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I'm a Psychotherapist. Ask me anything about Mindfulness Meditation for treating anxiety
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Disclaimer: This post is for educational and informational purposes only and not a substitute for mental health counseling.”
A lot of my clients come to see me about anxiety and panic attacks and one of the first things I teach them is to use Mindfulness Meditation as a daily practice. Starting at one minute per day (and gradually increasing as it becomes more natural), and maybe using a helpful meditation app like Insight Timer, I ask them to focus on their breath.
Here's the important part: when you notice your mind has wandered, non-judgmentally and with a Kind Inner Voice, return your attention to your breath. Each time you successfully return your attention to your breath, congratulate yourself. THIS is the skill you're trying to develop!
So many clients have told me: "I can't meditate, it makes me sleepy" or "I can't meditate, my mind is too busy with swirling thoughts" or "I can't meditate, focusing internally takes me to dark places." These are all really good points, and why I encourage people to start at One Minute per Day, and to only increase when meditation becomes so comfortable and natural that, at the end of the minute, they find themselves saying "Wow, that's over already?".
The purpose of Mindfulness Meditation in counseling (as opposed to other forms and intentions of meditative practices) is NOT to become calm! The purpose is to notice when our minds have wandered off and to be able to return our attention to the Present Moment, using our breath as an anchor. Allowing our minds to wander to our pasts often results in negative thought spirals, leading to Depression. Allowing our minds to wander to the future often results in anxiety and panic attacks. Returning our minds to the present moment permits us to have peace and gratitude, and to function effectively in our lives.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Mindfulness Meditation.
*May 15. 1300. OK, I've been typing non-stop for 5 hours. I had no idea this topic was going to get such a reaction. I need to take a break. I will come back and I will answer your comments, but I need to step away. Thank you all SO MUCH for taking the time to reach out!
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Meditation sometimes adds to my anxiety. Why does that happen? Because I love meditation but sometimes instead of calming my mind it makes me focus on my anxious feelings and sensations and sends me in a tailspin. How do I avoid that from happening next time I try to meditate? Thanks
Mindfulness meditation is the real deal.
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The benefits are real. I'm an overthinker by birth. Whenever I go a few days without meditating I become an overly pensive, anxious wreck.
But just ten minutes of meditating every day (and not even a perfect ten minutes, my mind is probably wandering like 50% of the time) and all of that goes away. I still get some anxiety and I still overthink certain things, but after meditating it's so much easier to direct my focus away from what's going on in my head. It's as if I come to realize how pointless certain thoughts are and I can then easily discard them.
Meditation just makes all aspects of life more enjoyable. I find it easier to speak up in social situations, I have a clear head and can fully focus on whatever task I'm doing, and I can walk outside and enjoy the fresh air without being bogged down by stupid and/or weird thoughts.
Meditation is great for you. It's hard to realize how great it is until you stop doing it.
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Do you use an app to meditate? How do you meditate? I just started meditating with an instructor but that’s only once a week. I would like to start doing it everyday but need some guidance.
Is there a short concise tutorial for mindfulness meditation?
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I started reading "Mindfulness in plain english", but I don't know if the title is supposed to be a joke.
I just want to know what I'm supposed to do while meditating mindfully (?).
I tried meditating while thinking about nothing. Every thought that came up I pushed away or ignored while only concentrating on my breathing.
Is that it?
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Every thought that came up I pushed away or ignored while only concentrating on my breathing. ~ formerdigguser
As Kirkirus pointed out, you don't need to push thoughts away. Just stop having a relationship to them.
I tried meditating while thinking about nothing. ~ formerdigguser
Ok, consider this:
Thought arises and presents something that is known. Every thought is a 'knowing' (even the thought 'I don't know' is a knowing of something) --and since you don't know who/what you are (you are unknown, a complete mystery) you naturally reach for the known. You naturally reach for a thought so that you can 'know'.
- The key is to rest as the unknown --it's ok not to know.
