How do you use guided meditation for anxiety?
Anxiety is something all of us deal with to varying degrees, from occasional to chronic and all points in between.
Speaking for myself, I have been living with generalized anxiety for many years. As a meditation practitioner and teacher, having a condition like generalized anxiety was a source of shame for me. Thankfully, through the practice of self-compassion and learning how to be a friend to myself, I decided to do all that I could to take care of myself. This included changing my self-talk, sharing some of my challenges with a therapist, and practicing guided meditations that supported me during times of anxiety.
Feeling tense? Try a Body Scan meditation
Often when I’m experiencing moments of anxiety, the symptoms manifest themselves physically. However, it’s difficult to connect with those physical sensations because I am overanalyzing or overthinking things mentally. That’s why one of my favorite go-to guided meditations for anxiety is a Body Scan, and this helps me “get out of my head and into my body.”
Taking some time to gently scan my attention to different areas of my body, inviting those areas to soften and relax, takes me out of my ruminating thoughts and into a therapeutic, somatic relationship with my body. Oftentimes through this practice, I’m able to pinpoint where the feelings of anxiety are showing up in my body and spend some extra time in those areas as those feelings begin to subside.
Calm racing thoughts with breath-focused meditation
Another guided meditation for anxiety that I find really helpful is breath focus. This involves breathing slowly and deeply into my abdomen for a count of four, then extending my exhales slowly for a count of six. This helps me to connect to my body’s relaxation response. Doing this practice over and over again, with the help of guided meditation, makes me feel both supported and more in control.
Take control of your anxiety today
Whether you experience anxiety occasionally, or something that you live with on a regular basis, I encourage you to leave no stone unturned in supporting yourself. You deserve to live a life where you have tools to help you navigate moments of anxiety. Guided meditations for anxiety can be really empowering ways to meet our anxious feelings with kindness, clarity, and awareness.
Wishing you well always. Peace.
