How to Reduce Anxiety with Meditation
If you’re feeling more stress and anxiety than even before, you’re not alone. According to the latest study by the Census Bureau, a third of Americans are now showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression. Even before the pandemic, 1 in 4 Americans experienced depressed moods on a frequent basis. That has now doubled to every other American!
But the good news is that there are a lot of ways you can take care of your mental health so that you’re not part of this statistic. Meditation is scientifically proven to be one of them - and it doesn’t have to take more than 20-30 minutes of your day! When you feel more at peace, you will naturally radiate this to others in your life.
So what causes those feelings of anxiety, stress, or depression to begin with? While your life circumstances are certainly a factor, your reactions to them are even more essential. School probably didn’t teach you how to work with your inner mental dialogue to become more confident and resilient. But when you learn to work with your mind - rather than against it - you become more capable of dealing with difficulties as they arise. You address the feeling of powerlessness at its source.
MEDITATION CAN HELP YOU ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ANXIETY
What differentiates meditation from other ways of dealing with anxiety and stress? It helps you get to the root cause of the issue: the underlying thoughts that cause these feelings. By addressing these, you can eliminate the source of those uncomfortable emotions rather than putting a band-aid over them.
As you realize that you can manage your thoughts and emotions regardless of what goes on around you, you become empowered. You come back into the driver’s seat of your life instead of feeling like you’re just being pulled along.
So how exactly can you use meditation to help you do this? By paying attention to your internal dialogue and noticing that you can separate yourself from it. Whether it’s negative self-talk or constant replaying of “what if” negative scenarios in your mind, being able to recognize your thoughts for what they are helps you move past them. Noticing your internal dialogue shows you how it often sabotages your sense of well-being.
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR NEGATIVE INNER CHATTER
Right now - even without having to sit with your eyes closed - you can notice your own mental patterns. Think of that one thing that is causing you the most stress and anxiety. Your thoughts about this situation are the trigger that sends those neurochemicals of stress into your bloodstream.
Observe how that sensation of fear and stress feels in your body. Can you notice that there is something larger in you that is able to see these thoughts...and that this part of you isn’t affected by them?
When you are constantly thinking about everything that could (but probably won’t) go wrong, you keep those stress hormones circulating. This adds to the feeling that there’s “something” wrong at this very moment. But because there is a space between you and your thoughts and feelings, this means you can change them! By changing where you place your focus, you are also changing the neurochemicals in your brain that activate the sensations that you associate with stress and anxiety.
When you practice meditation on a daily basis, it becomes easier to notice that whatever arises in your mind comes and goes. Thoughts, feelings, and sensations are all like clouds passing through the blue sky of your awareness. I know that sometimes it feels like they will never go away - but they too, will eventually pass. You have evidence of this in your own life. Simply try to recall some of your biggest fears five or ten years ago. Did they play out? Even if they did, you are still here - stronger than ever.
“I'VE HAD A LOT OF WORRIES IN MY LIFE, MOST OF WHICH NEVER HAPPENED.” - MARK TWAIN
TRAIN YOUR MIND FOR GREATER RESILIENCE
When we feel like we can’t do much about our anxiety, we feel powerless. This feeling of powerlessness loops in on itself and generates even more stress and anxiety. The way to get out of this loop is to learn how to empower ourselves.
Through meditation, you can see that you can change your mental focus of attention. By changing that, you change how you respond. Once you realize that you can respond to life rather than being pushed around by it, you take your own power back from your mind.
When you’re worried – whether it’s about something that’s happening now or could happen in the future – your brain responds to this potential threat. The resulting activation of the sympathetic nervous system makes you feel even more anxious. The line between the stressful thought and the resulting feeling of anxiety becomes blurred. One feeds the other. In order to stop this reaction, you must shift your attention.
SHIFT YOUR ATTENTION TO ELEVATED STATES OF MIND
Cultivating positive states such as love, gratitude, or compassion (toward yourself or others) can be a great tool in helping you activate a calmer state of mind. Every time you experience these positive feelings, you are letting your brain know that things are ok. Sometimes it takes as little as thinking of someone you love and appreciate to shift your mood instantly. You are slowing the sympathetic stress response and as a result, may start feeling more hopeful or inspired.
Meditation can help you cultivate these states because it helps you notice the old conditioned, stress-related, patterns in your mind. As you enter the quiet space within that notices these mental patterns, you learn to shift your attention to the good in yourself and in life.
The more often you do this in meditation, the easier it becomes to do it amidst the stress in daily life. You then no longer feel like everything is happening to you. Rather, you see that things are just happening. You are the one that gets to decide how to interpret them and what to do about them.
Even if you feel like anxiety is draining you of energy, when you recognize that you have the power to change how you look at things, you are already mitigating one of the main causes of anxiety: the feeling of powerlessness.
“STEPPING OUT OF THE BUSYNESS, STOPPING OUR ENDLESS PURSUIT OF GETTING SOMEWHERE ELSE, IS PERHAPS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OFFERING WE CAN MAKE TO OUR SPIRIT.”– TARA BRACH
A MINI-MEDITATION TO REDUCE ANXIETY
Sit for a moment and notice the most prominent thoughts in your mind. What is your mind rushing towards right now? How is that future moment or past memory - that only exists in your mind now - better than this present moment?
When you become present, you may see that you have the amazing ability to direct your focus in ways that resonate with your heart. You can use these to shape your life - moment by moment.
Hi, I'm Kelly. Your Empowerment Coach and Mindfulness Mentor. I am an experienced wellness leader, a former 18-year veteran of a successful commercial real estate career, a wife, a mom of 2 teens, a certified meditation teacher, a breathwork facilitator, and an energy healer.
I help high achievers manage the complexity of their minds and cultivate more joy and ease. If you'd like to explore whether my private program, Anchor Yourself Accelerator, is right for you let's connect. I combine empowerment coaching and mindfulness practices to help you create a life you love.
You can learn more about the program by clicking here, or book a free, no-obligation discovery call using the button below
Clients share:
“If my anxiety was a 10 it's now below a 1."
t completely shifted my perspectives and opened me to new ways of being new possibilities, and more opportunities.”
“My anxiety massively decreased, and my overall mood and sense of well-being dramatically improved within a few sessions!”
“I have much greater clarity and confidence, and I have been able to make significant changes towards freedom and authenticity.”
“I learned how to create a life that feels good without needing to struggle. I am less judgmental and more curious. I make fewer assumptions, take things less personally, know what I truly want, see my future more clearly, and see many more possibilities.”
“Coaching has completely transformed my family life. Family dinners are way better, and it’s amazing how we’re all much more connected, I have a much more nurturing, compassionate, understanding relationship with myself, and I know I am a better mom, wife, and person as a result of my work with Kelly.”
