Meditation For Chronic Body Anxiety

It can be difficult to maintain balance when your mind and heart feel steady, but your body seems automatically locked into anxiety patterns. Body anxiety can arise from many factors - head injury, hormonal, endocrine or sugar imbalances, heart conditions, lung issues, chronic illness, drug side effects and so on. Join me in this meditation where we can practice skills to be with body anxiety with less fear, more compassion and the intention to remind your body of balance and steadiness.

Transcript

Meditation for chronic body anxiety.

I'm glad you're here to practice with me today.

Living with chronic anxiety,

Especially the variety that seems to be purely body-based without the typical mental emotional looping is very challenging.

Body anxiety can arise from many factors,

Head injury,

Hormonal issues,

Endocrine or sugar imbalances,

Heart conditions,

Lung issues,

Chronic fatigue conditions,

Drug side effects,

And many other conditions that tend to dysregulate our nervous system.

It can be difficult to maintain balance when your mind and heart feel steady,

But your body seems automatically locked into anxiety patterns.

We are hardwired to pay close attention to body sensations of anxiety,

Pounding heart,

Upset gut,

Shakiness,

Dry mouth,

Or sweating as these sensations normally alert us to danger.

It's also very challenging when doctors cannot determine what is causing this body anxiety.

My intention is that this meditation can hopefully provide you with some tools to be with your anxiety with less fear,

More compassion,

And the intention to remind your body of balance and steadiness.

Let's begin.

Come into a comfortable position,

Sitting or lying down.

Take a moment to adjust your body to be as comfortable as it can be.

Then consciously acknowledge to yourself that you are in a safe enough environment to do this practice.

Feel your body being supported by the surface beneath it.

Let your weight really sink down,

Consciously softening your muscles to land into the support.

As you turn your attention inwards,

Sensations of anxiety may likely be the first awareness you have.

So say hi to your anxiety.

I see you.

You've been a constant companion with me for a while now.

Notice and name the sensations you are feeling right now.

Perhaps a fast heart rate,

Upset stomach,

Tight muscles,

Or other sensations.

Pace yourself as you attend to these sensations.

You may only be able to greet them quickly before you need to shift your attention.

And then some of you may be able to linger a bit longer,

Noticing them,

Naming them,

And sensing where they are.

Spending too much time focusing on the sensations can lead to some overwhelm,

Which will not be helpful.

So it's best to start with attending less rather than attending more.

Now shift your attention to a time when you felt less anxious or more regulated.

This can be a time in the last few weeks when you had some good moments of rest or lessening of body anxiety.

Some of you experience your anxiety only at night or only during the day.

So shift your focus of attention to a time when you have had less anxiety sensations.

Remember these moments kind of fill in the sensations that you have when you have a little less anxiety.

What do you notice?

Softer muscles,

Easier breathing,

Or perhaps a greater sense of steadiness?

Embrace the goodness of these remembered sensations,

Even if they feel so far away or such gentle wisps of memory.

If you can't remember any moment specifically,

Try imagining what it might feel like to have less anxiety.

Sometimes just this practice itself of remembering and helping our body to remember moments of less anxiety can ease our experience even just a bit.

Next,

Invite your body to come into dialogue with you.

You can open this conversation with statements like,

Dear body,

I see you are struggling.

I know intrinsically that you want to come back into balance.

It's so hard to be anxious all the time for both of us,

Isn't it?

I know you're doing the best you can.

How can I help you come back into regulation?

Notice if your body has any response to your statements of care and kindness,

Or perhaps your body might have information to give you.

These responses may come in the form of images,

Sensations,

Insights,

Or an intuitive nudges.

Try not to think with your conscious mind what the answer might be.

And nothing may seem to come.

So please don't worry.

It takes time to build rapport and dialogue with our body.

Next,

I'd like you to imagine a room or area in your body where all the intricacies of our body processes can be modulated.

Perhaps it might look like a control room with a panel of dials or levers.

Or maybe it's a cozy cushioned room where you can settle.

Whatever your imagined place is,

See if you can find a lever or a dial or a switch that can either turn down or turn up your anxiety.

Notice on a scale of one to ten how much anxiety you are feeling right now.

Are you at a level three or level seven in this moment?

See if you can turn the dial or lever down just one notch.

As you do this,

Imagine signals going out to your brain,

Your nervous system,

And body that tells it it's okay to soften the anxiety.

You may visualize or feel these signals as electrical sensations or images of little sparks moving along your neurons or perhaps chemical packets being transported to the area of your body that needs settling.

Invite your imagination to really be creative.

And notice what begins to happen in your body as you play with these levers or dials.

