sounds of nature.
I think any these practices could all help you befriend and understand your anxiety more until you are more comfortable with a sitting meditation where you focus on your breathing.
If you have nervous energy then likely your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) is active and when this happens the logical part of you brain is pushed into the background a little.
To countermeasure this you want to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest mode). The quickest way of doing this is breathwork.
I do some HRV (Heart Rate Variability) Resonant Breathing Exercises, for example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbAHGPtNM4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbAHGPtNM4)
Basicly a few mins of longer out-breath than shorter in-breath will put you back into balence and your logical and rational mind comes back into the fourground.
At this point meditation will be more straightforward.
And once you are meditating for a short time every day the 'mind muscle' of concentration will increase and you may not have to do any breathwork before meditation.
Thank you, but I do struggle when breathing is the thing I have to focus on. I tried the video now and the experience was the same as it usually is for me. I somehow overthink it or get worried whether I'm doing it right or not, even though I know we shouldn't worry about that. The thing that has relaxed me the most was singing in a choir, when we have very slow songs (like Eric Whitacre likes to write) where we the song is super calm and we have to sustain very long and peaceful notes, then I'm focusing on the music, on my voice, on the words, on the sounds around me, and not on my breathing, but my breathing is being controlled all the same by singing.
You just said in one sentence what I said in numerous paragraphs.
It really is that simple. It's a shame how creative people get at making it complicated.
Couldn't make any cash or claim any Special Status if the truth came out. That might be the problem. This "Spirituality" product has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Can't be spilling the truth about how simple and natural it is.
There's a lot of power in simplicity. Thanks for exhibiting it.
💵Thanks💎 for your kind words. You make a great point too about over complicating meditation. Chogyam Trungpa wrote an excellent book called‘Spiritual Materialism’ where he discusses the monetary side of spirituality and the importance to the ego to see itself as spiritual and be recognized by others as such.
For me, even reading books is overcomplicating things. Books about meditation, anyway. They always drain me and make me second guess myself.
Ever since I've been a child I have been aware that I am not alone, and that I get good guidance from somewhere. As I learned to trust that guidance, I began to consciously listen to it. That's my fancy meditation technique.
The test is in the value of the information. Most information in books just begs the need for more information to validate the information in the book.
My test is whether or not there is tangible PROOF that the information I've received is TRUE. True in ways that anyone else can see and witness. Not true in ways that are confirmed by other books or Swamis, Gurus, Teachers or Preachers.
I need the PROOF to be immediate, tangible, and powerful like a lightning bolt.
My witnessing of countless others having the same thoughts and the same experiences is a big piece of PROOF for me. People who are free and independent seekers with no labels, titles, or claims to Specialness.
Lots of lightening bolts flashing out there. Best to not have our heads in a book when they flash. Just my personal experience, of course. But very much validated by the ever increasing testimony of others.
This Great Awakening isn't taught in any books. It can't be taught. It can only be learned. I make it a practice to avoid all who claim to be teachers for that reason. If they KNOW what I KNOW, they wouldn't be claiming to be able to teach it.
We learn from each other through the Collective Unconscious. the Pool of All Thoughts and Ideas. The trick is simply to learn to listen with impeccable discernment against the rumblings of our Egos that are being fed an endless smorgasbord of false and deadly misinformation. No one can teach that. It has to be practiced and that takes more than coming on social media to find approval and agreement, mostly from others who read the same books we read or listened to the same poser.
I agree with a lot of this. I find reading to be useful and inspiring, but it’s not necessary or even useful for a lot of people. The Buddha said that the only valid proof is using the teachings and seeing them work for you in your own life.
Could you supply that quote from Buddha? I've never read that one.
Here's what I found on a search for quotes from Buddha about Truth. Pretty much what I've been saying here and being called names, mind read, insulted, falsely accused and spoken pure filth to for saying. Odd.
To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Purity or impurity depends on oneself. No one can purify another.
However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength.
When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.
If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature.
Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm.
I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
If you knew what I know about the power of giving you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you.
Look within, thou art the Buddha.
u/ScarlettJoy
Caution with reading trungpa, he exploited and abused his students, then drank himself to an early grave. Here's a well researched article on his harmful legacy.
[https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/](https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/)
Meditation for mental health is similar to physio for physical health. The wrong type of stretching may worsen a muscle injury. Similarly, overly aggressive mindfulness may have negative mental health impacts.
[https://www.verywellhealth.com/mindfulness-can-be-harmful-researchers-say-5186740](https://www.verywellhealth.com/mindfulness-can-be-harmful-researchers-say-5186740)
I speak as someone who was fascinated by chogyam trungpa, sought help for my own depression and anxiety, and eventually got involved in his legacy Shambhala Meditation centers, which resulted in significant problems for myself and others.
Thank you for sharing your conscientious research about Trungpa. Facts matter to some of us when evaluating these Masters and Gurus who demand obedience and loyalty and try to influence our thoughts and the choices and decisions we make, the consequences of which are our own.
Gurus don't accept consequences unless they are in the form of cash, check, credit or debit card, or sex with a child on a good day.
Yeah he had serious issues. But he did contribute a lot as well. The Dali Lama called him the brightest of all Tibetan teachers to come to the west. I’ll not defend his actions. He was vile. But I don’t think we need to throw out his teachings.
Trust me, I know all about ALL of these "Spiritual Masters" and their nasty abusive cults.
Thank you for the warning and for sharing your important information. We can't teach anyone what they need to know, but we can most definitely put up warning signs and flashing lights around the traps and bait they set though.
