Calming Unnecessary Anxiety

In this meditation, you’ll be guided through a simple, practical approach to calming unnecessary anxiety.

By bringing attention back to the breath and body, you’ll begin to step out of the cycle of overthinking and allow the mind to settle naturally. There’s nothing to force or fix — just a quieter, steadier way of being.

This is a grounded practice for moments when anxiety arises without clear cause.

Transcript

Well, Hello everyone and welcome to our meditation practice. Today as the description described we're going to have a look at redefining anxiety. Anxiety of course is common amongst us human beings and I'd suggest that most of us have suffered from it at some stage or other throughout our lives. Some of course worse than others. Some of us perhaps have some tools to deal with it and that's basically what I'd like to do here is give you some tools to deal with that unnecessary feeling of anxiousness or anxiety. So firstly, We want to get ourselves comfortable and that can of course be in a cross-legged posture if you like to sit while you meditate, Which I recommend sitting, But it doesn't necessarily. You can be sitting on a chair, The back at a 90 degree angle with the hip and the knees at 90 degree angle as well and the feet firmly on the floor so a straight back chair is useful or against the wall on a cushion can be good as well. So somewhere that you can find comfortable and that you can remain quiet and still in a private space where you won't get disturbed for the next 15 to 20 minutes or so. So get yourselves comfortable and just gently close the eyes and start to breathe in a little bit, Slowly getting your body prepared and mind prepared for your meditation and we will begin with something simple. So when anxiety shows up, However it shows up for you, The natural action for most of us, Not for everybody of course, This is for most of us, Is to try to get rid of it. Push it away somehow, I don't know, Push it down into the depths where it won't ever come back again or forget about it by maybe drinking some wine or putting on a show on Netflix or television, Whatever. To fix it or control it, To push it away, But generally if you think when you push something really hard it's going to push back and these kinds of techniques have a habit of making it worse by creating more tension, Not less. So in this practice we're going to take a different approach, Not fighting anxiety but allowing the system to settle. So with that mind, Firstly settle the body, Find a comfortable position as I said, Let the body be supported, Gently close the eyes, Take a slow breath in through the nose and a long, Slow, Steady breath out. A big breath in, Fill the lungs up to their maximum, Pause for a few moments at the top, Let the pressure build a little bit and then let go of the pressure and notice how it just dissipates, This goes away. And we will do that again, So big deep breath in, Hold at the top and let go now and letting go of all the pressure, Then just return to the breath as it, Let it become natural and easy. Natural and easy. Feel the weight of the body, The contact with the ground, Nothing to change. Comfortable in your own skin now. Bring your attention to the breath, Not controlling it, Just noticing it, The rise, The fall. If it helps, Allow the exhale to soften, Just slightly longer than the inhale. Nice and gently letting go, No force, Just gently lengthening. Each breath out is a signal for the body to settle, Letting go of the pressure, Becoming completely settled, Staying here for a few moments, Simply breathing, Noticing. Now bring the awareness to the body and see if you can just scan your body a little bit, Scan the body, Start at the feet, Move through the knees, Into the hips, Up through the body, Torso, The shoulders and down through the arms, To the fingers and up into the mind. Notice, If you can, Where you might be holding some tension. Just scanning the body and noticing where there's a tightness or a tension. Could be in the jaw, Very common, The shoulders. And so if you can identify one of those areas, Then just see if you can instruct the body to let go. And you may need to move it a little bit, Swivel the jaw around, Move the neck and the head around. A little bit, Just staying with the body, Staying with the body. Some gentle movement into areas of mild concern. Instructing the body to let go of the tension. Letting go of the tension. No need to change anything quickly, Just awareness. Just noticing. And as you breathe out, Allow a small softening. Just a feeling of relaxation, A feeling of calm, A feeling of softening throughout the body and throughout the mind. There is nothing worth grasping, Nothing worth holding. Letting go, Not all at once, Just a little. A gradual release, A gradual release. Let thoughts pass. The mind may still be active. That's fine. You don't need to stop thinking. Instead, Let the thoughts move in the background, Like a distant noise. Your attention stays with the breath and the body. Thoughts come. Thoughts go. Just billboards on the side of the road that you're driving down, Of no importance. Just gently passing as you get deeper and deeper on your road to stillness. And billboards are in the background now. Stay with the breath and the body. Feel the body release. Feel the body release. Letting go of built-up tension, Built-up anxiety. Each time the mind pulls you away, Just gently return. Just gently coming back. No frustration. This is the practice. Simply practice the practice. Now notice there may already be a slight shift or a large shift. Not perfect calm, But a little bit more space, A little less urgency. Nothing has been forced. Just allowed. Stay here for a few moments. Breathing. Resting. Deeper and deeper. Take a slightly deeper breath in and allow a slow breath out. Recognize the space you've been in. Recognize the calm there was there. Recognize it's always available to you. Recognize that anxiety lives a little bit in front of you or a little bit behind you, Not in you. When you start to feel that pull, To get anxious, That pulling into that state, Recognize where it resides in the future. Come back to your breath. Come back to your breath. Slowly starting to take some deeper breaths into the body now. Gently start to wiggle the toes and the fingers. Bring your awareness back to the room. Recognize where you are in the room. And if you feel so inclined, Gently start to flutter the eyes open. Holding on to that sense of calm as you go through the rest of your day. And if you're going to bed, Have a wonderful night's sleep. You don't need to feel anxious. It doesn't serve you. It's not necessary. There's always a respite from it. Okay, And that concludes our meditation for today. If you've enjoyed this meditation, I have a number of different types on Insight Timer. So you may like to follow me or recommend some of my meditations to friends or family. Yogi Phoenix, One word is simple to look up. Thank you ever so much for joining me today. Much love, Yogi Phoenix.