Episode 4 Meditation for Anxiety
Welcome back to the Living Musically Podcast. My name is Kyle. Last week, I introduced you to meditation by doing 2 short meditations. Today we’re going to do a longer meditation. This one is one I use when my anxiety is getting the better of me.
Before we get to the meditation I would just like to review some of the things we talked about in the last episode.
- You need something to focus on. Last week I gave you two options one was the breath and the other was a contact point. I suggested focusing on achieving the lightest pressure between your index finger and thumb.
- This is more important than your focus choice. You need to recognize when your brain abandons your focus point. The goal in meditation is not to stay focused, but recognize when you have lost focus. In the beginning you might not recognize it for several minutes, but the more you practice, the faster you will realize it. Some days will be better than others. The important thing is to not get discouraged if you lose focus. You need to lose focus to get better. Ultimately, once you realize that you have lost focus you can gather your focus back. Practicing that will make it easier for you to carry it over into your everyday life.
Today’s meditation I would like to focus on gaining control over anxiety. Typically when someone has an anxiety attack 2 main things happen. 1. Your mind races and 2. Your breathing increases. So today’s meditation will focus on those two things
In most meditations I encourage you to get comfortable, lay down, stand, sit, let you close your eyes or not. I’m going to be a little bit more strict with this one. My hope is that if you are troubled with anxiety starting a meditation the same way will trigger a calming response quicker.
While this meditation is meant for anxiety, you can use this meditation anytime now matter how you’re feeling. In fact I’d encourage you to practice it. That way when you need it, it will be more familiar to you and more effective.
Let’s begin:
As I mentioned earlier I’m going to be a little more strict with this meditation in hopes that the beginning will help trigger a calming effect.
Start by sitting in a chair. Next close your eyes
Take a deep breath in
And exhale
Take a deep breath in
And exhale
Take a deep breath in
And exhale
Take a deep breath in
And exhale
Take a deep breath in
And exhale
Let your breath return to normal
Now we’re going to concentrate on slowing down the breath. I will ask you to inhale to a count of 5 as you inhale and I count picture the number in your mind and say the number silently to yourself
2x repetition
Continue by yourself
Reminder every 30 seconds
If your mind has wandered don’t get discouraged just bring your focus back to counting your breath:
Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Now we are going to attempt to release the negative energy and stress from your body. In a moment, we are going to take a deep breath in and I want you to imagine all of the stress and negative energy moving into your lungs and attaching to the air in your lungs and then when you exhale imagine all the stress and negative energy rushing out of your body.
Take a deep breath in and gather the stress and negative energy
Now release it 5x
Let your breath return to normal.
You can open your eyes
Thank you for taking the time to practice this meditation. It is my hope that you can keep this meditation with you at all times and when things get rough, you can refer to this meditaiton to bring you calmness. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Share this with your friends who might benefit from it. I’ll see you all next week. Peace.
