Even meditating gives me anxiety

[Ronan23]

I'm starting to feel like a really screwed up individual. Meditation, regarded as a universally beneficial activity, has increased my anxiety up even more! I read so much about how it would help me but nope. It's like focusing on my breathing has made me hyper aware of my own breathing and thus it feels like I have to force myself to breathe. Like I'm stuck controlling my breathing. Is this completely unheard of? I don't even meditate anymore but still have periods when i'm not occupied and it feels like I will stop breathing if I don't control it.

[Rennie1989]

Not being an expert on meditation the idea is to blank your mind and to focus on slow, controlled breathing. I do this with counting, breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 2, and breathe out in 5. It also takes practise, I remind everybody starting new coping techniques that they will not work on the first, second, third or even the fifth attempt, they take practise and one day it will click and work beautifully. Keep at it.

[Mrsk]

Hi, this is my first post. I'm an avid follower of the forum but have been reluctant to join in until now. I have the same problem with meditation as you! I was fine meditating on my own from my iPod and found it really relaxing but then I started to go to organised meditation groups with a friend and it really unsettles me. This week, I could see from the clock before we even started that the meditation was going to go on for around 50 minutes and that started me off. Several times during the session I came over hot and could tell that my face was going red but I managed to hold on until the end. I am sure that my anxiety arises when I don't feel in control of the situation and, reading this forum regularly, I believe it is at the heart of a lot of people's problems. I am going to persevere, though, as I do find that mindfulness and meditation do help overall.:)

[inCOGnito]

When I first started meditation I experienced the same thing, an increase in anxiety. It was due to the same reason being over aware of breathing. Basically meditation heightens your awareness of your experience. With anxiety we try and run away from, control, or manipulate experience. But has that ever really worked? Has it worked more than a few minutes, hours, or days?

meditation is NOT about getting away from feelings or experiences. On the contrary it's about opening up to them, going into them, experiencing them fully without the usual resistance we get from our minds.

True meditation is about letting go of control, not trying to become the master of it. Do you have to control your breathing at night when you sleep? What makes you think you have to do it when you're awake? In fact, if you dont think about breathing, do you stop breathing? Or does the body breathe all by itself with no effort?

During your meditation see if you can let go of trying to control breathing altogether and just watch the breath as it breathes naturally. Sometimes it might feel like if you dont control the breath you will stop or something bad might happen. But trust yourself and your body. Let go of control. Notice also in those moments how your throat and chest muscles are contracted and tense. As yoy watch them, they start to release and relax naturally.



Not being an expert on meditation the idea is to blank your mind and to focus on slow, controlled breathing. I do this with counting, breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 2, and breathe out in 5. It also takes practise, I remind everybody starting new coping techniques that they will not work on the first, second, third or even the fifth attempt, they take practise and one day it will click and work beautifully. Keep at it.

Second part is right, not the first :)

idea is not to go blank but to rest as the impartial observer behind all that is happening. That way the environment and the mind can be busy and you can still be meditating.

[MrAndy]

If it doesn't help don't do it,try something else

[MyNameIsTerry]

Breathing in meditation as far as I know if all about regular breathing. This was how I was taught in Mindfulness but I don't know about previous forms such as Transendental.

There are different ways to practice Mindfulness, its not just about meditation so if you find one form hard, it might be worthwhile focussing more on other forms. Sometimes people say they can't sit still hence find meditation really hard but Mindfulness includes movement based techniques as well such as Tai Chi & QiGong but also includes its own styles such as walking or handling of objects which mean you can be a bit more active.

When I first started I found it made me more anxious. I had 3 breathing inductions and it took me a few weeks to get beyond the fact I was going into 'manual breathing' mode.

You can't stop yourself breathing. Try it. Hold your breath as long as you can and the subconscious will take over to protect you. Focussing on breathing can make you 'manual breath' so meditation sounds like a bad thing but this is just the start and the breathing issues with be corrected as you start to become more aware within your practice. Give it time.

Think about anxiety and how it works. You try to help yourself by doing X and anxiety senses you are leaving that comfort zone (which may be a constantly anxious state but its saying you shouldn't try because you could make it worse) and it takes time to 'habituate'. Even meditation can be a level of exposure for some of us.

I would also suggest you look at different ways of practicing Mindfulness as mentioned above as youmay find these less difficult for now.