I'm a very anxious person and recently started meditating to ease the symptoms, the first few attempts were a disaster because as soon as I'd start I would just get even more anxious and stop doing it after about 5 minutes.After many attempts though I managed to push trough that first phase and the general feeling of anxiety would would lift off after around 10 minutes, instead a stronger, concentrated point of pressure would appear at the bottom of my sternum, it was so scary that at first I thought I was having a heart attack but as soon as I would grab my chest it would disappear completely. With more practice I learned to accept that pressure too and instead of running away from it I would concentrate on that point, and when I do it very slowly goes up trough my sternum all the way up between the clavicles, so far I haven't managed to get it any higher.What could it mean? I feel like if I could get It go up to my mouth I would sort of exhale the anxiety out of my body and be cured.
I used to have bad anxiety too and had trouble meditating. What worked for me at the time was tonglen meditation, where I would imagine breathing in the anxiety to take it away and breathing out peace. I would feel calmer after it. I think it's similar to yours in that we started imagining the anxiety as a physical thing we could get rid of.Hope your anxiety gets better. I still have moments, but it's not constant like it used to be.
>>41008397ruminate for 30 minutes. sit comfortably or just lye. don't do sukasana position its for expert only and will weaken your spine. follow your eyes where it wants to see. do it in familiar spaces like window of your room, the floor, some paintings. just don't stare directly. like rumination absorbing subliminal thoughts directly. you'll be fine
>>41008397Make sure your breathing with your stomach. Your belly should be going out when you breath in and in when you breath out. Focus on breathing with your belly and don't worry about asking your mind just focus on breathing technique and count "IN 1..2..3..4.." "OUT 1..2..3..4.." with each breath. Sorry if that doesn't help or if you already know this but I relieved alot of anxiety by stopping breathing up in my chest. Obviously breathing is still in ur chest but u want to get full range of your diaphragm instead of shallow breathing.
>>41008482That's should read "don't worry about clearing your mind" sry
>>41008437Thanks, I will look into tonglen meditation.>>41008476I already ruminate all day lol but I will try this, maybe doing it in a controlled environment will release some of the the stress.>>41008482I always breath using the diaphragm, not only during meditation, I try to let it go freely and just observe it but I will also try to do some sessions where I do control the breath, thanks.
>>41008397Holy shit built in necktie
>>41008397Hi, Anon, I am very new meditation and I have struggled with awful anxiety for ages in my life, now it's better for me thanks to meditation, I am going to share my routine:I do 5 minutes of thoughts observation, no reacting to the thoughts, no engaging with them, no participating in them, just being the observer and learning to detach my self from them, then I do some simple breath exercise for 5 minutes, sofly and gently, if it's possible for you inhale for a bit longer than you exhale, this has been proven to be helpful for our nervous system, i am enjoying this that i do it for 15 minutes, 3 times a day, you should start with 5 minutes or thought observation and 5 minutes of breath exercise, and if you find yourself enjoying it do it more, pleas don't stress the duration and such, my only advice is to do it more than once a day, if you meditate for 20 minutes a day, cut in into 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes before bed, and so on, i think doing it more than once a day is really helpful for the body to adapt the habit, I.D.K if anything here helps but it worked out well for me, I hope someone else can offer a better suggestion than mine, if nothing i have said turns out to be helpful for you.
>>41008676I meditate between 10 and 20 minutes 3 times a day, when I started I tried to not think at all but now I do something similar to you, where I just let the thoughts flow without attachment, the more time passes the less thoughts come up and that's when the pressure in my chest starts.
>>41008792Just keep experimenting with methods and such, you can also just repeat mantras
>>41008397How are you meditating exactly? Meditation isn't harmless. There are very specific methodologies for meditation, and you need a teacher. It's a myth that just anyone can do any kind of meditation. Uneducated people in the west often just do some random shit that they've heard is meditation. Sometimes these are methods to advanced for most people, sometimes they are bullshit.There is basically just two meditation styles you should do in the beginning. The first is just sit. That's all. Sit and observe your mind. Another beginner's meditation is focusing on your breathing. This is a way of quieting your mind. You don't try to achieve anything. If your mind starts drifting, it's fine. Just focus back on your breathing. If it starts drifting again, just get back to your breath. 5-10 minutes a day is fine for either of these. As you start finding it easier to calm your mind, you can start to meditate for longer. There's no point in pushing yourself if you can't sit for 5 minutes in peace.Common mistakes is trying to do something special or trying to achieve something through your meditation. This will fail, and can possibly leave you with severe mental problems. The two meditations I suggested are safe. Don't do extreme focus meditations or anything like that. Like staring at burning incense. Those will fuck you up at this stage.