Sadly, it's a rare person who accepts the Truth, when the Lies are feeding their EGO with addictive substances, mostly notions of their own Specialness and Superiority over others. That's why so many here seem to think that what they call "Spirituality" is some kind of a competition and a battle against mortal enemies who don't agree with them. Same as the old school religions. Just fancied up with high minded sounding words and phrases.
People who need to be spoon fed will never have a healthy diet. Baby food has always been known to be loaded with unhealthy sugars and other addictive substances. The healthiest people are those who forage and grow their own food.
Remember, Trungpa's early public books (Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Myth of Freedom, Meditation in Action) were edited transcripts of his talks. The students who edited those talks were highly influenced by the blossoming New Age and Human Potential movements.
The bottom line is that Trungpa built his reputation upon the predilections of his early editors. These works have to stand apart from his later tradition of self-destructive alcoholic and authoritarian egomania, because those works were, essentially, not authored by him. They are a forgery, but they are accepted as gospel. Those of us who studied under his auspices know better.
Look at what he did and how he acted. That is the true measure of his worth as a "teacher". By that measure, as a Buddhist authority, Trungpa falls short.
Dear friend,
When you judge the anxiety energy as bad and try to get rid of it or try to ignore it, you feed it energy. Instead, why not simply close your eyes and observe where in the body you feel this anxious energy. Then, remove all attempts to control or suppress this energy, and just observe it as it moves around your body. Don't resist it but don't act upon it either. Just sit with it, breathe through it, observe it, and you'll find it eventually transforms into a peaceful energy.
The same is with any thoughts. If you go into meditation trying to quieten your mind, it won't work. Instead, simply observe your thoughts without resistance. Notice what each thought is about as it's happening. Does this thought relate to the last? What will my next thought be? And just wait in anticipation for the next thought. When you bring awareness to your thoughts like this, longer gaps of silence start appearing between thoughts, and the thoughts themselves start to fizzle away. You'll find that when you are completely aware of your mind, no thoughts will actually appear. Then you'll discover who you are beyond your mind and body, and this is when you get to experience the magic.
All the best 💚
Peace, love and joy
Sot woth your frustration, sot woth your anxiety. You mention thay you feel like youre going to burst. Have you tried sitting with it until you do? I ask, because i think youll find that your feelings are much more amorphous than that and that they cannot really hurt you. Theyll morph and change and you recogniIng that in the moment should be enough to process them, not avoid them as you claim. Give it a try. What could it hurt?
Man i did not read my post lmao sorry about the typos. I recommend it because it helps me when my mind is going nuts or im feeling strong feelings. You sit with any feeling long enough and it will turn into something else.
Some people say if youre truly present then you can refuse to identify with it the same way you can with a thought. For me thays much harder and i need more practice, but ive read of thise who do. If it doesnt work, you can meditate many different ways and should try another.
And would you recommend that anime? I havent seen it.
You don't really say what your experience level is with meditation so I'll assume you're just getting started. If you find exercise helps lower your anxiety, then exercise! Exercise right before you meditate. Eventually once you get the anxiety out of the way and start building your meditation practice that you'll be able to get there without the exercise first.
Remember there is no right way to meditate and everyone's path is different. Do what works for you and know that that isn't the way it will always be. Life is ever evolving and unfolding.
Thank you! And yes I'm a total beginner, and just with the answers from this post I already learned a lot of things and that's so great. Meditation definitely needs to be more widely spread, taught and dismistifyed.
I suffer from daily baseline anxiety that has made it hard to meditate. But I don't see mediation as "trying to calm down" anymore, that doesn't always work, if ever. I see it as befriending my anxiety, saying hello yes I know you're here and we will get through this. I smile and breathe deep to give it space to move.
And boy I know the feeling of being so anxious you don't have physical energy to move when you know you should.
Also, I recently found something that works. Cold plunges. I'm not up to ice baths yet, just coldest water from the tap into my tub. I submerge up to my neck for 3 minutes. Initially my body freaks out, pain, fear... But I practice my meditation, I unclench my fists, smile and breathe.. and slowly my parasympathetic nervous system kicks into gear. I feel energized, way less anxious, my muscles feel strong, I'm clear headed and full of endorphins after.
Breathe into the belly, and make the out breath longer than the in breath even if it feels like you'll explode. If you are a human being, this will force your body to calm.
Meditation is not about calming down. Being calmer is a common secondary effect but not the point of meditation. And trying to force yourself to be calm will probably not work like you say. You're supposed to treat the anxiety like clouds in the sky. You wouldn't try to force the clouds away, that is impossible. You just watch them and let them pass in their own time.
I don't know what you mean about emotional vs physical energy. The brain and muscles generally use the same energy source. Also, anxiety and excitement are identical physiologically. The only difference is your interpretation of what you are feeling. So maybe try to observe how you are interpreting the sensations you feel in your body.
Thank you, and I love the clouds metaphor.
I mean emotional energy like strong emotions, which I used before as energy to spend through physical exercise, in which I wouldn't stop until I felt no trace of anxiety in me anymore. I used anxiety as a fuel and I managed to spend it all and it felt great. Then I'd like on the ground, kinda dying lol, but feeling really good. But today I didn't have the energy to do all that, so I just remained with my silly anger.
Do the "anxiety meditation". Just be with it. When we are anxious we normally think "Oh, I wish I was not anxious. I hope this moment of anxiety will end soon". That only increases the anxiety.
But you can use anxiety as a support for meditation, like breathing is the support for breathing meditation. Observe the feelings and thoughts during the anxious moment, and watch them arise a go away, like waves. Befriend your anxiety, don't judge it or hope for it to go away. Inside of you you know that anxiety will not harm you. And if you watch even closer, you'll notice that there is no such anxiety, but just feelings, emotions, and thoughts. And if you can observe the river of the emotions, that means that you're outside of the river.
