Meditation for Anxiety

When experiencing stress, our breathing patterns change from relaxed belly breathing to upper chest stress breathing (hyperventilation) giving us the experience of anxiety. Together we can change your breathing patterns to lower your experience of stress & anxiety within your life.

You can lower your experience of anxiety in three simple steps:

1. Retrain Your Breathing Patterns:  Many of the symptoms of anxiety arise due to the stress response disengaging the diaphragm from the process of respiration. Re-engagement of the diaphragm switches off chest hyperventilation and allows depleted C02 levels to rebalance.
2. Learn to Reengage Your Diaphragm:  Re-engaging your diaphragm throughout the day when you notice that you are stress breathing interrupts the stress cycle and lowers your experience of anxiety within your daily life.
3. Practice Daily Stillness Meditation: Stillness meditation is the simple practice of sitting still and allowing the functions of your mind to slow down by not adding anything to them. Being still for short periods of time has a significant effect on stress and anxiety within daily life.

I can help you lower your experience of stress and anxiety with simple meditation techniques.

• Online sessions with Stephen are available using ZOOM.
• In person sessions held in Mylestom, (Coffs Harbour), NSW.

Booking 0466 531 023 or Online meeting using zoom

TIP: Practice this 20-minute guided meditation twice daily for two weeks to strengthen your diaphragm muscle. 

Start by lying on the floor. Use a pillow under your head and a rolled blanket under your knees if needed. Place both your palms just below your belly button, fingers touching in the middle, pressing slightly inwards. 

Now gently raise your fingers by slowly extending the lower part of your abdomen upwards. Then slowly lower it back down again, letting the breath out. Do this a few times. Notice that when the lower part of your abdomen rises up, air is drawn in through your nose and as your lower abdomen falls, air is expelled out again. 

Once you have found the rhythm of breathing in your lower belly, you can start to slow down the in-breath and out-breath. It is the slowness of the movement that increases the range and strength of your diaphragm muscle. Slowing of the out-breath also helps to re-balance low C02 levels associated with stress-based chest hyperventilation which is responsible for anxiety symptoms. 

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

Effort: Be careful of over-effort or strain. Anxiety creates the desire to try to achieve, to control things within our life, including something as basic as breathing. If you notice any struggle or strain, then stop what you are doing for a short while and allow yourself to relax before starting again. 

Light Headedness: Because you are not used to breathing so deeply, you may experience some light-headedness due to the increased levels of C02 being absorbed. Whenever you experience this, stop the exercise and allow yourself to stay still. Generally, after 10 seconds this feeling settles as C02 re-balances leaving you feeling calmer & more relaxed, and you can resume your training. With regular practice this light-headed feeling gradually lessons.

***See your doctor if light-headedness persists*** 

Short Breaths: If breathing in your chest is normal for you then it will be natural for your diaphragm movement on your in-breath to be short. Because of the shortness of your diaphragm movement, you may feel as if you are not getting enough air. If needed during the exercise you can take an extra breath. 

Once the movement of your diaphragm slows down and lengthens, the feeling of needing more air will go away. By paying attention to the very beginning of the in-breath, starting it slowly, and paying attention to the very beginning of the out-breath, starting it slowly, your breathing will naturally deepen. 

The most important part to focus on is learning to release the out-breath slowly. This is done to allow the depleted C02 levels caused by chest hyperventilation to re-balance and as a vehicle for deep mental relaxation during MIDL Softening Techniques.

Breathing Feels Tight: If when breathing in you feel a tightness of the breath within your lower chest, it is possible that you are breathing in from the top of your chest downwards in an attempt to push your diaphragm down into your belly. This will not work. The diaphragm is a dome and cannot be pushed down; it needs to be pulled. 

It can be helpful to think of your diaphragm as an upside-down plunger. When you pull the handle downward the plunger will suck in air, as you push it back up it expels it. To engage your diaphragm, think of pulling it downwards rather than pushing it. Placing your fingertips below your belly button and pressing in slightly to allow you to feel your lower abdomen move is helpful.   

Changing your breathing patterns also has an effect on your daily life. Your sensitivity to how you are breathing during the day will increase, allowing you to notice every time stress breathing switches back on again. 

It can be helpful at first, throughout the day, to ask yourself one question:

“Where am I breathing now, is it in my chest or in my belly?”

If your breathing has moved up into your chest then the stress response has been switched on, you may be resisting something in your life. This is ok, it is habitual and happens automatically. 

You can turn off this stress reaction by intentionally re-engaging your diaphragm in your belly. To re-engage natural, diaphragm breathing during the day, you simply place your palms just below your belly button, lightly pressing your fingertips inward. then by taking five, slow, gentle breaths in your lower belly, below your belly button, your diaphragm will re-engage in respiration.

After these three breaths you may feel a little lightheaded, this is normal when we re-engage the diaphragm, just allow the depleted C02 levels 10 seconds to re-balance and you will feel mental clarity and calmness return to you.

To completely remove the experience of stress & anxiety within your life, this is the game that you need to play. Throughout the day at first stress breathing patterns will come back again, you are dealing with habit. By noticing when you start stress breathing and bringing your breath from your chest by re-engaging your diaphragm you will start to decondition the habit of feeling stressed during the day. When this is supported by the breathing retraining meditation above, the experience of anxiety will gradually come to an end.

