Meditation ?? Anyone ever have luck with this?

[Jmillhimes]

I'm giving meditation a shot along with my meds and daily excersize! I've heard meditation is great for the mind and a great heeling tool

[anberry]

I have started recently. To be honest, I haven't seen any improvement, but I'm not giving up yet. I know people who say its really made a difference in their life. I just get so incredibly distracted and it is very hard for me.

If you don't already know him, look up Dan Harris on youtube. Meditation really helped his anxiety out.

[Goomba]

Meditation can help anxiety a lot, but I wouldn't recommend meditating with the purpose of it being for anxiety.

Meditation is a self exploration technique. Through learning to still your mind, and venture deeper into yourself, you begin to remember who you are. With that you then begin to see beyond, to everything you can be (Hint: They're one in the same).

Consequently, I believe that the motivation behind meditating should be self growth, and discovery.
If you're meditating to just get over anxious symptoms, your intent will always be with the physical, and thus it is very difficult to explore your inner self at any depth.

In other words, if your motivation is growth, you can access your depths and bring out the roots of what is causing your anxiety. That can then be confronted and healing can take place.
If your motivation is to not just feel anxious, you can learn to suppress your symptoms, much like exercising, but will be no more closer to beating your anxiety.

This is a brief synopsis.

[gypsylee]

What Goomba said :)

I've actually found meditation can make me MORE anxious if I'm already very anxious. I prefer deep breathing exercises in that state.

But if you've got your anxiety under control a bit I'm sure meditation can be beneficial.

[Jmillhimes]

What Goomba said :)

I've actually found meditation can make me MORE anxious if I'm already very anxious. I prefer deep breathing exercises in that state.

But if you've got your anxiety under control a bit I'm sure meditation can be beneficial.


I started Saturday and it's such a relaxing feeling! So true on the anxiety part, I tried while having an attack and it doesn't work well. Doing so in a relaxed state after excercising is great for the body

[Dahila]

http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?27912-Guided-Meditation If the meditation give you guys more anxiety maybe you are a candidate for guided meditation; I am huge fun of it:)

[jessed03]

What Goomba said :)

I've actually found meditation can make me MORE anxious if I'm already very anxious. I prefer deep breathing exercises in that state.

But if you've got your anxiety under control a bit I'm sure meditation can be beneficial.

It's worth trying mantra meditation, if you haven't already.

I have OCD, so I can't really do breath-related meditation. Guided meditation or chanting is really relaxing though. No matter how many times you meditate, it always surprises you how much junk is in the mind, and how noticeable the silence is when it all stops for 10 minutes or so.

EDIT: Goomba made a great point about not having a purpose when meditating. That's really hard to do, as everybody wants to find some relief so badly, but I've found whenever I've meditated and TRIED to force a result, it's always gone bad. It's just unnatural. :)

[Goomba]

The harder you TRY the more physical it is, and the harder it is to get beyond your thoughts.

The more your let it flow, the more the inner self begins to shine through the maelstrom.

And yeah, I found that using meditation as a tool to calm down made me hyperaware of my anxiety and its symptoms. That is not a fun time, especially if you are just beginning meditating. Some insight may lie there for people who have been practicing for a while.

I can remember after a year or so of meditating my anxiety got bad. My heart was pounding one day and decided to sit down to meditate to TRY and calm it.

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.

That felt terrible. lol You become aware of everything at a subtle level, so doing it while you are in overdrive is a feat.

Keep in mind that true meditation is an anxious process. As you go deeper into yourself, your experiences and anxieties will surface. A blessing is disguise.
Though it can be hard to do with others around, I second that mantra meditation can be powerful, and perhaps, even easier.

[Aleasha]

I have tried it once or twice and it is not something I can focus on. I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time. If anything, meditation makes me more anxious. I can never stop moving.