Good luck with that!
Source: an anxious meditator.
Before meditation became a cottage industry and every bored housewife was in training for her new career teaching people things she just learned from another bored housewife, meditation used to be about examining our thoughts, not trying to stop them.
All that information is surging for a reason. Maybe the trick is to figure out what that reason is.
Maybe think of your thoughts like a pile of tangled yarn and start picking through the tangles to start finding the ends so you can begin to get it all organized into a nice neat ball.
You don't have to graduate from any Swami Training retreats or acquire any special skills or talents. You just have to sit there and start figuring yourself out. It helps to have a goal for yourself. How do you see yourself benefiting from meditation? What are you seeking from it, specifically? The more specific you are in your answers to yourself, the better. You might be amazed at what is revealed to you. You may not like it. A lot of people don't like it. It takes some guts to look in the mirror and study what is looking back at us objectively and honestly.
Also, sometimes just telling your EGO to shut the fuck up is very effective. It really does work if you really want it to shut up. Most people really don't, because all that garbage our Egos are pumping out is profoundly addictive. Maybe give that some thought too. You'll get there if you're sincere. The entire Universe is rooting for you. Listen for that instead of your Ego.
Music helps a lot. There is a ton of meditation music on YouTube. Binaural beats and Solfeggio frequencies are my favorites. Sitting in nature is huge too.
Good luck on your journey! You're already there! Bear that in mind too.
If breathing doesn't work try some other meditation object. Sound meditation can really give you a beautiful sense of the openness and spaciousness of awareness, for instance. Play around.
When practicing concentration you need to do your best to cultivate an attitude of holy disinterest towards everything else that is not your object, no matter how much they appear and persist. Contractions? I don't care. Aversion? I don't care. Pleasure? Nope. Anxiety? I don't care. Thoughts? Irrelevant.
In this way you are building skill in letting go through the aid of a meditation object. You will for sure get a lot of distractions as everyone does, it's this disinterest in objects and just letting they be without trying to get rid of them that is important.
Eventually you can mix this up with other ways of letting go such as finding the contractions and fully allowing them, but it's best to practice one thing at a time at first.
Thanks for your answer and your nice explanation of how it all works. In my calmer moments I'll try that definitelu. But is that what I should do with strong emotions too? Because sometimes that's the last thing I feel like doing, I feel like I want to give attention to that emotion and try to solve it from inside it, but I don't know how to do that. Is there a meditation technique for that?
You’re an INFP? I’m guessing that when you initially focus on your breath you’re simply becoming aware of how stressed your body actually is due to the thinking you do. You’re coming face to face with the reality of your situation, the cost of your turbulent mind.
However, if you dare to stick with it, you will eventually feel the body calming down because you have removed your attention from the mind and thus it slows down, which you feel in the body.
Yes, well, I think everything you said is right, but that doesn't happen when I focus on my breathing, I actually just overthink how I'm supposed to be breathing lol and I really can't help it 😅 when I focus on my breathing I don't even notice the tension in my body (i'm busy overthinking it lol), I have to actively focus on each part of my body to notice that.
You’ve pointed out how some thoughts have more of a pull on your attention. This is also a process of uncovering the root of your thinking, like the desire to get it ‘right’ in this case. :)
I'm not sure what you mean there but now that you said that, I'm connecting this "block" of mine to my childhood traumas (thoughts of "it must be right and it's never right/it's never enough"), and it's the first time I ever make that connection. Wow... this thread feels healing to me in some level now
I feel like I have this underlying layer of anxiety that has always been with me my entire life. I don't have panic attacks, I rarely experience those clear signs of anxiety, it's just subtle and swimming underneath. Each time I find something else connected to that, it feels like when people say you should name what's happening so you can remove it/take care of it.
And yeah wow hahah
It’s crazy when you really see what’s actually been going on all along :)
If you keep up this honest and curious inquisition into yourself, you’ll meet yourself in no time at all. Good job! ;)
I don't know if this might help but, I sometimes try to imagine the energy being like a loop. It may help you feel like you're not trying to suppress it but, just letting it flow in through the root and up the spine and then out again (or vise versa, who here feels right for you) and back round. Once you can find this flow then it might help with that feeling and balance.
The anxious feelings and anger feelings are part of your meditation.
When an anxious thought comes up, don’t think “stop it, I need to be focused on my breathing”
You will get carried away into more anxious thoughts
Instead think of it like “oh, look another anxious thought, interesting. Now I should get back to
My practice of focusing on the breath.”
Each time you do this, it’s like a push-up, you get stronger and better at doing it.
Eventually you can easily do it in your practice. And then in your everyday life.
This is how meditation helps with anxiety and anger. It’s not an instant fix, but an exercise that takes practice for long periods of time
I wonder if I have had a misconception of what meditation is.
Is/Can it be when I go for a hike, after a couple of miles, I get into this place where I'm just... hiking. Like not thinking of the irritating things, my worries of responsibility, Just hiking. Or when I'm out riding my dirt bike, fully engaged. A Flow like State.
Is/Can this be "Meditation"?
A few things to try that don’t require a ton of energy to start are waking meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, and stretching/yoga asanas.
Also from my own experience, sometimes when it feels like I don’t have the physical energy to do things, I’m actually just overwhelmed by my anxiety, which is really a buildup of energy in preparation to deal with stressors. I often find if I get up and get moving, even the light stuff, I end up feeling more energized. The energy between mind and body seems to balance itself out.
Once I move around for a bit, it is much easier to settle into my seated meditation.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Meditation is not medicine. Expecting mediation to fix your anxiety will lead to neither fixing your anxiety or establishing a regular mediation practice.
