SOS - Anxiety Relief With Sensation Scan

This brief, emergency mindfulness meditation is meant to be used when anxiety feels absolutely overwhelming. It makes use of the knowledge that stimulation of the vagus nerve can switch the body between fight or flight, and rest and digest. Additionally, the vagus nerve has many more pathways going from the body to the brain, so this meditation focuses on faking calm in the body to calm the mind. Scanning for sensations of touch, sound, sight, breath, and heaviness, this mindfulness technique can calm in the moment. And with repeated practice, because mindfulness is a practice, it can rewire the brain to be less stress reactive.