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wonderd
USA
14 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 4:58:49 PM
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| Hello everyone. I have some generalized anxiety that has developed from some traumas I experienced in the past. Its one of the reasons why I came to the meditation path. My problem is I only get anxiety when I think of anxiety or when I dont want anxiety to bother me (which happens daily) For example in mediation I know anxiety will prevent me from having the deep mediation that I want, so it seems like 50% of my mediation is trying to fight off my anxiety, which causes a more rapid heart rate and breathing. Same experience when I want to read a book. I feels like I am reading the book but in the background my subconscious is trying to ignore anxiety which just causes anxiety. It seems like I have developed a habit or OCD thinking regarding anxiety. I want to experience deep meditation without this worry/feeling. Has anyone been here? What are your suggestions? |
Edited by - wonderd on Jan 13 2017 5:01:04 PM |
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Ecdyonurus
Switzerland
479 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 5:25:44 PM
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Hi wonderd, welcome.
Fighting against feelings in meditation is not a good idea. Not at all. In meditation you want to welcome everything - good feelings AND bad feelings. Don't suppress anxiety because that bad feeling is a pointer popping up during meditation in order to catch your awareness. It is telling you that there is something that needs your attention. If your level of anxiety is not too high, consider using that very anxiety as the object of your meditation. This means diving straight into that feeling. It is no rumination over the problems that cause anxiety - I really mean literally diving into the feeling and follow it inside. Just try, your intuition will tell you how to do that. Wish you all the best. |
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Blanche
USA
859 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 7:54:35 PM
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Hello, Wonderd, and welcome to the forum! As Ecdyonurus implies in his answer, and as you seem to realize, sooner or later you will have to deal with the anxiety and its hidden layers. You choose when and how. You could do it in meditation: While you focus on the mantra, the tensions in the nervous system are gradually released. The mantra acts like an anesthetic, and you will not feel much discomfort (when focus on the mantra). In time, your anxiety will decrease, so then you can either deal with it directly, or clear it all in meditation. Or you could do it in awareness, e.g. by consulting a psychologist or keeping a journal (and unloading the burden in the journal every day, so you do not have to carry it around with you). Your anxiety is trying to tell you something. When you understand it, when you get its message, the anxiety will dissolve. Probably the best way to deal with it will be a combination of methods - e.g. meditation and journaling.
Usually, our fears are like the monster in the closet: When you look it in the face, it disappears. One of my favorite techniques when confronted with a fear is to think: Ok, what if this is true? What is the worst thing that could happen? Then I picture the scenario, and exaggerate it more and more, until the entire thing becomes ridiculous. Fears brought down in the real world become manageable problems. Only fears that are avoided grow to monstrous proportions.
Best wishes  |
Edited by - Blanche on Jan 14 2017 8:23:31 PM |
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sunyata
USA
1505 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 8:51:53 PM
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Hi wonderd,
Welcome to the forum! Good advice from Ecdyonurus and Blanche.
If mantra meditation feels too much- try Asanas and Breath Meditation.
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wonderd
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 9:09:40 PM
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| Thanks everyone. I've had it for a while so I am not sure if it was trying to tell me something or not but I am happy with the path that it put me on. I believe the Buddhist say "what you resist will persist" I think my best course of action would be to accept it and to stop engaging in trying to find a solution. |
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VIL
USA
586 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 9:21:03 PM
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Welcome to the forum!
Yogani has a book called, "self inquiry". You may want to consider this as another option if your having difficulty meditating.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Vil |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2017 : 10:47:54 PM
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I have found a sense of humor to be one of the best antidotes to anxiety. A willingness to laugh at oneself, and with others.
Other antidotes: engaging life with a competitive, warrior-like mindset; cultivating strength on a physical, emotional, and mental level; breathing in air as if you were literally a lion, and then contemplating the deep serenity and power within a lion's eyes; and yes, as others have said, surrendering to the stillness who we are...I have found that quite effective, since there's something wonderfully indestructible about that vast quietness.  |
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sunyata
USA
1505 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2017 : 10:06:42 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wonderd
Thanks everyone. I've had it for a while so I am not sure if it was trying to tell me something or not but I am happy with the path that it put me on. I believe the Buddhist say "what you resist will persist" I think my best course of action would be to accept it and to stop engaging in trying to find a solution.
You don't have to conquer the anxiety in a day. Take it slow. Be friend it, dance with it, step back when needed. The same anxiety will be your gateway to Ecstasy. |
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parvati9
USA
587 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2017 : 12:34:48 PM
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Are most of us in a constant state of anxiety (or in denial)?