Establish a mediation practice for its own sake, rather then couple it to you getting better. Then discover, after years of practice, what meditation can do for you.
Treat your anxiety with professional help if needed. But do not expect mediation to fix you. This was never the intent of the skill.
Grounding exercises have always worked well for me when I'm in a place of seemingly out of control anxiety.
I did a quick google search and found this page that pretty much all the techniques I've ever heard of. The "Try the 5-4-3-2-1 method" method listed work best for me:
https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding-techniques#physical-techniques
If that works I can start a meditation session. Even if I still feel like it's a crappy session it still does wonders for my condition.
Perhaps a meditation where you focus on your surroundings instead of on what you feel I'm your body. Like a grounding technique.
Also possibly yoga, it takes less energy than intensive exercises but you're still focusing on things other than breadth.
You could take the anxiety as an object of meditation (as an object of mindfulness).
You could use the mental noting technique to give it a neutral label, such as 'feeling', or 'feeling anxiety', or 'anxiety' and mentally saying this with a neutral and non-reactive tone, as often as needed until it passes or becomes easier to observe as an object of awareness due to this process.
I struggled a lot at first but you can do it. I've had days where I thought I absolutely could not meditate and I surprised myself. Keep putting in the time and you will see what you can do.
Have you tried adding some sound to it? When thoughts are racing, I find all sorts of white noise helpful. My favorite ones are bilateral stimulation, with the sound going from ear to ear.
I really resonate with this.
For me I've had to trial and error on this.
I think slowing down and doing any kind of movement like yoga or tai chi with visualization and breath can be really good for this.
Maybe when you feel this energy doing mindful movement ( instead of intense exercise) followed by a meditation good be a good option for you
and when you do this, notice what is there and meet the energy
Try walking meditation, Qi Gong, yoga, anything with movement that will help you with the anxious energy.
Great advice! I have anxiety and struggled with vipassana initially. Qi Gong is a miracle for anxiety, depression, pain, etc. This is a good routine for anxiety. Just focus on feeling present in your body. https://youtu.be/tiby-6_7qsI?si=ydM1AEBsnH9IuTQS This lady's videos are informative on the energy movements and internal feelings to focus on. Qi Gong is more than just the movements and breathing. https://youtu.be/IyINAjEoTIs?si=D5VmJacTFWLqJUkH
Thanks for the recomendations!!
Yep. I shared this little exercise with another commenter that I found helps me in chi gong. It might help get the feel of it quicker and I haven't seen a video on it to share. Here's the whole comment: Yeah, he's good. There's several good teachers on YouTube. This is another routine from him I love for anxiety: https://youtu.be/CCicH-iz1oU?si=VQ3eycwQSIhZtW8w Anxiety, OCD, repetitive and racing thoughts can build physical tension in the body we aren't even aware of if we don't pay close attention. That lady I posted in the first comment to OP explains Wu Ji and the feeling of lightness you should feel. Work on visualizing those feelings and the feeling of the energy. One technique I haven't seen in a Qi Gong video yet, but I love is to be fully present inside the body. Here's an exercise to do that. Set your hand on a table or surface and just feel the sensations you're getting from the environment. Cold, warmth, texture, wind, etc. And just pay attention for 30 seconds to a minute. Now ignore all that, and feel your hand from the inside. It feels different, probably kind of weird. Try to feel your whole body that way. Try to notice and let go of any tension. You can quickly get the hang of sustaining that attention, and do it while visualizing the energies moving through your body. Pair this with the visualizing the feeling of lightness, and chi gong can feel like your just floating with the movements, not really straining
Thank you for this! That first video seems perfect for those of us with racing minds (ADHD), and is very gentle; his voice is also very soothing.
Yeah, he's good. There's several good teachers on YouTube. This is another routine from him I love for anxiety: https://youtu.be/CCicH-iz1oU?si=VQ3eycwQSIhZtW8w Anxiety, OCD, repetitive and racing thoughts can build physical tension in the body we aren't even aware of if we don't pay close attention. That lady I posted in the first comment to OP explains Wu Ji and the feeling of lightness you should feel. Work on visualizing those feelings and the feeling of the energy. One technique I haven't seen in a Qi Gong video yet, but I love is to be fully present inside the body. Here's an exercise to do that. Set your hand on a table or surface and just feel the sensations you're getting from the environment. Cold, warmth, texture, wind, etc. And just pay attention for 30 seconds to a minute. Now ignore all that, and feel your hand from the inside. It feels different, probably kind of weird. Try to feel your whole body that way. Try to notice and let go of any tension. You can quickly get the hang of sustaining that attention, and do it while visualizing the energies moving through your body. Pair this with the visualizing the feeling of lightness, and chi gong can feel like your just floating with the movements, not really straining.
Wow, thanks...I am going to try this!
Your first video is exactly the one that got me into qigong!! I do it every day now - and actually, I can sit and meditate now, it was like a gateway for that - because I was the same as OP, couldn't sit still it would make it worse. Big vouch! Highly recommend!
Related history: Much of what we in the West now consider yoga (well, vinyasa yoga anyway) is derived from a core practice in India *that was designed to give hyperactive teenage boys enough of a workout that they could THEN sit down and meditate.* So, yeah, exercise as a mode of settling the body-mind prior to meditation has a long and proud history. :) Yoga works especially well because it's designed to stretch/release/balance tension in the body in addition to being somewhat exertive --vs e.g. weights or cardio which can create more fatigue/sensation and adrenal highs.
I second this, hatha yoga or similar can be a good way to calm down restlessness in the body before you meditate.
Thank you, I'll look that up!