>>41008397>>41008891You can also do preliminary breathing exercises before meditating. This should prime you for relaxing rather than anxiety.I could write it down, but this Nadi Shuddhi Pranayama is a very basic and traditional breathing that is also very accessible.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W7oUZ8EVbIQuick instruction: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G5qMU17JPKk
>>41008891I just let my thoughts flow and concentrate on my breathing.>There's no point in pushing yourself if you can't sit for 5 minutes in peaceI actually struggle during the first 5 minutes but after that I'm more grounded into the practice.The pressure thing isn't something I do forcefully, it just happens.
>>41008934This is actually pretty cool and more immediate during high stress moments, thanks.
>>41008942When sit straight and breath in all you can, which part of your torso expands first? Your stomach of chest? If you have a lot of tension, you typically only fill the top part of your lunges and the stomach doesn't expand when breathing.In meditation, you should have a relaxed breath, without forcing anything. If you don't do anything special during meditation, but still feel this tension, I suggest doing doing something like Nadi Shuddhi Pranayama before meditating.A daily breathing exercise would also help. Inhaling as deep into your stomach as possible, and then fill the solar plexus area, and finally the chest area. As you're reaching your limit. You can hold the breath and push the air down a bit before releasing. You may feel lightheaded, so stop until you're fine if you feel a bit dizzy. This will ensure you're using your entire lung capacity and it helps cleaning the blood vessels in your lunges by supplying fresh oxygen to the ones in the lowest part of your lunges. If you start yawning, this is also good, because that's the body refreshing the oxygen supply in your lunges.If you have low oxygen supply in your blood, your body actually interprets that as distress. Like you're choking, and that will make you anxious. It's so powerful that if someone is born with a small heart, they will be very anxious, because all the body signals are interpreting this as something is very wrong. So learning and ensuring that you have enough blood oxygen will reduce anxiety and tension, and is why breathing exercises work. It's basically altering the signals to your brain and telling it everything is fine.
>>41009019>lungesI meant lungs, of course.
I spent year meditating but the shit was useless for me until I realized meditation is nearly impossible to sustain when the body is still in fight-or-flight. Once calm and safe in the body, meditations can be far more effective I had to first regulate my nervous system E.F.T techniques were the game-changer for me:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02bN4JFx10Yit could be that your nervous system needs regulation first. EFT and other somatic therapies may be the missing key.
>>41009019No I always breath using the diaphragm but during meditation breathing still feels a bit forced, since I'm overweight could it be that the visceral fat is not letting the lungs expand all the way? I quit smoking like a week ago too.
>>41009019Not OP, but recently I've taken up meditating again. When I meditate, I focus on my breath while I try to be aware of my thoughts (without suppressing them but without interacting with them either just observing passively), I've noticed that when it gets deep enough I enter in this dreamlike state where I can hear my thoughts and sometimes I see sequences of flashing images before noticing that I lost the breath and then I bring my attention back to it. Is this normal?
>>41008891Are tonglen and loving-kindness okay for beginners? I mainly do observing my mind though.
I suggest that you focus on making your breathing deeper, slower and more prolonged.Regulating the breath should be the first step, do it until your breathing becomes very deep, slow and prolonged.What you described sounds like you're doing energy work but I suggest that you first learn the breathing I described (train it for months) and then trying to ground any energy blocks you feel in your body towards the ground/lower body. Don't elevate energy that early.With love, an energy worker.
>>41009169Draw all your inhales using the diaphragm, expand the front, the sides AND the back of your belly/lumbar region. At the same time. Don't force the exhale but let it happen on its own. Yes the fat may be an obstacle so try and reduce it. Do what this anon also said >>41011361
>>41011361>>41011479I'll try it but what should I do about that pressure in my chest? Just Ignore it?
>>41009169>No I always breath using the diaphragm but during meditation breathing still feels a bit forced, since I'm overweight could it be that the visceral fat is not letting the lungs expand all the way?sit up straight, keep the spine straightthis allows for the most free movement of the gutshunch over and it starts limiting how deeply the breath goes
>>41009566>without suppressing them but without interacting with them either just observing passivelythis always baffles me when people write things like this, but it may just be a semantics issueif you're not returning to your practice the instant you perceive thoughts taking place, you're doing it wrong
>>41012445where the Yi goes, the Chi flowskeep your mind in your gut for now
>>41014124Sorry for not being clear, but yes I do immediatly return to the breath as soon as I notice that I got distracted
>>41014781good, just noted it because it is an important point
>>41012445Sorry for taking so long to answer.Try to ignore it yes or try to ground it (bring it lower towards your feet). If it really persists and really absorbs the focus of your awareness then give it time and space to come up to your head and then let it dissolve downwards from the front of your body OR let it dissolve towards the sky from the crown of your body.Anyway continue meditating and learn to really relax your body while keeping your spine straight and breath deeply and slow.