It has been found here that people of religious inclination, or on a spiritual path, rarely speak of the necessity for developing strength or cultivating the attitude of a spiritual warrior. Kudos to Bodhi for mentioning this. Every day religious fanatics and elite control freaks are determined to exert their powerful negative influence. There seems to be a 'virus' of fear, confusion, violence, ignorance, hatred and intolerance which is the soup in which we now live ... and the infection has reached epidemic proportion.
This toxic virus of fear has become entrenched, exacerbated, and widespread. It isn't just affecting the most vulnerable of us any more - the spiritually sensitive and overly anxious. It has become arguably necessary for all of us to counteract that toxicity in an effective way, to find an antidote. (I believe discipline is the answer. But this solution presupposes a global cooperation that hasn't matured to the breaking point yet ... where the apple falls from the tree. What type of discipline one might inquire... ?)
Therefore, all of us are, to some extent, in a constant state of anxiety - whether or not we accept or deny the fact. Some of us are more in touch with that anxiety, and others choose not to think about an issue until it becomes a personal problem that requires confrontation. More and more people are finding that the issue needs to be addressed in a pragmatic manner, personally as well as globally.
In spiritual circles, there is so much talk about 'Oneness'. How can progression on the spiritual path make us less sensitive to real life hazards of living in the 21st century? How can such progress engender us less sensitive to the desperate need which may not yet have culminated in our immediate vicinity? It is questions such as these that may help Wonderd know many of us struggle with anxiety. Discipline seems to be the key or close to it. Self-discipline may be all we can do, at this point, to relieve personal and global anxiety.
___________
As a student of ayurveda with some understanding of the root of anxiety, it is suggested that routine, virtually any routine, will mitigate anxiety. Especially routine involving regular healthy meals at approximately the same time every day. Regular exercise is good too. Find an outlet for expressing your joy, something that makes you happy, that you love to do. For me, painting is such an outlet. It's nice to be creatively inspired but not necessary. Even when the inspiration isn't there, just making myself do some painting usually lifts my spirits. Hope this helps.
love
parvati |
Edited by - parvati9 on Jan 14 2017 12:47:30 PM |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2017 : 1:37:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by parvati9
As a student of ayurveda with some understanding of the root of anxiety, it is suggested that routine, virtually any routine, will mitigate anxiety. Especially routine involving regular healthy meals at approximately the same time every day. Regular exercise is good too. Find an outlet for expressing your joy, something that makes you happy, that you love to do. For me, painting is such an outlet. It's nice to be creatively inspired but not necessary. Even when the inspiration isn't there, just making myself do some painting usually lifts my spirits.
Strong. |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1730 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2017 : 5:23:08 PM
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Hi wonderd, welcome
quote:
Originally posted by wonderd
I think my best course of action would be to accept it and to stop engaging in trying to find a solution.
Yes, you got it. The question with anxiety is which goes away first - you or it? If you flee the scene the anxiety is reinforced. If you stay with it, it will eventually go away and you win. The psychological mechanism is that fleeing reinforces the fear. Not fleeing carries the implication that you're OK, it's safe.
The way to deal with it in meditation is described in Lesson 15:
quote:
[i]Sometimes physical discomfort can happen during meditation. This is usually a symptom of the release of obstructions in the nervous system. If it interferes with the easy process of meditation, then pause with the mantra and allow the attention to be drawn to the physical discomfort. Just be with it for a while. Usually, this will dissolve the discomfort naturally. Once it does, go back to the mantra and continue your meditation until your time is up. Count the time you spent with your attention on the physical discomfort as part of your meditation time. If the sensation does not dissolve, lie down for while, until the sensation subsides. It is a good thing. A big obstruction is going. Let it go easily, naturally. The same procedure applies if you are overcome with a barrage of overbearing thoughts, which may or may not be accompanied by physical sensations. If you can't easily go back to the mantra, just be with the thoughts until they dissipate enough so you can easily pick up the mantra again.
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JessicajK
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - Mar 20 2021 : 5:24:19 PM
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| Don't worry. You are on the right way. Simply accept bad thoughts. |
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jclone
United Arab Emirates
61 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2021 : 06:05:18 AM
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| My husband dragged me to a local Buddhist temple for her anthropology field study. I gotta admit it was a very neat experience and meditating with the monks was awesome. We plan to go back for the day retreat when it cools off. I highly recommend people to check one out regardless of your religion. |
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Dogboy
USA
2192 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2021 : 7:41:48 PM
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Agreed.  |
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Anxiety and Meditation.