• Ground awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.
• Place fingers just below belly button, on the V shaped abdominal muscle.
• Press in slightly on this V shaped abdominal muscle to feel the movement.

• Slowly extend your lower abdominal muscles out-wards to draw breath in through your nose.
• Slowly lower your lower abdominal muscles back in-wards again to expel the breath out through your nose.

• Intentionally slow down your out-breath (avoiding strain) to re-engage your diaphragm.
• Do this for 5 in and out breaths.
• Sit still for 10 seconds and observe the change within your mind, body and breathing. Allow yourself to relax each time the breath goes out.

Stillness meditation is the simple practice of sitting still and allowing the functions of your mind to slow down by not adding anything to them. Like a fire that can only survive as long as it is being fed fuel, the fire of your mind can only burn fiercely when fuel is being added to it. Through not adding to the activity of your mind it will naturally start to settle down and become still. As your skill in Stillness deepens you will notice a gradual lowering of defensiveness and anxiety within your daily life. 

For Stillness meditation it is necessary to create a balanced posture that you can maintain for the period of time without moving. This will give you the stability needed to allow your body to relax without fear of slumping forward. It is helpful in the beginning to un-round your shoulders by bringing them forward, raising them up, bringing them back and then dropping them down again. Also tucking your chin under slightly and extending the crown of your head towards the ceiling helps with balance. Once you have taken a balanced posture for your meditation, the first thing you do is to allow your eyelids to close slowly until they lightly touch.

If there is any sound present become aware of it; allow the sound to start to anchor your attention. Notice your attention drawn out towards the sound. Focus on its flow, its changing nature. Allow the change within the sound to hold your attention present. This is always sad to hear, because the escape they are seeking is not found in more ‘doing’ but rather in learning how to ‘not do’, to actually be with what they are experiencing. Learning how to mentally rest, sit back and actually enjoy their life.

Gently bring awareness to the experience of warmth & coolness within your body as it sits. In a very general way, experience the sensations of warmth & coolness, keeping them gently in mind.

Within the experience of your posture start to include points of touch: The touch of your hands resting within each other. The touch of your body as it rests on the chair or floor and the touch of your feet. Keeping these points of touch gently in mind.

As your mind settles, open your awareness to take in your whole body: warmth, coolness and touch. Your whole body just sitting here. Start to become aware of the general experience of heaviness that arises as your body starts to relax. Giving up all effort it becomes heavier, so heavy. Allow the chair or floor to take the full weight of your body. Allow your body to relax into this support.

Now gently bring awareness to your forehead and allow the muscles in your forehead to relax. Feel them becoming heavier, smoothing out. Experience the sense of ease as it arises.

Allow the relaxation from your forehead to flow down into your eyelids and eyes. Relaxing your eyelids, feel the eyelids droop, becoming heavier. Allow them to become so heavy it feels like you’re falling asleep. Feel the mental relaxation arising from this.

Feel the relaxation flow down through your cheeks and into your jaw. Allow your jaw to open slightly. Feel the relaxation coming to the whole of your face, filling your face, becoming so relaxed.

Feel the relaxation flow down through your cheeks and into your jaw. Allow your jaw to open slightly. Feel the relaxation coming to the whole of your face, filling your face, becoming so relaxed.

The relaxation flows down your arms into your hands. Relax your fingers. Allow your arms to hang loosely from your shoulders.

Relax your chest & belly. Feel the breathing flowing freely within your body. The gentle flow of your breath. Allow your breathing to become calm. To become so relaxed that you can barely feel it moving at all. The sense of ease within your body deepens.

Slightly release your hips and allow the relaxation to flow down your legs into your feet. You can use some gentle Softening breaths until your whole body feels deeply relaxed; so heavy.

This deep relaxation of your whole body will become your meditation object for your mind to access Stillness. Allow the chair or the floor to take the full weight of your body. Give up all effort within your body. Feel the effortlessness of it all, the effortlessness of not having to do anything. Feel this deep sense of ease fill every cell within your whole body. Allow the sense of ease to grow.

Bring full awareness to the deep relaxation and ease within your body and allow them to start to fill your mind. Abandon all mental effort at this stage; just allow. The deep relaxation and ease start to fill your mind. Allow it to sink in. Feel your mind sinking deeper down, deeper as the sense of ease, of effortlessness fills it. At this stage allow your mind to drift, to float around. Allow thoughts to come and go. You will drift in and out of thoughts. Gradually the thoughts will change from directed thinking with a subject, to random, floaty thoughts without meaning. Allow yourself to bounce in and out of this mental activity.

Start to become aware of the mental relaxation and ease arising within your mind. Allow this sense of ease to fill your mind until it becomes the experience of the awareness itself. You can use a few gentle Softening breaths as learnt earlier to relax any effort that arises within your mind; to soften any desire to do. Your task at this stage is to not add anything to the processes of your mind, no longer feeding the fire; just allowing the fire to burn itself out. Allowing the processes of your mind to cease and stillness to arise.