Anxiety, Worry, Panic, Stress

Prolonged anxiety raises blood pressure, inflames arteries and causes heart attacks. Anxiety can crush not only our spirit and our potential, but also our ability to take care of our mind and body and leads to depression. When stressed in this way we can feel we are losing control, are unable to see our situation in a wider context, and are more prone to making stupid mistakes. It is possible to understand and manage anxiety – with or without drugs – looking at the mind/body links between excessive stress and illness, and why prolonged periods of anxiety are the frequent precursor to more serious mental or physical illness. Many vital techniques and language skills exist that can inoculate people against the harmful effects of anxiety, panic attacks, phobias,PTSD symptoms and anxiety around childbirth.

Inoculate? What a mindfulness exercise like the following can do is (I hope) to provide your body, feelings and mind with some resources that will make your situation more bearable:

Read the following. If you like what you read, record yourself repeating the words at a slow pace and listen to your own voice.

Breathing Basics

So with the body, aligned in a comfortable state, we can follow our breath, whether we breathe in, or breathe out. We just follow our breath and allow it to flow, comfortably.   Noticing the cool dry air as it enters our nostrils, and warm, moist air as it leaves.  Following the gradual filling of our nostrils with an inhale, cool, dry air in, then letting the out breath escape, warm and moist.   Repeating the process, one, two, three thousand times. Our breathing is an activity that involves muscles drawing our breath in, followed by a letting go of those muscles as we allow the exhale to drift out like a sigh of relief.

Every out breath, a letting go that lets go slightly more than the previous out breath.  And as we follow our breath in, cool, dry air down our throat, warm, moist air coming out, our breath can settle into a routine that is comfortable, easy.  And how easily does our rib cage move as we breathe in, that cool, dry air and let go with an out breath that is warm and moist?  So that, gradually, we can observe the way the movement of our rib cage influences the movement of our belly, so that now we can observe the cool dry air entering our belly, and the exhale, an outflow of warm, moist air.

And as we sit and follow our breath, our conscious and unconscious thoughts can start to fall into a rhythm, to calm down. And as we play with our breath and our attention, our awareness can continue to orient itself more and more towards our internal states.

Observing how much and how little our body cooperates with our breath.

Letting the exhale escape.

And with just this short meditation, notice the changes in your body, your feelings, your mind.

For recording purposes, enunciate carefully, and allow 5 second pauses at each full stop.