In fact that's the best place to be; it's full of mystery and it's alive! This 'unknown' is actually very awake (your mind does not know this; this 'awake mystery' has no qualities for the mind to reflect on other than it's awake i.e. 'I Am').
So you can't reflect on it, you can't reflect on the unknown --you can't 'think about nothing' (the moment you have a thought about it and believe that thought, it's no longer unknown). You ARE nothing, no-thing, pure awareness, pure subject no object, pure mystery.
So don't 'think' about nothing. BE with the nothing. When you can be with the nothing, then 'be nothing' --because there is no relationship (no gap) between the 'you' and the 'nothing'; the nothing IS you, you ARE the mystery.
Initially it can feel like a regression --your mind will have nothing to do, nothing to think, nothing to reflect on. As the silence deepens and as you accept this silence into your being it will bring with it a quality of deep listening, deep surrender, deep letting go. Ahhhh...can you feel it? Of course you can; it is your and everyone's ever present nature.
Happy sitting :)
People who meditate regularly, how does it really help?
Main Post: People who meditate regularly, how does it really help?
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It helps me greatly in managing my anxiety that is caused by ptsd. Obviously it won't cure it but it definitely helps.
Mindful meditation explained for people who don't get it
Main Post: Mindful meditation explained for people who don't get it
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This is a very good explanation. When I first started meditating I would get frustrated with myself. It was only after I stuck with it and did my research that I discovered this. Unfortunately that frustration allows people to give up way before the proof appears.
How To Practice Mindfulness Meditation For Beginners - Step By Step
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Since I started practicing meditation I feel calmer, I sleep better and I don't get angry that frequently. Mindfulness meditation helped me to control my impulsive character and enjoy more peace. That's why I wanted to share a step by step process of how you can practice mindfulness meditation in your home.
- Find a comfortable spot. I like to sit in the chair of my desk. Others like to sit in a yoga mat. Do whatever feels comfortable to you.
- Close your eyes and pay attention to your senses. Notice all the sounds that you can listen to. Pay attention to any sensation you can feel in your body. Notice if you have any taste in your mouth. Detect any odor that you can find in the environment.
- Start focusing on what's happening inside of you. By this, I mean to take a few seconds to pay attention to how you are feeling in that moment in particular without judgment. Just pay attention to your current emotional state.
- Focus on your breath. You can focus on how your chest expands and how it contracts. You can focus directly on your nose and how you feel the air coming in and coming out.
- Become aware of your thoughts. Notice how your thoughts just seem to pop up into your mind and become aware of what kind of thoughts you are having.
- Let your thoughts go and go back to your breath. After becoming aware of them, simply get back to your breath. No need to do anything else, simply discard your thought and get back to paying attention to your breath.
- Repeat as much as you want. I like to meditate for 15 minutes in the morning. But, when I have more time I have meditated for 30 minutes and the benefits are ridiculous. You feel a sense of peace and calmness that's difficult to describe.
- Open your eyes and enjoy the calmness and peace :)
I made a quick video in which I go further into these steps, if you feel inclined you can check it out here https://youtu.be/YRBfv10-RIY
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Step 1: Find earbuds ,safety headset, or noise cancelation headset, to block external sound, before meditating.
Step 2: find a quiet place, use noise cancelation headset by closing eyes.
Step 3: Start listening, internal sounds of body, heart beat, breathing and many other sounds.Concentrate on those sounds coming from inside of your body, while closing ears with earbuds, to avoid outside noises.
Step 4: Set timer for 20 minutes daily.
Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation - Why You Should Start
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So it's 2020, and it's time to start meditating a few minutes per day - if you already do meditate, to keep improving your practice.
Meditation is an art that takes quite a lot of discipline, I used to postpone taking a few minutes a day to just meditate because it just felt boring or a waste of time. After having meditated for over a year, it's part of my life, I couldn't live without it, I look at my past self and my present self, feeling like a complete different person.
