Meditation & Coffee - Anxiety Relief

Anxiety is just our mind and body trying to keep us safe - but too much, and it can be counterproductive and toxic. Try these simple techniques to find safety in your own body whenever your anxiety begins to spiral.

Transcript

Hello! You are listening to Meditation and Coffee, The weekday meditation podcast that helps you start your day off calm, Aware, Intentional, Focused and most importantly, Awake. Because did you know that the word Buddha actually means awakened one? I'm Hannah, Your host and founder of the online meditation community Breathe Like a Badass, And I am obsessed with starting the day with good coffee and seriously simple meditation. As a trained meditation teacher and a female entrepreneur, My mission is to help anxious yet ambitious women cut through overwhelm, Negative self-talk, Constant comparison and fear so they can get the calm, Clarity and focus that they need to build happy, Fulfilling, Freedom-filled businesses and lives. Meditation is not magic, But it's a pretty good place to start. So whether your coffee is a shot of espresso, A latte decaf or even a tea or a chai, I invite you to join me every weekday to start your day off right. FYI, These sessions are recorded live on my Instagram page, At Breathe Like a Badass, So if you'd prefer to join in and watch them live, You can do so there every weekday morning between 8 and 8. 30am London time. The videos are also available after the live on my IGTV page. Now, On to the meditation and coffee. Good morning friends, We are live for another session of meditation and coffee. Hello, I hope that you've got your coffee with you. Allow me to just take my first sip of the day. So great that I can do this with you, That I can literally start my day in my favourite way with my cup of coffee, Doing my meditation, Taking a break before I've even turned on my laptop or anything like that. It's just, I find it very special this time. So, However you're listening to this or watching this or on the replay or anything like that, Just let me know, Like, Drop me a comment, Drop me a review or whatever, Wherever you are listening to this. If you're on an Insight Timer or you're on IGTV or live, It's so great to hear from you sharing in this time that we have together in the mornings. So, Good morning. Today we're going to do an exercise that has been very useful for anxiety, Social anxiety particularly. I've been speaking to a lot of people recently who've been saying that they are struggling with anxiety to do with the lockdown that many of us are under lifting. I personally have felt quite a lot of anxiety about unknowns, About, You know, Is it safe to leave lockdown? How does the world work now? What do I need to do? Is that a good idea? You know, Meeting new people, Meeting people, Even just for coffee, You know, There's a huge amount of social anxiety that can come with that after so long indoors. And so a lot of people I think have been dealing with the uncertainty that anxiety can produce in terms of like, Okay, Well, What happens now? How is life going to look now? What about all the unknowns that I can't control? And I think ultimately there are lots of reasons why you might have deep rooted anxiety or social anxiety. And it's not for me to say right now why you might be feeling that anxiety about work or social anxiety or pressure to perform, You know, In your job or however it might be. Maybe you're someone who's generalised anxiety. You're generally quite an anxious person. Your mind is prone to overthinking. You're kind of trying to get a sense of control in your life. And the way that your brain thinks that it can do that is if it just tells you all the possible eventualities. Anxiety is often characterised by your brain going, Yes, But what about this? And have you thought about that? And will you be okay here? And it just feels kind of like a tornado that you're coursing, You know, Like a negative spiral. And often it is your mind trying to keep you safe. We think, Right, If I just imagine all of the possible eventualities, If I just prepare myself, If I just kind of worry enough, Then maybe I'll protect myself from what's going to happen. And actually the research is showing that that doesn't really work. People that have been studied who've gone through quite traumatic experiences or maybe an experience that some people would say, Oh God, I worry about that all the time. Scientific studies have actually shown that worrying about it beforehand doesn't actually really improve your ability to deal with the scary thing or the difficult thing when it arises. And actually what it does is too much anxiety, A little bit of planning is good, Yes, But too much anxiety actually just makes us feel stressed all the time and can actually reduce our ability to deal with difficult things. It actually reduces our resilience because we are in this kind of heightened state of like fight, Bite or freeze where we're just kind of like, I'm so stressed. I don't know what's going on. Hello. And so too much anxiety can actually be detrimental to our ability to cope, Which is the opposite because most of the time our bodies are making us anxious or making us think through all the possible eventualities because we're trying to protect ourselves. And I do want to say that with everything that I do in meditation, Yes, We're trying to interrupt our thoughts. Yes, We're trying to question our anxiety and give ourselves relief, But that doesn't mean that we're beating ourselves up for what we feel and thinking that what we feel is wrong. There's a huge amount of very valid reasons why your body might react with