Now try turning the dial up on your anxiety.

This may feel counterproductive,

But just experiment.

Be really curious.

Do you feel more anxiety sensations as you move the dial up a notch?

Now try turning the dial down again.

Notice what,

If anything,

Happens in your body.

You can practice turning the dial or lever up and down if you wish,

But do it slowly and with great curiosity.

This practice invites us to give our body a kind nudge or intention that it can come into balance,

Even just a little bit,

Even just for a short time.

We are opening the space for the body to come down from sympathetic fight,

Flight,

Anxiety activation into more of a rest and digest parasympathetic response.

Be very patient.

Depending on your condition,

Medications or illness,

There might not be much change for a long time.

But just doing this practice can give you a sense of agency with your challenging sensations,

Rather than feeling helpless.

Remember that our body is always striving to come back into homeostasis or balance.

It always wants to heal.

And when you do have moments of respite from your body anxiety,

Really deeply savor them.

Embodying the felt sensations of peacefulness or slowness or softness can help our body remember them when it's feeling anxious.

Easy breathing,

Relaxed muscles,

Slow heart rate,

A content stomach,

Softness.

Remember these states daily.

It's very good medicine.

Thank yourself and your body for being willing to focus in the way in this way.

And remember your imagination and curiosity for other images or ideas to help yourself modulate your anxiety.

And above all,

Be so very kind to your body and your heart.

I wish you each peace and deep rest for each of you.

Reviews

Very nice techniques. I feel more relaxed and will come back to this

Incredibly insightful & self-actualizing. You’ve presented a number of unique perspectives on this difficult predicament, which I’ve found helpful & encouraging. I look forward to returning to this daily to build new pathways that will become stronger than the current ones, which are not benefiting me. ❤️🕯️

Bhanu, again so grateful to you for your ‘body anxiety’ wisdom to get me through very painful body challenges currently💝🌼🙏🏻 (I will return to this practice as often as I can, to be more compassionate to these challenging body sensations…)

Very helpful for someone who lives with chronic fatigue syndrome and the imbalance that causes in my body. I was able to get in touch with a little relaxation and letting go. Thank you for this. Will be listening to this one regularly. 🙏♥️

Thank you so much. I will listen to this again as it is very helpful. 🙏🏻🤍✨

What a wonderful meditation is my nervous system is so not in check with my body. I’ve been struggling for some time and then it exacerbated into some gut issues. I believe it started with my father‘s death a year and a half ago and continues to amp up my nervous system . Thank you for this. It was very calming and soothing, and it was like you absolutely understood what my body is going through. I just wish I could get it back to homeostasis and like you said it takes patience and boy is it taking patience

Thank you, Bhanu. I navigate a condition that renders my ANS jammed in a hyper-adrenergic and unmitigated electrical state 24/7. I have done each facet of this practice individually and intuitively, but having them collated together in a single practice was potent. This practice spoke to me, even the title, as it can be difficult to describe to others how it is my body that is locked into a severe state of FFF, while my heart-mind is largely at rest, at peace, without tribulation. I thank you deeply for using wise language and compassionate guidance in your offering. Much love.

So helpful! I could not define what I was experiencing and this helped me so much. Thank you, Bhanu. 💚

I’m amazed by how much calmer I feel now. Thank you very much! 🙏🏻

A useful practice with tools to educate and bring awareness of body sensations and anxiety. The practical tool of dialing up and down (awareness and regulation) was helpful. Thank you.

A nice simple version of a more detailed practice I already use. Thank you.

Really helpful, I’m starting to recognise that the aching in my muscles I feel a lot of the time is due to anxiety and a constant state of alertness. I will come back to this, thank you!

Really helped me tune in to the anxiety in my stomach and turn it down a notch. Thank you 💕🙏🕊️

I've been struggling with accepting the changes my body, mind, and heart keep enduring. This talk/meditation was empowering. Thank you.

Terrific! So helpful. Thank you Bhanu, I so value your kind, compassionate, wise mediations. 🩵

So wonderful! What a beautiful gift I can give my body now. I felt the changes as I dialed down, then up. Empowering. Thank you. 🙏💖

I found chatting with my body helpful. I got a lot calmer and more in touch with my precious body. I was surprised that I could feel an effect with turning my body anxiety meter down and even up a bit. I didn't know I had that control. Thank you.

A revelation! This meditation gave me a beautifully simple & powerful interface for respectful interaction with my body. I think I will return to my “control room” very often now. Thank you very much!

I've been looking for a meditation like this for a long time. I feel ' seen ' .
Thank you.

Absolutely this! Adding this to my tool kit. Thank you Bhanu.