Okay besides this anecdotal experience, my purpose is to make it as objective as possible.
There are enormous benefits practicing meditation a few minutes a day can impact your life. It’s no wonder that some of the highest performing individuals and successful people practice some kind of meditation or mindfulness. In Tim Ferriss' bestselling book “Tools of Titans”, he discovered that after interviewing 200 high performance individuals and leaders, more than 80% practiced some kind of mindfulness or meditation. According to him: “Meditation simply helps you to focus toward few things that matter, rather than going after every moving target and imaginary task that pops up.”
So, what exactly can you get from meditating a few minutes a day?
1. Stress reduction
This is one of the most common reasons why people start meditating. According to a national survey released by the American Psychological Association – one third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans believe that their stress has increased over the five years, this contributes to health problems, poor relationships and losing productivity at work.
Source: American Psychological Association
2. Controls anxiety
Just as meditation helps with stress reduction, it also leads to less anxiety triggering symptoms – an 8 week mindfulness-based stress reduction program lead by doctors in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, demonstrated that mindfulness meditation helped participants suffering from anxiety triggering symptoms reduce their phobias, social anxiety, paranoia, OCD and panic attacks.
Source: Journal of Behavioral Medicine
3. Promote emotional health
Another 8-week training program in mindfulness meditation that measured the participants brain electrical activity before and after the session showed measurable changes in brain activity in areas related to positive thinking.
Source: Journal of Behavioral Medicine
4. Increase self-awareness.
Self-awareness is a big part of meditation as well, understanding and developing yourself, helps you envision and grow into your best future self. We often don’t know much about ourselves or can’t define ourselves in a few words without being biased.
Source: Supportive Care in Cancer
5. Improve your attention span.
Mindfulness allows you to stay focused on a task for longer. Moreover, workers who practiced mindfulness remembered details of their tasks better than their peers who did not practice it.
Source: Consciousness and Cognition Journal
6. Reducing age related memory loss
A review of 12 studies on the potential effects of meditation on age-related cognitive decline showed that meditation can offset age-related cognitive decline.
Source: Consciousness and Cognition Journal
7. Self-control & mitigating addictive behaviors
Meditation requires mental discipline; this helps to increase self-control and mitigate addictive behaviors.
- Alcoholism
A paper published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine conducted an 8-week meditation course on 19 recovering alcoholics, it showed that they were abstinent 94.5% of the study days, with their severity of depression, anxiety, stress, craving and relapse decreased. The meditation course was rated very important and useful as a relapse prevention tool, 9 out of 10 of the patients reported being very likely to continue meditating.
Source: Journal of Addiction Medicine
- Food craving & obesity
It has also been demonstrated to help you control food cravings, reducing emotional and binge eating according to a review of 14 studies done by the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Source: Rush University Medical Center in Chicago
8. Improve sleep
One third of Americans have less than the recommended 7 to 8 hour sleep, insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders with limited treatment options. Moreover, pharmacotherapy can be complicated due to the side effects and problems in tolerance.
A paper titled “The value of mindfulness meditation in the treatment of insomnia” used mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia showed increasing evidence that mindfulness meditation can be used for the treatment of insomnia.