anxiety about something. And it's usually because that for you has become a coping mechanism. It's a way of keeping you safe. Like I say, If you think that, Oh, I'm just going to imagine all of the possible things that will happen. I'm just going to think it all through. I'm just going to worry enough. Maybe then that will protect me from things from the bad thing. But like I say, That actually isn't true. So what we really want to do is to find tools to reduce our anxiety in the moment, Make ourselves feel much more safe in our own mind and body in that moment of panic or anxiety or overthinking about anxious thoughts. And then we can use those tools to calm ourselves, Settle ourselves, Remind ourselves that we actually are safe. And then we'll be in a much more resilient, Grounded place to actually deal with whatever might be causing our anxiety in the first place. So whether it's going outside after months of lockdown or giving a presentation or meeting new people or just to that general sense of anxiety that a lot of us feel when we wake up and we know we've got loads to do and things we've got to get done and it can feel like a lot. And what we like I say, What we want to do is remember that we have a space of safety within us. So this meditation is going to include a lot of techniques, A lot of techniques. How long am I going to be online? No, It's going to include a couple of really powerful techniques that I have used and been trained in that I know personally help me with my anxiety. And I really hope that they will help you too. So as usual, What I invite you to do is if you've got your cup of coffee, You can take a good hold of it. Have a final sip before we begin or you can put the coffee down and just allow yourself to take this space, Take this time, Come into a comfortable seated position wherever you are. And I invite you to take some gentle deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you breathe in, Allowing yourself to take up space, Widening your shoulders perhaps without adding more tension or widening your shoulders, Allowing your lungs to really fill with that cool clean air. And as you breathe out, Allowing yourself to relax, Allowing the skin of your face, Your jaw, The neck, Your shoulders and your back all relax down into where you're sitting. And sometimes even the act of allowing ourselves to breathe deeply can help us get more calm in our body and stop the anxiety spiral. But sometimes if we're feeling very anxious, Focusing on our breathing like this can almost cause us to feel worse. Maybe we might start to hyperventilate. So rather than worrying about taking the world's most perfect breath or how deeply you're breathing, I just invite you to notice each part of the breath right from the beginning. So get very curious. Bring your attention to the very beginning of the breath. Where can you feel it in your body? Where can you feel it as you breathe in? Very curious, Curious about the in breath. Where that breath ends. The slight gap at the top of the breath. And then again very curious about the beginning of the out breath. How does it feel in your body when you notice and get very curious about the breath? Just this one breath. Just this one moment right here. Noticing the start of the breath, Breathing in. Noticing the top of the breath and breathing out. Continuing to be so curious about, Like I say, Literally just this one breath right now. This one in breath and this one out breath. That's it. Nothing else to worry about or think about right now. Literally this one moment. And this one moment. And now I invite you to count the breaths from one to ten. This can sometimes be a brilliant practice for focusing your mind if it is distracted or very anxious in an anxious spiral. So you can count the breaths in for one breath, Two for the out breath, In for three, Out for four, In for five, Out for six. And keep going until you reach ten. And then when you reach ten start again at one. And if you find yourself getting distracted, You lose count. No problem at all. Bring it back to one. Start again. So that in itself is a great technique if you find yourself in an anxious state, Taking some time literally in your life, Wherever you happen to be, Even if you're not sitting like you are now in formal meditation. Another great technique to practice just as we're sitting here now today is to acknowledge your anxiety and recognise that there are thoughts that are recurring in your mind, That you have an agitated mindset at the moment or whenever you feel it if you're not feeling it now and not trying to resist it, Not trying to think, No I'm fine, I've got this, I've got this, I'm good, I'm good, I'm not anxious, It's okay, It's fine. And literally acknowledge it because what we resist persists. So what we actually want to do is acknowledge it and notice where in our body we can feel it. So if you like to practice now you can bring to mind something that makes you feel anxious right now. And notice the effect it has on your body, Does it make you feel more tense or hot or stressed, Maybe your shoulders start to rise or your arms tense or you feel it in your chest. Maybe you feel it in your head, I sometimes feel it like a band of anxiety across my forehead right. And so the first step in this three step technique is that we notice that we're anxious, We notice the thoughts and then we notice where in our body it's affecting us particularly, Without judgement, Just curiosity. And then the next thing is that I'd like you to imagine where you can feel your breathing the most if you continue to breathe in. And as you breathe, Imagining maybe a golden light or a