When You Wake Up Anxious

Did you wake up feeling anxious? This meditation is a guided walkthrough of how a set of tools from Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help with morning anxiety. We begin with normalizing morning anxiety, offering settling and grounding to the body, turning inwards and getting curious, accessing attunement and loving attention, and setting an intention for the day.

This practice can be done lying down, including in bed.

Transcript

My name is Laura.

I'm a licensed psychotherapist and today I will help you through a combination of tools from Somatic Experiencing,

Internal Family Systems,

And Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help you metabolize anxiety and settle your nervous system.

This practice can be done in any position especially lying down in bed.

And before we begin,

I want you to know that morning anxiety is very common.

Morning anxiety has a biological basis.

Cortisol,

Often referred to as the stress hormone,

Naturally rises within 30 to 45 minutes after waking up.

This cortisol awakening response is part of our daily rhythm and it is a way that our nervous system is attempting to help you prepare to meet the needs of the day.

To begin,

I encourage you to start to gently orient to the morning by connecting to present moment cues that indicate safety and support.

Notice the drive to rush into the morning and instead invite yourself to feel the support of the bed beneath you or the surface that you are currently on.

Take note of where and how your body feels held.

As you do,

Offer to yourself the possibility of sinking into the support a bit more deeply so that you don't have to work so hard right now.

Next,

Allow your eyes to orient to your space.

Let your eyes look around and go where they want to go,

Perhaps landing on something neutral,

Pleasant,

Or safe in your environment.

As you allow your system to take in what is okay or good enough right now,

What starts to shift inside.

If it feels okay,

You can place a gentle hand over your heart or on your belly.

It might feel better to slowly rub your arms or your legs,

And if you like,

You can say to yourself,

Good morning,

Your name,

I love you.

If that feels like too much,

You can just try cupping your hands over your mouth and whispering your name with the spirit of warmth or delight.

With anxiety,

Our brains are making up a story of what could go wrong.

Why not make up a better one?

Try asking yourself,

I wonder what magical thing will happen today,

And just see what happens.

When the mind feels especially active,

It can be very helpful to rest one hand on the back of your head,

Where your neck and brain meet,

And the other hand on your forehead.

Adjust the pressure the way that you want,

And in this position,

Also known as the brain-contain-hold,

We are working with the intention of supporting the brain by offering containment and warmth,

With the intention of bathing the prefrontal cortex,

The occiput,

And the brainstem with our loving attention.

Again,

Start to notice any subtle shifts that are happening inside your body,

Such as a deepening of the breath,

A softening of your muscles,

A slowing down of your thoughts,

Or feeling of coming back to yourself.

Stay with this brain-contain for as long as you like,

And if you want to try something else,

Go ahead and place both of the hands behind your head so that you're cradling your head.

Feel the weight of your head in your hands,

Keeping your head centered.

Allow your eyeballs to float to the right.

Easy does it.

Just watch and see how your body responds.

It may be subtle,

But you might have a yawn,

A sigh,

Or a swallow,

And when you've had enough of that,

Let your eyes come back to center.

And again,

We are supporting the head and letting the eyes move and not the rest of the head.

When you're ready,

Float your eyes over to the left and just wait and see what starts to happen.

You might notice a sigh,

A yawn,

A dropping,

Or a release.

Whenever you're ready,

You can go ahead and relax the hands,

Come back to center,

And again,

Take note of any changes that are happening inside.

If you want to transition from lying down to seated,

You can do that now.

And wherever you are,

Just again,

Sense into the support that's available in the present moment.

If your feet are touching the ground,

Invite your feet to rest a little bit more deeply,

Grounding into the support that's underneath you.

And we can try the same orienting response before,

Where slowly and gently you let yourself look around your space,

Just letting the eyes go where they want to go,

As if you were watching a butterfly flitting around a garden.

Having a set of cues of safety in the morning can help deepen calm and peace.

One of my favorite cues of safety is birdsong.

If you can hear any,

I'll invite you to listen to that now,

Or you can imagine it.

I once heard that birdsong can send a subconscious signal to the brain that the world is safe because no predators are present.