Source: Martires & Zeidler, 2015; Yook et al., 2008
TL;DR. Discipline yourself and do a few minutes of meditation per day:
- Reduce stress
- Controls Anxiety
- Promotes emotional health
- Increases self awareness
- Improves attention span
- Reduces age related memory loss
- Self control & mitigating addictive behaviors
- Improves sleep
A Beginner's Guide to Meditation
Recommended Books
- Tools Of Titans - The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss
- 8 Minute Meditation: Quiet Your Mind. Change Your Life by Victor Davich
- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
- The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
- 10% Happier by Dan Harris
- Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola
- Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzberg
- Zen as F*ck: A Journal for Practicing the Mindful Art of Not Giving a Sh*t by Monica Sweeney
- Practical Meditation for Beginners: 10 Days to a Happier, Calmer You by Benjamin W. Decker
- The Way of Zen by Alan Watts
- The Mind Illuminated by Jeremy Graves(*)
Guided Meditation Videos
- Guided Meditations by Michael Sealey
- Guided Meditations by Jason Stephenson
Mobile Apps for Meditation
- HeadSpace
- Waking Up with Sam Harris
- Insight Timer(*)
- Muse App(*) - requires Muse headband (see technology)
Other useful content (Available on YouTube)
- Extraordinary Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation
- Meditation and Going Beyond Mindfulness - A Secular Perspective by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
- The Art of Meditation by Alan Watts
- Guided Wim Hof Method Breathing
Technology
- Muse headband. Device that passively senses your brain activity and translates it into the guiding sounds of weather to help you stay calm & focused(*)
(*) Valuable additional contributions to this post as suggested by users
EDIT: Thanks for the Platinum award BarryO44thCommander + silver awards and other anonymous silver awards. This will definitely help spread the message, thank you again!
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What a great motivator and resources for folks! Bookmarked! Looking forward to getting into meditation this year. I've been thinking lately of how great a world we'd live in if children were taught this in school. Improved focus, emotional regulation, and thus better learning. A better society. Anywho, I'll be starting out meditating at 41 years old, lol, never too late!
[LPT request] How can I practice Mindfulness ?
Main Post: [LPT request] How can I practice Mindfulness ?
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Here are a couple of my favorite exercises:
Set a quiet alarm on your phone for however long you want to meditate. Time no longer matters. Sit and be still. Clear your mind, and focus on the feeling of your breathing. Feel each breath fill your lungs, and put just a little pressure on you're breastbone. Feel all of your weight shift with each breath. Be still with your body for as long as you can. Thoughts are bad puppies in your way. They don't know any better, so gently pick them up and set them aside, over and over again. No scolding. No reprimand. Just put things back the way they go. It gets easier as you practice.
My favorite works best with someone else to hit the bell for you. But! Find a meditation chime. Ring it once and follow the sound down into nothing. See above. Ring the chime to come back to the world. I find it so much more relaxing, and it gives me a much deeper focus than just trying to meditate cold. And it has to be a bell. Recordings don't do the experience justice.
Lastly: mindful eating. Practice intense focus and mindfulness at the act of eating. Whatever snack you plan on eating, lose yourself in studying everything about it. Dried fruit is great. Smell it. Feel the weight of it in your hands. Place it on your tongue and learn all the little bumps. Test it to see how it changes as it sits in your mouth. Chew slowly, finding all of the tastes In the skin, flesh and seeds. Be entirely in the moment of nourishing your own body and enjoying what you are doing.
The best way to practice mindfulness is just to practice. Whatever you are doing, stop and truly be entirely in that moment and place, with no extra thoughts. Once you're clear and centered, go back to the world and tackle what you need to do.
Good luck. Peaceful thoughts.
Edit: make a comment right before sleep, wake up to be gilded! Thank you!
Yes. Forgive me - I'm doing what was done to me. "Bad puppy" is not the right word. Mischievous puppies. Wandering puppies. Whatever the word would be for puppies who decide nap time is really time to scatter and get into everything.
Is meditation of just 10 mins per day really valuable?
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Some people are saying that meditating for just 10 minutes is much better than no meditation at all. However, those same people tend to conveniently have apps that they want you to use. So i don't know if i trust their judgments.
Taking a step back and looking at the whole picture, is 10 minutes a day really valuable?
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Years ago I started out doing 10 mins a day, it was guided by a free app, and you count to ten with each breath again and again for 10 mins (or longer if you choose, but I just did 10 minutes) after a couple of months I got into a situation that in the past would have stressed me out big time, I recognised that I was breathing fast and shallow and in my head started counting slowly to ten and it was like my brain said “huh, I know this. When this happens I’m calm” and I chilled right out and was able to deal with the situation.