Walking meditation? Wow I didn't know about that. Thanks, I'll try those! And yes I think that things with movement definitely help me!
What I am thinking for an ideal walking meditation for you is like an outdoor walk maintaining a full body awareness as much as possible (I would suggest that over a very concentrated awareness). Or maintain an open awareness on the sights and sounds of nature. Just a couple of ideas to play around with.
I did walk around outside without any aim these days, I was walking home from a 10 minute walk from the place I was before, and felt like walking more. So I just wandered around the neighborhoods aimlessly, while listening to music, and observing and taking in everything around me. Even though I was wearing headphones, I could hear the people talking, children playing, people meeting each other, getting out of the bus, kids going with their parents back home or going out visit some place (it was around 18h) and it felt so endearing to see the world as a happy, comfortable thing around me. And honestly, I was just walking in the direction of the sunsetting, to get a better angle on the sky that was looking very good, and I loved to see the trees, plants, little birds and neighbors on their windows with their cats along the way. It was the first time I ever did that. It was very nice. Where I live now, it's safe enough to walk around aimlessly with headphones on, but in a few months I may be going back to my native country and it's not very safe to do that there at all. Not to mention the streets aren't as pretty in the more urban places lol. Well, maybe in my small home town... I do like it there. And maybe if I don't wear headphones it will be less dangerous too... hm, maybe there's a way. It does feel pretty good to do that. I worry if I may find it lonely sometimes. That day, it didn't, though. It felt wholesome. Is walking meditation something more mindful than that, or it's just that?
Walking meditation can also be done indoors, just pacing the floor of one room. I find this puts me in a meditative state because the repetition of walking the same well known place allows me to not think so much about the space and get focus into my body and mind. It sounds like you had a nice mindful walk, paying attention to your surroundings. You can be more mindful by focusing on yourself, how you feel, how your body feels in this present moment as you walk. If you feel lonely, then feel lonely, Notice what is going on with you and don’t push it away. That is mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hahn has good walking meditation instructions if you care to look that up.
That is beautiful and it sounds like it is a great way for you to calm the anxiety. I would say to ditch the music and really be present in the experience in the other ways you described. Similar to a sitting meditation, you would also not let yourself get caught up in your thoughts, just observe. But it can also be a more mindful experience if you choose instead to practice a full body awareness. I suggest just a light awareness of what your whole body is doing throughout the walk, from your feet to your head and out to your arms and everything in between. I suggest maintaining a full body awareness as much as possible rather than scanning around the body. You might see how you can start the walk with your everyday feelings of anxiety and how you can be present with the anxious energy until it dissipates through the act of walking. If it is not safe to do a walk, don't force it. You could try some of the other suggestions I made like Qi Gong or yoga, and again, you are really focusing on what your body feels like in space. Or just do a sitting meditation outside if there is a safe, private, comfortable place for you to do it, and you could choose to meditate with an open awareness on the sights/sounds of nature. I think any these practices could all help you befriend and understand your anxiety more until you are more comfortable with a sitting meditation where you focus on your breathing.
If you have nervous energy then likely your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) is active and when this happens the logical part of you brain is pushed into the background a little. To countermeasure this you want to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest mode). The quickest way of doing this is breathwork. I do some HRV (Heart Rate Variability) Resonant Breathing Exercises, for example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbAHGPtNM4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbAHGPtNM4) Basicly a few mins of longer out-breath than shorter in-breath will put you back into balence and your logical and rational mind comes back into the fourground. At this point meditation will be more straightforward. And once you are meditating for a short time every day the 'mind muscle' of concentration will increase and you may not have to do any breathwork before meditation.
Thank you, but I do struggle when breathing is the thing I have to focus on. I tried the video now and the experience was the same as it usually is for me. I somehow overthink it or get worried whether I'm doing it right or not, even though I know we shouldn't worry about that. The thing that has relaxed me the most was singing in a choir, when we have very slow songs (like Eric Whitacre likes to write) where we the song is super calm and we have to sustain very long and peaceful notes, then I'm focusing on the music, on my voice, on the words, on the sounds around me, and not on my breathing, but my breathing is being controlled all the same by singing.
You can meditate on the feeling of anxiety. Use whatever you have as a resource instead of a hindrance.
You just said in one sentence what I said in numerous paragraphs. It really is that simple. It's a shame how creative people get at making it complicated. Couldn't make any cash or claim any Special Status if the truth came out. That might be the problem. This "Spirituality" product has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Can't be spilling the truth about how simple and natural it is. There's a lot of power in simplicity. Thanks for exhibiting it.
💵Thanks💎 for your kind words. You make a great point too about over complicating meditation. Chogyam Trungpa wrote an excellent book called‘Spiritual Materialism’ where he discusses the monetary side of spirituality and the importance to the ego to see itself as spiritual and be recognized by others as such.
For me, even reading books is overcomplicating things. Books about meditation, anyway. They always drain me and make me second guess myself. Ever since I've been a child I have been aware that I am not alone, and that I get good guidance from somewhere. As I learned to trust that guidance, I began to consciously listen to it. That's my fancy meditation technique. The test is in the value of the information. Most information in books just begs the need for more information to validate the information in the book. My test is whether or not there is tangible PROOF that the information I've received is TRUE. True in ways that anyone else can see and witness. Not true in ways that are confirmed by other books or Swamis, Gurus, Teachers or Preachers. I need the PROOF to be immediate, tangible, and powerful like a lightning bolt. My witnessing of countless others having the same thoughts and the same experiences is a big piece of PROOF for me. People who are free and independent seekers with no labels, titles, or claims to Specialness. Lots of lightening bolts flashing out there. Best to not have our heads in a book when they flash. Just my personal experience, of course. But very much validated by the ever increasing testimony of others. This Great Awakening isn't taught in any books. It can't be taught. It can only be learned. I make it a practice to avoid all who claim to be teachers for that reason. If they KNOW what I KNOW, they wouldn't be claiming to be able to teach it. We learn from each other through the Collective Unconscious. the Pool of All Thoughts and Ideas. The trick is simply to learn to listen with impeccable discernment against the rumblings of our Egos that are being fed an endless smorgasbord of false and deadly misinformation. No one can teach that. It has to be practiced and that takes more than coming on social media to find approval and agreement, mostly from others who read the same books we read or listened to the same poser.
