hello everybody and welcome to this video anxiety meditations i am your host dr dawn elise snipes
anxiety often occurs when we feel unsafe or powerless it increases your stress chemicals
kicks off that hpa axis or the fight or flight response and you start to have tunnel vision
and become more reactive and impulsive so anxiety can be a problem now remember anxiety
is a feeling it's a normal feeling that tells you that hey there might be something to be
aware of there might be a threat it doesn't mean there is a threat the anxiety is just
telling you to check and see if there's a threat meditation can help calm your stress response so
you can think more clearly about what to do to improve the next moment so if you look around
and you decide you know what there's really not a threat or whatever it is that is threatening
i have no control over like you know a pandemic or something then meditation can help you
calm or or tamp down that stress response so you're not burning up tons and tons of
energy and feeling anxious like you're going to crawl out of your skin all the time it's
important before you begin any sort of meditation to examine your surroundings and make sure you are
safe from interruptions you don't want to get into this nice relaxed state and all
of a sudden have your phone go off or the dog bark get into a situation where you are
protected from interruption where you feel safe in your environment you have the door
shut you may have the blinds drawn whatever it is that makes you feel the most safe and secure
if you're not comfortable closing your eyes some people have trauma histories and they are not
comfortable closing their eyes and that's cool if you're not then pick a stationary object in
the room to focus on when i do meditations i love focusing on the a candle flame just that's always
been something that has um attracted my focus so candle flames work for me you can pick a spot on
the wall you can pick a vase whatever it is you want just make sure it's not something that's
going to move around that you've got a track you want to make sure it stays right there
the next thing you need to do once you feel like you're in a safe environment think of an
empowering mantra that you're going to repeat to yourself and depending on what is triggering your
anxiety you may have several different mantras that you rotate through depending on the type of
anxiety if you are facing some sort of adversity you can tell yourself i've got this or this too
shall pass you know maybe you are getting ready to go take a your graduate entrance exams or you are
going on a job interview or you are experiencing some something distressful maybe you and your best
friend got into a disagreement and there's tension right there so this too shall pass can work
another set if it has to do more with failure you can remind yourself progress not perfection
nobody's perfect and it's important to strive for progress not perfection to learn from our failures
or just i can succeed if you are afraid of failure and you're getting ready to do something just
telling yourself i can succeed i may not succeed at everything but i can't succeed now obviously
i'm elaborating on some of these you want to pick something that is not more than a few words to
repeat to yourself if your anxiety has to do with rejection
you may say to yourself something like it's not about me or i am enough if you have anxiety about
uncertainty you don't know what's going to happen next you can tell yourself something like stay
open to options or i'm not alone and i'm not alone really appeals to people who don't like
uncertainty they like control but knowing that they're not alone knowing that they've got
support people to help them through something that is uncertain can be very reassuring
now you can come up with your own mantras these were just a few that i i pulled out for you
to give you an idea of think something that you might want to say to yourself
look at the root of whatever's causing your anxiety pick a mantra make sure you're in
a safe place with time and practice you'll be able to trigger the relaxation response
with your mantra and a deep breath or two so you may not have to go through the entire meditation
which is really awesome so when if you get used to it you may be able to approach adversity
and take a deep breath tell yourself i've got this and exhale and do that a couple of more times
and feel relaxed it can help you get grounded once your body's recognized that okay when we
start saying this it's time to relax you may think that's a little corny but think about other times
in your past when somebody has said something that has just a word has triggered a response
when i used to teach at uf i would tell my class okay clear your desk it's time to take a pop quiz
and those words would strike fear in the majority of the people in my class and that would trigger
their fight or flight response now obviously we want to do the opposite here my point is
that something as simple as a word can trigger a fight or flight response or a relaxation response
so i'm going to tell you what we're going to do and then we're going to start doing it
you're going to start by sitting comfortably you know you're in a safe environment you've
picked your mantra then you get comfortable sitting ideally both feet on the ground you
know in a relaxed position begin by focusing on your breath you're gonna breathe in for four
hold for four and breathe out for four you're gonna do that twice and then you're going to
continue to breathe in for four hold for four and exhale for four but you're when you do this
then you're going to start noticing your belly expand and deflate so the first thing you just
want to focus on your breath and then you want to start focusing on your breath and your body
the next step is to notice the cool refreshing air as it passes through your nose
feel it moving through your entire body you're going to do that twice
finally you're going to as you breathe in you're going to repeat your mantra and sit with it while
you hold your breath for that four and as you exhale you're gonna feel the bad energy and worry
leaving your body you're going to repeat this 10 times then just sit with this feeling for a few
minutes noticing how relaxed your body feels it's that simple you're going to gradually
work up to ramp up to focusing on your on your mantra and relaxing your anxiety but the first
thing you got to do is start with your breath i'm going to walk you through this mantra and
it will take about 10 minutes so go ahead and sit down and get comfortable
begin by focusing on your breath breathe in for four
three hold for four two three and exhale for four
three four let's do that again breathe in for four two three four hold for four two
three and exhale for four
now when you breathe in for four notice your belly expand
hold for four
and exhale for four feeling your belly deflate
again breathe in and notice your belly expand
hold for 4. and exhale for four
now as you breathe in for four notice the cool refreshing air as it passes through your nose
feel it moving throughout your entire body hold for four
and exhale for four
again inhale noticing the cool air as it passes through your nose
and feel it moving through your entire body
hold for four
and exhale or four
now as you breathe in repeat your mantra
breathe in for four tell yourself that it's okay that you've got this
hold for four
as you exhale feel the bad energy and worry leaving your body
let's breathe in again repeat your mantra to yourself
hold
and exhale feeling the energy the bad energy and worry leaving your body
breathe in again repeat your mantra really believing what you're telling yourself
and exhale feeling the worry and the bad energy leaving your body
breathe in repeat your mantra feel the positivity and the strength feeling your body hold
and exhale feeling the bad energy and worry leaving
breathe in again repeat your mantra notice how you're starting to feel more calm
sit with this feeling of calmness as you
hold your breath and then exhale feeling the bad energy worry leaving your body
breathing again repeating your mantra believing your mantra
feeling that breath you took absorbing all of the negative energy and exhale
breathe in again repeat your mantra
sit with this feeling of calm and strength
feeling the breath absorbing all of the bad energy and exhale
breathe in repeat your mantra
really believe how strong and safe you are feel that oxygen absorbing the bad energy
and exhale feeling the bad energy and worry leaving your body breathe in repeat your mantra
repeat your mantra again
sit with it while you hold your breath for a minute let that air absorb all the bad energy
and as you exhale really feel your body relaxing and melting into the chair that you're sitting in
one more time breathe in
repeat your mantra
notice a sense of hope and energy but also calmness
sit with this for a minute
and exhale feeling the last little bit of that worry leaving your body
notice how relaxed your body feels now sit with this feeling continue to repeat your mantra
until you're ready to start rejoining your activities for the day there are
many different types of meditation this is just one so come back and visit the channel often
for different types of meditation for anxiety and depression