warm feeling in your chest. And really noticing it, Really bringing your attention to that warm feeling, That golden light in your chest, In your heart. And remembering that you can always come back to this space of safety in your own body. And noticing what that feels like to just direct your attention, Continue to breathe normally into this gold light in your chest. And now very slowly, Imagining that this gold light is expanding like a gold ray of sunshine or a golden egg perhaps like expanding very slowly out from your chest and bringing in your attention throughout your whole body. So the light or the warmth is seeping out, Out from your chest to bring in your arms, Your shoulders, Your neck, The rest of your torso, Your hips, Your legs. And imagining that it's even going beyond your body and that it's really got you safe in this kind of ball of golden warm light. Continuing to breathe. Holding yourself in this image of safety and warmth. And lastly, Within this position, Noticing how grounded you feel. Noticing the weight of your body, Where you're sitting. Noticing the texture of where you're sitting, The cushion or the sofa or the floor. Noticing the heaviness of your body giving itself permission to just sit here today, To be here today. The gravity on your body, The sense of security and groundedness of where you're sitting right now. And again, Imagining yourself bathed in that golden light, Grounded and secure where you are. And whether you found it easier to do the counting breath that we looked at earlier or you're finding this golden light is working for you. Both of these are techniques and feelings that we can call on, That we can remember if we're struggling with anxiety. Because like I say, Anxiety is our body's response. It's trying to make us feel safe. So what we want to do is acknowledge it and almost say, Hey, Thank you body, Thank you mind. I know you're trying to keep me safe. But actually, This isn't helping. This anxiety is not helping and what I want to do is remind myself that I am safe within my own body. And that I don't have to worry about everything. I can just literally focus on this one thing right now and that's okay. So if you had your eyes closed, You can now open them, Come back into the room, Drop your shoulders even more than perhaps they were before. I know I always need to drop my shoulders even more. And yeah, That was just a few techniques that I find extremely beneficial for helping us deal with anxiety. Know how you feel when you come back into the room. And after you do this meditation and with all my meditations, I invite you to just take a few minutes after you finish to sit with your coffee. That's why I like to do these with coffee. Because I wouldn't recommend that you do this kind of meditation and then instantly as soon as you're done, Right that's it, Bang, Into the day. Headless chicken time. Actually just allow yourself to sit with it for a bit. The yoga teacher Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, Which I'm sure a lot of you know about, She's got about 17 million followers or something, She has this brilliant phrase and she says, Allow the nutrients of your practice to seep in. So giving yourself just a little bit of stillness to allow the nutrients of your practice to seep through and to kind of allow themselves to sit in your body. And I kind of love that. So again, Just finishing off with a deep, Deep, Deep, Deep breath. Sorry. Breathing out. And I thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for spending this time with me and allowing me to guide you through this. It's honestly one of the best things in my day doing these. And I really am so grateful that you're here. Yeah, It's a great phrase, Right? Allow the nutrients of your practice to seep in. I always remember that phrase. So thank you so much for being here. If you need to come back to these practices, If you're someone that struggles with anxiety a lot, You can come back to this meditation whenever you need it. It'll be on my IGTV so you can listen whenever you need to. I recommend with some coffee, Maybe some decaf if your anxiety is particularly strong. But yeah, And I remind you, Really be kind to yourselves because like I say, Anxiety is a symptom of your body trying to keep you safe. So remember that. Remember that we're trying to get back to a place of safety when we do these things, When we do this practice. So have a wonderful rest of the day. Thank you for being here with me. And if you have any questions at all or any comments, Come DM me on Instagram. Love to hear from me. Thanks so much. Have a wonderful day. That's it for today. Thanks so much for listening and spending your morning with me. If you like this podcast, And you are as obsessed with coffee and maybe meditation as I am, Please go ahead and leave a rating and a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you normally listen as it helps spread the word and get the message out to more brilliant women just like us who need it. You can also share with your friends on Instagram tagging me at Breathe Like a Badass. I always love to see you there. If you like this, And you'd like to hear more from me and Breathe Like a Badass on how to use meditation to get the calm, Clarity and focus you need to build a happy, Fulfilling, Freedom filled business and life, Head on over to my other full length interview style podcast. Just search Breathe Like a Badass anywhere that you normally listen to podcasts. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you for the next one.

Reviews

I enjoy your light hearted style. Enlightenment needn’t be so serious. 🌈🦄

Thankyou so much.🙏🏼