good meditation for anxiety ?

[windblown]

I'm having trouble meditating because of anxiety symptoms...racing heart, feelings of being overwhelmed, worried thoughts...

 

is there a meditation to help anxiety while I'm in the state of being anxious...I have tried deep belly breathing and it didn't work too well.

 

i have tried qi gong and love it but I'm living in a temporary situation and there are no classes here plus I feel too anxious to read a how-to on qi gong and practice it

[Yoda]

I don't have *any* expertise here, but for acute emotional imbalance I would first turn to balancing the 5 elements: spend more time outside preferably walking preferably barefoot, hug a beautiful tree for at least 15 minutes, spend time in/near water, play with the 5 healing sounds.

 

I personally believe that cleaning one's environment and considering fengsui or vaastu might sometimes help too. If you sleep with your head pointing north, you might sleep a few nights upside down in your bed with your head pointing south and see if that helps.

 

Also, try mineral supplementation especially magnesium. Natural Calm magnesium and other fizzy magnesium supplements are best and maybe try clays or colloidal mineral, etc.

 

I bet after a week or two of tinkering around with this sort of thing, you can noticably reduce anxiety. Imo, if a particular practice brings it on, I'd discontinue or reduce that practice.

 

If the above still doesn't help do consult with doc and ask them about LDN. If you have cash to play with you might also try egyptianhealingrods.com.

 

Try to do something relaxing before going to bed like taking a shower or giving yourself a foot massage, etc. It's important for your system to get your endorphines up between 2-4am.

 

Yoda

[karen]

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) is effective and easy to do anywhere. There are ways to use it in more depth, but you can start with a very simple technique here. Here's the main EFT website.

 

There are many other ways to work with anxiety, but that's a good place to start..

 

Best,

Karen

[Junbao]

[Taiji-student]

I like to "enter into the observer." Shifting the mind to try and see those "symptoms" as phenomenon which you can observe like from a third-person perspective. This way they roll past and they are not defining of you or your experience on this earth. I mentioned this technique in the thread about controlling sexual desire the other day. It is actually in the context of anxiety attacks and "social phobia" that I have put it to use the most.

 

Yes I am an ex-patient of anxiety disorder. Through taijiquan practice I sometimes came to this shift of consciousness. After I realized how this mode of consciousness was different from my day-mind I slowly learned to make use of it in day-to-day situations. And in the context of meditation it is obviously very practical and do-able.

 

By the way I think ones ability to make use of this exercise (or ones ability to perform it to completion) varies with other factors as well. Taiji exercise, acupuncture, all come into play.

 

Acupuncture points I might suggest would be P-7 (daling), P-6 (neiguan), He-7 Shenmen. All are located inside the wrist and can be manipulated by gently pressing and releasing or by "tapping" like in EFT/TFT. P6/7 have the characteristic that they open up the chest and calm Shen. He-7 balances heart energy and also He-9 Shaochong on the root of the little finger nail, most often used as an acute point, can have very rapid effect to calm heart racing, hyperventilation and the like when manipulated forcefully with the nail of the thumb on the other hand.

Edited August 21, 2008 by Taiji-student

[doc benway]

I've seen good results with the following, very simple technique - it's probably a bit more effective when guided by a therapist or tape, but is worth trying on your own.

 

Sit in a comfortable position, in a comfortable room with no distractions. No alarms, phone, animals...

Feel yourself sitting there. Bring your attention first to your breath, in and out. Do not try to control, measure, or force it, just pay attention. How does your chest feel on inhalation? On exhalation? Feel your head, face, mouth, neck, and so on. Feel the air passing through your nose, mouth, throat... Feel the palms of your hands resting on your thighs or lap. Feel your bottom on the chair, your feet on the floor. Notice the smells around you, the sounds, the feel of the air on your skin. Pay very close attention to everything within reach of your awareness, really try to notice everything and the character of everything in great detail. It's amazing what one can notice when you take the time to be quiet and pay attention. See what happens...

 

As you lose yourself in awareness, the anxiety may diminish. If not, turn that same quality of interested awareness on the bodily sensations that accompany or indicate the anxiety. Don't fight them, just be there and notice how it feels. Stay with it. Fighting or avoidance give those feelings strength. Acceptance shows you that it's nothing more than any other physical sensation. Intermittently, come back to the breath, the physical sensations and so on.

