Learning to Meditate to Ease Anxiety
All across the planet, at least 1 in 14 people struggle with an anxiety disorder. If you’re one of them, you do not need anyone to tell you how overwhelming it can feel. This is not about typical bouts of nervousness or worry. Anxiety disorders involve a chronic sense of apprehension and panic. Your day-to-day life is noticeably impacted.
There is, however, an all-natural way to counter this ongoing stress response. Meditation inspires mindfulness which, in turn, offers help you regulate emotions both immediately and in the long term. Meditation can put you on the path toward a calmer, more peaceful life.
What Does Anxiety Do in Our Body?
When you encounter a real or imagined threat, your body kicks into its stress response. This involves the release of stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol. In moments of danger, these chemicals can be our friend. If released over and over despite not risk being present, stress hormones can, among other things:
Suppress immune functions
Raise blood pressure and heart rate
Increase the risk of strokes or heart attacks
In addition, the amygdala increases in size. This is the part of the brain that regulates your response to danger. A larger amygdala means more anxiety.
How Does Mindful Meditation Calm Your Anxious Feelings?
Through copious research, mindful meditation has been found to consistently counterbalance the stress response described above. Study findings include lower blood pressure and heart rate. Also, the amygdala will return to its normal size when faced with daily meditation practice. At the same time, the part of your brain designed to rationally manage anxiety (the prefrontal cortex) thickens and becomes more active.
In a more holistic sense, the mindfulness developed via meditation can:
Guide you to be aware of uncomfortable thoughts and feelings without reacting to them.
Help you discover the underlying causes of the anxiety disorder you’re dealing with.
Enable you to better manage worries without becoming overwhelmed.
Learning to Meditate to Ease Anxiety
Anxiety can feel different to each individual. Fortunately, meditation can alleviate anxious feelings regardless of such specifics. This happens because we learn how to be open to the present moment. In the past lies regret. Thoughts of the future may provoke apprehension. But there is no need to time travel like this because life happens in the present.
Here are a few meditative days to stay right here, right now:
Stay with your breath: Aim your focus on the simple process of inhaling and exhaling. You can count the breaths. It might feel more helpful to count how long each inhale and exhale lasts. A popular choice is to rest your hands on your abdomen and perform belly breathing. Feel your belly rise and fall with each breath and keep your focus there — as much as you can.
Focus on your body: Take an inventory — head to toe — of the sensations in your entire body. Don’t just these feelings but see if you can connect them to any emotion you’re experiencing.
Repeat a mantra: It’s up to you what you quietly chant but you may find peace in choosing a self-affirmation like “I am calm.” One of the most helpful aspects of a mantra is that you have something tangible to return to if you get distracted.
Your Therapist Can Be Your Meditation Coach
When you work with a therapist who utilizes mindfulness, you can double the benefits. Your sessions can be incredibly helpful in addressing anxiety. At the same time, you can hone your approach to meditation and learn more about integrating it into your daily life. Let’s connect and talk about the possibilities soon in anxiety therapy.