Caffeine, anxiety's no.1 evil potion.

[ankietyjoe]

Ugh, give me a suggestion for anything other than "focus on your breathing". I hate that statement and it's so over-used in so many aspects of life. I get very irritated when I try to focus on my breathing - I don't hear myself breathing, I don't "feel" the air moving through my nose, there is nothing about breathing that I can focus on. What if I tap my fingers or something? Can I focus on something more tangible?
Sue

There's a reason it's used a lot, but for meditation it's because it requires no effort to do. Finger tapping is more of a distraction exercise used to intercept anxiety in CBT, and not suitable for meditation.

There are many other things you could try and focus on though. Visually you could use something like a candle (focus on the flame), a water feature etc. I think it's easier at the start to focus on something audible though so maybe try and find something you like using like white noise, the hum of a fan, running water or a constant tone. I don't believe music is meditative at all. The point is to have something benign to focus on, something that you can move your awareness back to when your mind wanders. Not something that in itself can provide stimulation (music, tapping etc).