So listen to birdsong,

And maybe notice the sun if you can see it,

And start to consider other cues of safety you can weave into your mornings,

Like a slow and gentle awakening,

A cup of tea,

Soft clothes,

Deep pressure on your body,

Time spent with your pets,

Your kids,

Or anyone or anything else that you love.

Next,

I want to offer the voo sound,

Which is another way to settle the nervous system,

And just know that you can adapt this how you want,

Which can include just imagining doing it or not doing it.

The way that I typically do the voo sound is I just take an easy inhale and an exhale,

And then an inhale,

And on the exhale,

Making the voo sound,

Which almost sounds like a foghorn,

And that's the V-O-O.

I'll just demonstrate that now,

Taking an inhale,

And an exhale,

And inhale,

And now,

Voo.

And whether you tried it or not,

Just pause and check back in with yourself,

Paying attention to any sensations,

Feelings,

Or changes in the body without judgment.

And if you want to try again,

And if you'd like to do it together,

Just taking an easy inhale,

Releasing into an exhale,

And inhale,

And now the voo.

Sense into what's changing.

It could be a sense of the anxiety dissipating or moving around,

Maybe a belly gurgle,

Noticing that you feel hungry.

Just notice and know that this is another tool that you can use throughout the day when you feel anxious.

Now,

The next thing I wanted to offer is a way to incorporate more meaning through our days,

Including by inviting in kindness and self-compassion.

Wherever you are with it,

Just know that that's all welcome,

And it's all workable.

Part of how we recover from anxiety is to find a sweet spot between too much avoidance,

Which teaches you that you can't handle it,

Or you can't do the things that you love,

And too much exposure,

Which teaches you that feared situations are really that bad and are overwhelming.

To break out of the anxiety trap,

I invite you to consider now your values for the day,

Which is not a moral judgment,

But your heart's deepest desire.

For example,

You may want to show up today as being present,

Joyful,

And compassionate towards yourself and others.

See if one or two values pop into your head,

Ones that deeply resonate,

And if you have them now,

See if you can set the intention of having them be a thread throughout your day.

When we are confronted with a choice around anxiety or not anxiety,

Or feeling good or feeling bad,

Try to take a step back and ask yourself if the choice will bring you towards what you're wanting from life and how you want to be,

Or away from the life that you want and the person that you want to be.

And if the anxiety is still feeling too visceral or jangly to work with in this way,

You can always come back to the orienting response,

Or the VU sound I demonstrated,

Or the eye exercise we did together,

Or any other way that you find that helps with the anxiety.

Earlier,

We worked with a felt sense of support and connecting to a sense of something being bigger than us,

Whether that's our values or the support that we can feel.

It can be really beneficial to allow yourself to feel held by what is bigger than you.

Something I come back to are these little sayings that Thich Nhat Hanh created,

And so I'll share one with you now and just see if it's something that you would want to use for yourself.

And traditionally,

The way that you would work with this is you would breathe in with the first line and breathe out with the second and breathe in with the third line as you recite this to yourself silently.

Here's the practice.

Waking up this morning,

I smile.

24 brand new hours are before me.

I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.

Oftentimes having a personal vow in the mornings can be grounding and supportive.

And I want to offer you another one in the form of a poetry fragment from Diane Ackerman.

And this is from a longer poem called The School Prayer.

In the name of the daybreak,

And the eyelids of morning,

And the wayfaring moon,

And the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred,

But offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature,

As a healer of misery,

As a messenger of wonder,

As an architect of peace.

Morning anxiety can feel so awful.

Keep in mind that anxiety is meant to feel terrible so that we actually pay attention to it and effectively mobilize to take necessary action.

When we settle the nervous system through a felt sense of safety,

It's easier to discern what needs to happen and also tether yourself to an emergent capacity of competency or choice.

As you engage with these practices,

Just take note of any action in the real world you truly need to complete today.

Let the anxiety know that you've received its message and continue to take steps toward the life you want to live and the person you wish to be.

Thank you and may you have a gentle,

Sweet,

And easy morning.