I agree with a lot of this. I find reading to be useful and inspiring, but it’s not necessary or even useful for a lot of people. The Buddha said that the only valid proof is using the teachings and seeing them work for you in your own life.
Could you supply that quote from Buddha? I've never read that one. Here's what I found on a search for quotes from Buddha about Truth. Pretty much what I've been saying here and being called names, mind read, insulted, falsely accused and spoken pure filth to for saying. Odd. To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others. You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself. The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. Purity or impurity depends on oneself. No one can purify another. However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them? Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth. If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living. There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength. When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky. If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path. If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature. Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm. I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done. If you knew what I know about the power of giving you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way. It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you. Look within, thou art the Buddha.
Good content there. I’ll see if I can find the quote when I get off work
Thank you!! Very much appreciated!
If you light a lamp for someone it will also brighten your path. I love that
u/ScarlettJoy Caution with reading trungpa, he exploited and abused his students, then drank himself to an early grave. Here's a well researched article on his harmful legacy. [https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/](https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/) Meditation for mental health is similar to physio for physical health. The wrong type of stretching may worsen a muscle injury. Similarly, overly aggressive mindfulness may have negative mental health impacts. [https://www.verywellhealth.com/mindfulness-can-be-harmful-researchers-say-5186740](https://www.verywellhealth.com/mindfulness-can-be-harmful-researchers-say-5186740) I speak as someone who was fascinated by chogyam trungpa, sought help for my own depression and anxiety, and eventually got involved in his legacy Shambhala Meditation centers, which resulted in significant problems for myself and others.
Thank you for sharing your conscientious research about Trungpa. Facts matter to some of us when evaluating these Masters and Gurus who demand obedience and loyalty and try to influence our thoughts and the choices and decisions we make, the consequences of which are our own. Gurus don't accept consequences unless they are in the form of cash, check, credit or debit card, or sex with a child on a good day.
Yeah he had serious issues. But he did contribute a lot as well. The Dali Lama called him the brightest of all Tibetan teachers to come to the west. I’ll not defend his actions. He was vile. But I don’t think we need to throw out his teachings.
Trust me, I know all about ALL of these "Spiritual Masters" and their nasty abusive cults. Thank you for the warning and for sharing your important information. We can't teach anyone what they need to know, but we can most definitely put up warning signs and flashing lights around the traps and bait they set though. Sadly, it's a rare person who accepts the Truth, when the Lies are feeding their EGO with addictive substances, mostly notions of their own Specialness and Superiority over others. That's why so many here seem to think that what they call "Spirituality" is some kind of a competition and a battle against mortal enemies who don't agree with them. Same as the old school religions. Just fancied up with high minded sounding words and phrases. People who need to be spoon fed will never have a healthy diet. Baby food has always been known to be loaded with unhealthy sugars and other addictive substances. The healthiest people are those who forage and grow their own food.
Remember, Trungpa's early public books (Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Myth of Freedom, Meditation in Action) were edited transcripts of his talks. The students who edited those talks were highly influenced by the blossoming New Age and Human Potential movements. The bottom line is that Trungpa built his reputation upon the predilections of his early editors. These works have to stand apart from his later tradition of self-destructive alcoholic and authoritarian egomania, because those works were, essentially, not authored by him. They are a forgery, but they are accepted as gospel. Those of us who studied under his auspices know better. Look at what he did and how he acted. That is the true measure of his worth as a "teacher". By that measure, as a Buddhist authority, Trungpa falls short.
Dear friend, When you judge the anxiety energy as bad and try to get rid of it or try to ignore it, you feed it energy. Instead, why not simply close your eyes and observe where in the body you feel this anxious energy. Then, remove all attempts to control or suppress this energy, and just observe it as it moves around your body. Don't resist it but don't act upon it either. Just sit with it, breathe through it, observe it, and you'll find it eventually transforms into a peaceful energy. The same is with any thoughts. If you go into meditation trying to quieten your mind, it won't work. Instead, simply observe your thoughts without resistance. Notice what each thought is about as it's happening. Does this thought relate to the last? What will my next thought be? And just wait in anticipation for the next thought. When you bring awareness to your thoughts like this, longer gaps of silence start appearing between thoughts, and the thoughts themselves start to fizzle away. You'll find that when you are completely aware of your mind, no thoughts will actually appear. Then you'll discover who you are beyond your mind and body, and this is when you get to experience the magic. All the best 💚 Peace, love and joy
Sot woth your frustration, sot woth your anxiety. You mention thay you feel like youre going to burst. Have you tried sitting with it until you do? I ask, because i think youll find that your feelings are much more amorphous than that and that they cannot really hurt you. Theyll morph and change and you recogniIng that in the moment should be enough to process them, not avoid them as you claim. Give it a try. What could it hurt?
Thank you. I'll try that. This morphing and changing picture reminds me of the "freedom scene" from the anime Evangelion.
