Being Present With Anxiety

Turn towards your anxiety with this somatic based meditation that incorporates curiosity, kindness, and awareness of both anxious and calm body sensations. Anxiety is a deeply engrained neurologic pattern, which with kind attention, can shift and change over time.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Choosing Mindfulness.

My name is Banu Joy Harrison and I'll be guiding you through a meditation to become more mindfully present when you experience anxiety.

Anxiety affects most everyone at some point in their lives for either short or long periods.

It is a very uncomfortable and sometimes overwhelming experience that has strong body sensations and thought activity.

In fact,

Many of us get anxious about our anxiety,

Wondering when it will pop up again.

Anxiety often becomes a deeply ingrained neurologic habit.

It can take time to shift this pattern so that you can experience more calm and presence in your life.

Try to be patient with yourself in this process.

The following meditation will guide you through a number of skills to shift your relationship with anxiety.

Remember that you can practice just a part of this meditation,

Checking in with yourself and honoring yourself when you feel finished.

You can gradually work up to experiencing the entire meditation.

So let's begin.

You can do this meditation in any posture,

Sitting,

Standing or lying down.

First,

We are going to practice the orienting skill.

Because anxiety often involves a perception of threat,

It can be very helpful to actually look around and see if we are safe.

To begin,

Slowly move your head,

Neck and eyes as you softly look around the room or the outdoor space you are in.

What do you notice?

Is there something pleasant to look at?

Perhaps you see a favorite photograph or the light coming through some trees.

Look around again,

Moving your eyes,

Head and neck.

This gentle movement can enhance our vagus nerve functioning,

The rest and digest part of our nervous system,

Which can help us slow down.

As you look around,

Notice if an object or color stands out to you.

Take some time to be curious about this object,

Exploring its details with your eyes.

Now,

Widen your attention to the larger space again,

Being curious as you slowly move your head,

Neck and eyes.

Looking around,

Above and below.

What are you noticing in your body right now?

Perhaps your breath is coming a bit easier,

Or your heart rate may be slowing down.

If you don't feel any changes,

That's okay.

We go up into anxiety much faster than coming back down from it.

It takes time for our bodies to down-regulate.

If you are still feeling anxious,

How do you know this?

What sensations are you experiencing that you're labeling anxiety?

Is it tightness in your jaw or chest?

Does your stomach feel empty or rumbling?

Are you sweating or is your heart beating more quickly?

I'd like you to pick just one of your uncomfortable sensations and get very curious about it.

Is it tight on both sides of your body or just one side?

Is there a temperature associated with your sensation?

If your legs feel jumpy,

Is it your whole leg or just your thigh or lower leg?

These examples can guide you in how to be curious about this sensation that you are labeling anxiety.

Take some time to watch the sensation with curiosity and see what happens to it next.

You may notice the sensation spreading out and getting less intense,

Or it might get more consolidated and smaller.

It may feel better or worse or just the same.

If the sensations get really strong and overwhelming,

You can go back to the orienting practice or take a break and come back to this part of the practice later.

The most important aspect is to be kindly curious about your sensations.

Now I'd like you to shift your focus to a part of your body that is feeling a bit better or has less of the uncomfortable sensation you just worked with.

Perhaps your arms are more relaxed than your chest,

Or maybe your right knee feels neutral.

Many people find their nose or ears are a wonderful neutral place in their bodies.

Then explore this new,

More comfortable area with curiosity.

If the second area feels less tight than the first,

Is it because your muscles are softer,

More open,

Or squishier?

Does the neutral body part feel a bit more spacious or open?

See if you can find some adjectives,

Some word descriptions that accurately describe your sensation.

Words like buzzing,

Tingling,

Hot,

Cool,

Bubbly,

Or soft are words you can use to describe your sensation.

Take some time to watch this more comfortable sensation and see what happens to it next.

Does the softness or spaciousness shift or spread?

Does this more comfortable sensation widen or move to another body part,

Or does it stay just the same?

If it has changed or shifted,

See if you need some new adjectives to describe the changed sensation.

