Mindfulness

[Kaede]

Is there anyone here who has found Mindfulness apps and exercises helped them overcome their anxiety? I have downloaded two apps and tried it but they want me to focus on my breath.

However trying to focus on that makes me hyperaware of my breathing to the extent where I feel like I can't get enough air.

So, do you guys have any tips for mindfulness for an absolute Mindfulness noob who is terrible at relaxing?

Thanks!

[zippy]

I am glad it's not just me because i have tried it i and i was exactly the same. It made me more anxious and more aware and felt like i couldn't get a breath.

[randomforeigner]

No, not really, but I read yesterday that 'mindfulness' is to become one of the standard treatments for depression, in my country's equivalent to the NHS. I read one good book about 'mindfulness' but it's not available in English ... :-(

[ScaredLizard]

Don't focus on breathing! That makes it so much worse! I have a chakra meditation app that helps me way more than breathing. I can give you the info if you want? Then you focus on flowers opening in that part of the body instead of breathing

[Kaede]

Don't focus on breathing! That makes it so much worse! I have a chakra meditation app that helps me way more than breathing. I can give you the info if you want? Then you focus on flowers opening in that part of the body instead of breathing

Sure, I'd like the information.

I mean mindfulness wants you to focus on the sensation of the breath and wants you to stay with the breath, but I can't seem to get how ti do that.

---------- Post added at 20:33 ---------- Previous post was at 20:30 ----------


No, not really, but I read yesterday that 'mindfulness' is to become one of the standard treatments for depression, in my country's equivalent to the NHS. I read one good book about 'mindfulness' but it's not available in English ... :-(

Is it available in Swedish?

Jag forstar och pratar svenska (eller jag forsoker att gora det) - language learning is my way of meditation.

[ScaredLizard]

Sure, I'd like the information.

I mean mindfulness wants you to focus on the sensation of the breath and wants you to stay with the breath, but I can't seem to get how ti do that.[COLOR="blue"]

---------- Post added at 20:33 ---------- Previous post was at 20:30 ----------



It's called 'My Chakra Meditation' and is a free app. It plays really calming music and the focusing on lights inside of my body has helped me relax in ways I never have.

[SLA]

Mindfulness, like most exercises requires practise.

So you are asked to focus on your breathing... and then you feel like you can't breath. Well... thats because you're still anxious...

Were you expecting your anxiety to vanish the second you started practising mindfulness?

Do you give up instantly because you're still anxious? No.

Keep practising. Just because you "feel like" you can't breathe doesn't mean you can't actually breathe. Its all part of the illusion you are trying to overcome.

Work hard at it and it will have amazing results.

It doesnt happen instantly.

[ScaredLizard]

Mindfulness, like most exercises requires practise.

So you are asked to focus on your breathing... and then you feel like you can't breath. Well... thats because you're still anxious...

Were you expecting your anxiety to vanish the second you started practising mindfulness?

Do you give up instantly because you're still anxious? No.

Keep practising. Just because you "feel like" you can't breathe doesn't mean you can't actually breathe. Its all part of the illusion you are trying to overcome.

Work hard at it and it will have amazing results.

It doesnt happen instantly.

Not always Re: Work hard at it and it will have amazing results. I've been meditating for 7 years. I still can't meditate on my breathing. That's why there are so many different kinds of mindfulness exercises. What works for someone might not work for someone else.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I agree with SLA. I was the same when I started this and it took me a couple of months of daily practice to get beyond this problem.

But my therapist also gave me standard techniques used in anxiety like Calming Breath and Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). All of them meant some level of focus on a bodily function and all of them increased my anxiety which was already hyper focused on such things.

Mindfulness of breath is one of the exercises, it's the foundation. Mine had 3 breathing exercises at the start which were an induction prior to the period of sitting observing. If my mind wandered and I couldn't get it back to observation, you use the induction again to help you focus on something away from your anxiety.

Because it makes you anxious doesn't mean you are engaging in something negative, although it can feel that way for a while, but it's a matter of sticking with it and coming through to the other side.

If you want to try some for free, the link in my signature has a load of them for download. You will see in the MBSR and MBCT programmes that there are different forms, breathing tends to be right at the start as it can be easier than the others to get into.

---------- Post added at 04:37 ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 ----------


Don't focus on breathing! That makes it so much worse! I have a chakra meditation app that helps me way more than breathing. I can give you the info if you want? Then you focus on flowers opening in that part of the body instead of breathing

This is obviously based on your own experience but I don't think you can make a generalisation about it making it worse when so many people have been able to work with it.

The OP may find the other exercises a way to get into it but the same could be said for all off them with our varied anxiety symptom issues and skewed thinking.

It's like with therapy, it can be hard to get into and sometime practice or adding on techniques shows you that you can get into it. So, it might depend on how long someone has been using it or whether they need some adjustment.



---------- Post added at 04:40 ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 ----------


No, not really, but I read yesterday that 'mindfulness' is to become one of the standard treatments for depression, in my country's equivalent to the NHS. I read one good book about 'mindfulness' but it's not available in English ... :-(

It is over here in the UK devised MBCT version for recurrent depression. Although Mindfulness outside of this form is used as an add on for many mental health disorders.

[Kaede]

Thanks for all the replies, I guess I will keep on trying.

It's just that I'm the kind of person whose brain never stops thinking and I get frustrated easily whem I'm not good at something right at the beginning.

[SLA]

How would you know if it did stop thinking?

Sounds like 99% of people.

[Kaede]

How would you know if it did stop thinking?

Sounds like 99% of people.

Ok, wasn't the best choice of words.

I meant that it's always focusing 100% or something...