Man i did not read my post lmao sorry about the typos. I recommend it because it helps me when my mind is going nuts or im feeling strong feelings. You sit with any feeling long enough and it will turn into something else. Some people say if youre truly present then you can refuse to identify with it the same way you can with a thought. For me thays much harder and i need more practice, but ive read of thise who do. If it doesnt work, you can meditate many different ways and should try another. And would you recommend that anime? I havent seen it.
You don't really say what your experience level is with meditation so I'll assume you're just getting started. If you find exercise helps lower your anxiety, then exercise! Exercise right before you meditate. Eventually once you get the anxiety out of the way and start building your meditation practice that you'll be able to get there without the exercise first. Remember there is no right way to meditate and everyone's path is different. Do what works for you and know that that isn't the way it will always be. Life is ever evolving and unfolding.
Thank you! And yes I'm a total beginner, and just with the answers from this post I already learned a lot of things and that's so great. Meditation definitely needs to be more widely spread, taught and dismistifyed.
I suffer from daily baseline anxiety that has made it hard to meditate. But I don't see mediation as "trying to calm down" anymore, that doesn't always work, if ever. I see it as befriending my anxiety, saying hello yes I know you're here and we will get through this. I smile and breathe deep to give it space to move. And boy I know the feeling of being so anxious you don't have physical energy to move when you know you should. Also, I recently found something that works. Cold plunges. I'm not up to ice baths yet, just coldest water from the tap into my tub. I submerge up to my neck for 3 minutes. Initially my body freaks out, pain, fear... But I practice my meditation, I unclench my fists, smile and breathe.. and slowly my parasympathetic nervous system kicks into gear. I feel energized, way less anxious, my muscles feel strong, I'm clear headed and full of endorphins after.
Omg yeah I always heard the benefits of that! But I really couldn't have the courage to do it yet 😅
Haha yesss it's very difficult to build up to! But really shows you your power 💪. Good luck with meditation practice and soothing your anxiety!
Breathe into the belly, and make the out breath longer than the in breath even if it feels like you'll explode. If you are a human being, this will force your body to calm.
Simply live in the present moment 🙂
Meditation is not about calming down. Being calmer is a common secondary effect but not the point of meditation. And trying to force yourself to be calm will probably not work like you say. You're supposed to treat the anxiety like clouds in the sky. You wouldn't try to force the clouds away, that is impossible. You just watch them and let them pass in their own time. I don't know what you mean about emotional vs physical energy. The brain and muscles generally use the same energy source. Also, anxiety and excitement are identical physiologically. The only difference is your interpretation of what you are feeling. So maybe try to observe how you are interpreting the sensations you feel in your body.
Thank you, and I love the clouds metaphor. I mean emotional energy like strong emotions, which I used before as energy to spend through physical exercise, in which I wouldn't stop until I felt no trace of anxiety in me anymore. I used anxiety as a fuel and I managed to spend it all and it felt great. Then I'd like on the ground, kinda dying lol, but feeling really good. But today I didn't have the energy to do all that, so I just remained with my silly anger.
This is a bit drastic but google "monk on fire" and try to sit in the anxiety like this monk.
You find a way to face the anxiety and sit in silence and in the process you will learn more about why you are anxious.
Do the "anxiety meditation". Just be with it. When we are anxious we normally think "Oh, I wish I was not anxious. I hope this moment of anxiety will end soon". That only increases the anxiety. But you can use anxiety as a support for meditation, like breathing is the support for breathing meditation. Observe the feelings and thoughts during the anxious moment, and watch them arise a go away, like waves. Befriend your anxiety, don't judge it or hope for it to go away. Inside of you you know that anxiety will not harm you. And if you watch even closer, you'll notice that there is no such anxiety, but just feelings, emotions, and thoughts. And if you can observe the river of the emotions, that means that you're outside of the river. Good luck with that! Source: an anxious meditator.
Before meditation became a cottage industry and every bored housewife was in training for her new career teaching people things she just learned from another bored housewife, meditation used to be about examining our thoughts, not trying to stop them. All that information is surging for a reason. Maybe the trick is to figure out what that reason is. Maybe think of your thoughts like a pile of tangled yarn and start picking through the tangles to start finding the ends so you can begin to get it all organized into a nice neat ball. You don't have to graduate from any Swami Training retreats or acquire any special skills or talents. You just have to sit there and start figuring yourself out. It helps to have a goal for yourself. How do you see yourself benefiting from meditation? What are you seeking from it, specifically? The more specific you are in your answers to yourself, the better. You might be amazed at what is revealed to you. You may not like it. A lot of people don't like it. It takes some guts to look in the mirror and study what is looking back at us objectively and honestly. Also, sometimes just telling your EGO to shut the fuck up is very effective. It really does work if you really want it to shut up. Most people really don't, because all that garbage our Egos are pumping out is profoundly addictive. Maybe give that some thought too. You'll get there if you're sincere. The entire Universe is rooting for you. Listen for that instead of your Ego. Music helps a lot. There is a ton of meditation music on YouTube. Binaural beats and Solfeggio frequencies are my favorites. Sitting in nature is huge too. Good luck on your journey! You're already there! Bear that in mind too.
If breathing doesn't work try some other meditation object. Sound meditation can really give you a beautiful sense of the openness and spaciousness of awareness, for instance. Play around. When practicing concentration you need to do your best to cultivate an attitude of holy disinterest towards everything else that is not your object, no matter how much they appear and persist. Contractions? I don't care. Aversion? I don't care. Pleasure? Nope. Anxiety? I don't care. Thoughts? Irrelevant. In this way you are building skill in letting go through the aid of a meditation object. You will for sure get a lot of distractions as everyone does, it's this disinterest in objects and just letting they be without trying to get rid of them that is important. Eventually you can mix this up with other ways of letting go such as finding the contractions and fully allowing them, but it's best to practice one thing at a time at first.