And remember,

There is no right answer.

You are just exploring your sensations with kind curiosity to see what happens next.

As you focus on these body sensations,

You may find yourself going back into your story or your worry.

This is very normal,

And these types of thoughts can actually drive your experience of anxiety as we end up worrying about the past or the future or become over-focused on our difficult sensations.

See if you can kindly bring your attention back to your body rather than getting all caught up with the storyline.

Now I'd like you to go back to your original anxiety sensation.

Be curious to see if it's the same or different since you first explored it.

If it has changed,

How is it different?

Is it less intense but spread over more of your body?

Or is it more intense but smaller?

Or is the sensation feeling exactly the same?

Again,

The intention is not to make the sensation go away,

But to explore it with attention and kindness.

Now shift your attention back to the more neutral or comfortable body sensation that you just worked with.

Has this sensation changed or stayed the same?

Spend some time here just noticing these comfortable sensations and enjoying the goodness of them.

It is as if you are taking refuge in this more comfortable part of your body.

At your own pace,

Slowly shift your attention back and forth between these two areas,

The area of greater comfort and the area of discomfort.

Spend some time exploring the sensations in each area.

What happens to your sensations as you pendulate slowly back and forth,

Back and forth between these two areas?

This shifting and pendulating of your attention can actually help your body get unstuck from these difficult,

Anxious sensations and induce more flow and regulation.

As we end the meditation today,

Finish with your attention focused on the area of greater comfort.

Now take a moment to orient to your environment again as we did at the beginning of the practice.

Looking around,

Noticing the space you're in,

Slowly moving your head,

Neck,

And eyes.

Repeating this practice of paying attention to your body sensations of anxiety and comfort rather than the storyline can really shift your experience of anxiety.

Thank yourself for being willing to attend to your experience to turn towards your anxiety instead of away from it.

Thank you so much for practicing with me today.

Reviews

Thank you, Bhanu! I will be returning to this one for practice moving back and forth between anxiety and comfort. I noticed my anxiety kept distracting me when I tried to move away from it. I'm now going to have a journal conversation with it to see what it needs to tell me. I especially liked the exercise about moving your head and neck. I hadn't learned that before and I did notice how it worked! Again, thank you so much for this one! ❤️

Thank you Bhanu. This is a lovely meditation practice. 🙏 Many blessings to you.

Thank you Bhanu. I have been very anxious lately for many reasons. One being the reoccurrence of my sister's cancer. I am sure I will be returning to this track often. 🙏

This meditation is really helpful for trauma. I love the reminder that we can pause the meditation at any time. it’s tough work healing the nervous system, and it needs to be paced slowly, with compassion and curiosity. Thank you

Thank you for your gentle compassion. I'm grateful to learn these skills. 🙏

Thank you for this opportunity to become currious about how befriend anxiety in the body. I was only able to get half way through, but hope to return to this again. 🙏🏻

Oops, sorry for the typos!

Not only the tools you teach, but also your kind and compassionate way of speaking help me 😊

Focusing on the body part that had more pleasant sensations seemed to lessen the unpleasant ones a bit. I do still feel anxious however realize a lot of it is coming from the unpleasant sensations and thoughts and stories around that. Thank you for the practice.

I'm shaking with anxiety and have been so focused on that, that I didn't realise there were parts of me that are still and calm even.. Thank You for your work, it has helped me today 🙏🏻

Lovely way to get out of my head and into my body. Thank you 🙏

Bhanu, your teachings are such a gift. I feel resourced. Thank you 💓

Helpful to enable me to face anxiety and reduce the feelings associated with it.

Really effective technique. I will use a lot. Thanks!!

Wonderful. So helpful. As good as a therapy session. Thank you so much 💓

Excellent! Thank you 🙏

🙏. very good tools!

Really helpful in the midst of severe anxiety and panic. Thank you. I’ll practise this regularly.

Calm and practical guidance to approach anxious feelings with kindness

Very helpful. Thank you

Thank you, Joy. That was very helpful and great to have just your calm voice without background music 🌟