Try this exercise once or twice a day for about 10-15 minutes.

Good luck.

[guangping]

Yeah, anxiety only makes trying to meditate worse. The best way to calm down is to go for a long walk, at least 2-3 miles, followed by a hot shower. Especially the hot shower, as hot as you can stand it.

 

When you are trying to meditate the mind doesn't want to relinquish control and will try every trick to distract you. It's why it's called the monkey mind. The only way is to work your way through it, sit for only a couple of minutes one day, add a couple more the next. Don't judge yourself or feel like a failure because that only feeds the monkey mind.

 

It's said that each journey begins with the first step, and any training practice feels like one step forward and two steps back. Don't expect immediate results, the rewards are ten, twenty years down the road. Good luck.

[Bum Grasshopper]

I am a great fan of brainwave entrainment music. It is a pulsing beat that guides your brain into specific brainwave patterns. Alpha waves are produced in light meditation, theta in deep meditation. You can practice all the great advice given above in conjunction with entrainment.

 

Just listen to the music as you meditate. The beats will gently guide you to the state desired. A great program which allows you to create your own tracks, as well as a huge library of already made tracks is:

 

Neuro- Programmer 2

 

A free trial version is available. You can download and start today. To me the cost of the full program is well worth the $$

 

I would suggest starting with the programs already made for you specifically for anxiety/stress reduction, and then trying some deeper theta programs when you feel it is time.

[Pranaman]

my counselor was had social anxiety disorder, as I do now but it's hugely worn off in the last two months. She told me to spend time meditating on my feet. feel the sole of your feet against your shoe, the sock around it, the bones, just put your mind into your feet. This will ground you in yourself and your environment, and mother earth. Wait till you really feel more energy in your feet to stop, if you have enough time, meditate till they heat up. Also, I-chuan standing has done amazing things, it cures it 100% for a few hours and permanently makes it a little bit better.

[Yoda]

my counselor was had social anxiety disorder, as I do now but it's hugely worn off in the last two months. She told me to spend time meditating on my feet. feel the sole of your feet against your shoe, the sock around it, the bones, just put your mind into your feet. This will ground you in yourself and your environment, and mother earth. Wait till you really feel more energy in your feet to stop, if you have enough time, meditate till they heat up. Also, I-chuan standing has done amazing things, it cures it 100% for a few hours and permanently makes it a little bit better.

 

Great thread!

 

I agree with the feet thing... do whatever you can to feel your feet. Imo, standing practice can go either way... it is grounding on the one hand but can be too energizing for one with negativities coming up. If you are drawn to standing maybe experiment with palms facing the earth type postures.

 

Another idea is to put your mind on the center of the earth while meditating with your bare feet against the dirt.

 

Another idea... this is one of my favs... is to hold a black rock, the blacker the better like onyx or obsidian. It connects you to the center of the earth and grounds out negativity. Stack a few of these ideas like walking while holding a black rock and barefoot is groovy.

 

Yoda

[Jedi777]

I'm having trouble meditating because of anxiety symptoms...racing heart, feelings of being overwhelmed, worried thoughts...

 

is there a meditation to help anxiety while I'm in the state of being anxious...I have tried deep belly breathing and it didn't work too well.

 

i have tried qi gong and love it but I'm living in a temporary situation and there are no classes here plus I feel too anxious to read a how-to on qi gong and practice it

This meditaion cured mine and countless others

and its free!!! Try it!

http://www.thetaobums.com/Meditation-on-Tw...arts-t6521.html

[qijack]

Here's what i do prior to a meditation session to get deeply ralaxed and to calm my mind.I spend around 5 minutes doing it but in your case a good 10 to 15 minutes should suffice.Its so simple, just sit down in your prefered meditation posture, emphasis is to be on the out breath, just breath in naturally but make your out breath audible like "HAAAAAAAAAAAA" , as if your sighing and make it slow and long.Feel all your tension,heat,worries leaving your body with your out breath.Youl be surprised how effective this is

[chrisjswanson]

I've had worse anxiety than anyone else I've met (at least in person). I was having panic attacks and they put me on Klonopin for years, then pulled me off suddenly. I seriously was sure I was going to die (and I mean SURE) many many times every day for weeks. Hell on Earth, yes, but a learning experience. This is what I did (I could not escape; simply comfort myself):