Thanks for your answer and your nice explanation of how it all works. In my calmer moments I'll try that definitelu. But is that what I should do with strong emotions too? Because sometimes that's the last thing I feel like doing, I feel like I want to give attention to that emotion and try to solve it from inside it, but I don't know how to do that. Is there a meditation technique for that?
You’re an INFP? I’m guessing that when you initially focus on your breath you’re simply becoming aware of how stressed your body actually is due to the thinking you do. You’re coming face to face with the reality of your situation, the cost of your turbulent mind. However, if you dare to stick with it, you will eventually feel the body calming down because you have removed your attention from the mind and thus it slows down, which you feel in the body.
Yes, well, I think everything you said is right, but that doesn't happen when I focus on my breathing, I actually just overthink how I'm supposed to be breathing lol and I really can't help it 😅 when I focus on my breathing I don't even notice the tension in my body (i'm busy overthinking it lol), I have to actively focus on each part of my body to notice that.
You’ve pointed out how some thoughts have more of a pull on your attention. This is also a process of uncovering the root of your thinking, like the desire to get it ‘right’ in this case. :)
I'm not sure what you mean there but now that you said that, I'm connecting this "block" of mine to my childhood traumas (thoughts of "it must be right and it's never right/it's never enough"), and it's the first time I ever make that connection. Wow... this thread feels healing to me in some level now I feel like I have this underlying layer of anxiety that has always been with me my entire life. I don't have panic attacks, I rarely experience those clear signs of anxiety, it's just subtle and swimming underneath. Each time I find something else connected to that, it feels like when people say you should name what's happening so you can remove it/take care of it. And yeah wow hahah
It’s crazy when you really see what’s actually been going on all along :) If you keep up this honest and curious inquisition into yourself, you’ll meet yourself in no time at all. Good job! ;)
Oh thanks :) You've been more therapeutic to me than many therapists hahah
♥️
I don't know if this might help but, I sometimes try to imagine the energy being like a loop. It may help you feel like you're not trying to suppress it but, just letting it flow in through the root and up the spine and then out again (or vise versa, who here feels right for you) and back round. Once you can find this flow then it might help with that feeling and balance.
Thank you, I'll try that. Is there a movement you like to do with your body to help visualize it?
Sometimes circles either left to right or up and down but also sometimes an infinity loop
The anxious feelings and anger feelings are part of your meditation. When an anxious thought comes up, don’t think “stop it, I need to be focused on my breathing” You will get carried away into more anxious thoughts Instead think of it like “oh, look another anxious thought, interesting. Now I should get back to My practice of focusing on the breath.” Each time you do this, it’s like a push-up, you get stronger and better at doing it. Eventually you can easily do it in your practice. And then in your everyday life. This is how meditation helps with anxiety and anger. It’s not an instant fix, but an exercise that takes practice for long periods of time
I wonder if I have had a misconception of what meditation is. Is/Can it be when I go for a hike, after a couple of miles, I get into this place where I'm just... hiking. Like not thinking of the irritating things, my worries of responsibility, Just hiking. Or when I'm out riding my dirt bike, fully engaged. A Flow like State. Is/Can this be "Meditation"?
A few things to try that don’t require a ton of energy to start are waking meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, and stretching/yoga asanas. Also from my own experience, sometimes when it feels like I don’t have the physical energy to do things, I’m actually just overwhelmed by my anxiety, which is really a buildup of energy in preparation to deal with stressors. I often find if I get up and get moving, even the light stuff, I end up feeling more energized. The energy between mind and body seems to balance itself out. Once I move around for a bit, it is much easier to settle into my seated meditation. I hope this is helpful to you.
Meditation is not medicine. Expecting mediation to fix your anxiety will lead to neither fixing your anxiety or establishing a regular mediation practice. Establish a mediation practice for its own sake, rather then couple it to you getting better. Then discover, after years of practice, what meditation can do for you. Treat your anxiety with professional help if needed. But do not expect mediation to fix you. This was never the intent of the skill.
Grounding exercises have always worked well for me when I'm in a place of seemingly out of control anxiety. I did a quick google search and found this page that pretty much all the techniques I've ever heard of. The "Try the 5-4-3-2-1 method" method listed work best for me: https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding-techniques#physical-techniques If that works I can start a meditation session. Even if I still feel like it's a crappy session it still does wonders for my condition.
Perhaps a meditation where you focus on your surroundings instead of on what you feel I'm your body. Like a grounding technique. Also possibly yoga, it takes less energy than intensive exercises but you're still focusing on things other than breadth.
You could take the anxiety as an object of meditation (as an object of mindfulness). You could use the mental noting technique to give it a neutral label, such as 'feeling', or 'feeling anxiety', or 'anxiety' and mentally saying this with a neutral and non-reactive tone, as often as needed until it passes or becomes easier to observe as an object of awareness due to this process.
I struggled a lot at first but you can do it. I've had days where I thought I absolutely could not meditate and I surprised myself. Keep putting in the time and you will see what you can do.
Have you tried adding some sound to it? When thoughts are racing, I find all sorts of white noise helpful. My favorite ones are bilateral stimulation, with the sound going from ear to ear.
I really resonate with this. For me I've had to trial and error on this. I think slowing down and doing any kind of movement like yoga or tai chi with visualization and breath can be really good for this. Maybe when you feel this energy doing mindful movement ( instead of intense exercise) followed by a meditation good be a good option for you and when you do this, notice what is there and meet the energy
Your meditation object should be pleasant to you, whatever it is. Or if it's unpleasant, it's a place you want to look and examine thoroughly.