 

I would walk barefoot in circles on a cement path near my house, and chant. I would say "hmmmmm" again and again (in a higher tone that resonates in the head), and sometimes hold my hands together in front of myself as if praying. Sometimes I did it for hours... Eventually it got better. Now I can meditate again, but I don't bother to try if I happen to panic (which thankfully has become rare) ; instead I resort to my chanting walking meditation which saved me once and I know will save me again :-)

 

There's some other great suggestions here that I also found help, namely magnesium and brainwave entrainment. I never tried holding a black rock but laughed when I read that because for some reason my intuition tells me that it would help a lot. Interestingly I press on those EFT spots on my face, I do it half-subconsciously when I am stressed but I never knew about EFT until I read that.

 

If nothing else is working there are some herbs that I've found help different people more or less, which I will list in order of which is most helpful to myself. I must stress that I really don't think any of these will cure the root of your problem, and if they relieve you and cause you to ignore the root then that is not helpful. But temporary relief can energize the spirit...

 

These herbs I get from my local bulk herb shop and make tea, capsules are much less effective.

1) Valerian Root (Most effective)

2) California Poppy (Very sedating)

3) Passion Flower - Don't mix it with other drugs or herbs it's dangerous!

4) Skullcap

5) Kava Kava - Makes some people more anxious - Be Careful

6) Chamomile

7) Decaf Green Tea

 

I hope you get to feeling better

 

peace + love

Chris

[windblown]

Wow...thank you all very much. I'm going to print this page and keep all these replies with me to try.

 

I was a bit embarrassed to pose this question but I'm very glad I did.

 

There is such a wealth of healing information here and just knowing someone else has dealt with this and is

 

willing to reach out and help gives me a feeling of connection and love for all of you.

 

Breathing a sigh of relief now...thanks again!

[daoian]

I'm having trouble meditating because of anxiety symptoms...racing heart, feelings of being overwhelmed, worried thoughts...

 

is there a meditation to help anxiety while I'm in the state of being anxious...I have tried deep belly breathing and it didn't work too well.

 

i have tried qi gong and love it but I'm living in a temporary situation and there are no classes here plus I feel too anxious to read a how-to on qi gong and practice it

 

Anxiety is the Yang chi form of Depression. The day time dictates yang condition. So basically if you are anxious during the day, then you will be depressed at night.

 

Anxiety is a 4th chakra blockage issue. 4th dimension includes time. So this means that you are simply not staying present. You are afraid of something that may happen.

 

You will find a meditation that spins your 4th chakra... you'll also need to check the other 3 chakras below...

1. root=letting go

2. sex=reproducing productive habits

3. stomach=management of materials you have ingested.

 

if you do these 3 things well... you will have no problems with the 4th chakra.

 

Also, you can make a tea with herbs that my clan produces ... look up serenadin. it works immediately and permanently.

[Yoda]

I love these first aid threads!

 

Windblown, I'm glad you liked the suggestions.

 

Chris, black rocks aren't just good for anxiety... they help ground normal daily negativities/energy imbalances and are yummy for everyone. I carry a tektite around with me as a necklace and I have an obsidian egg, a hefty obsidian ball, and some black tourmaline. I've not tried onyx, but witch recommends it so I'd imagine it's good too. Maybe it's placebo, but I really feel connected to the center of the earth with it.

 

Daoian,

 

I'll look into serenadin.

 

Your pal,

Yoda

[Jedi777]

I love these first aid threads!

 

Windblown, I'm glad you liked the suggestions.

 

Chris, black rocks aren't just good for anxiety... they help ground normal daily negativities/energy imbalances and are yummy for everyone. I carry a tektite around with me as a necklace and I have an obsidian egg, a hefty obsidian ball, and some black tourmaline. I've not tried onyx, but witch recommends it so I'd imagine it's good too. Maybe it's placebo, but I really feel connected to the center of the earth with it.

 

Daoian,

 

I'll look into serenadin.

 

Your pal,

Yoda

the issue with black stones they absorb energy but they cant break it down and must be cleaned all the time--

if you dont clean them with salt water or alchohol you are just adding to your problems

green and orange stones are much better for cleansing and protection from negative energies.