I have not been regularly meditating, just sporadically.
Same here. And my anxiety has been mounting. When I was meditating twice a day for 5-10 minutes, it was less.
I started taking a supplement called 5HTP. It is supposed to help boost serotonin levels. I've been doing it for a week and I feel more "even." I figured it was worth a shot - it might help you also.
Originally Posted by unchien
I have the week off work and went surfing today with a friend. It has been a few months. I am terrible at it, but absolutely love being out in the water, getting exercise, and most importantly, being present in the moment. I wasn't looking forward to the cold water, but every time I go out there, I feel refreshed physically, spiritually and emotionally.
I agree - love surfing even though I'm horrible at it lol. Being outdoors is very helpful. I took an outdoors job 15 years ago to combat sky-high anxiety from working in human-crammed indoor spaces (and to combat my military PTSD). It has helped me a lot. The pay is much less, but quality of life is much better and I can get away from the crowd as needed.
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The drive home is about 45 minutes. I decided to try out a new podcast on anxiety and was surprised how much of it clicked for me. The speaker even mentioned that meditation can be incredibly difficult for anxiety sufferers, because our brains want to break free and run wild and not stand still.
There was tons of useful information, but my big takeaway was, whether through meditation or other means, I need to take better care of myself with respect to the anxiety. Some of the tips seemed very useful and natural to implement without much effort.
I'm glad you've found an outlet for some of your anxiety. 45 minutes is a good long period to be focused on something else. Sometimes that works better for people - distractions for the mind, keep it occupied thinking about anything else.
Yes, it is very excruciating when you first start meditating. I also have/have had very high anxiety. The first two sessions were brutal. After the third I began to like it, then after two weeks it started to become a habit and my body got used to the "calming down". I don't know why I stopped - I have to start back up again. That insight Timer app is awesome.
I've let my brain run amok with thoughts sometimes, but I make it a point to observe it like an outsider - just to see how ridiculous some of the thoughts can be and where they can spiral off. When it gets too out of hand I imagine a giant red stop sign. This has become a habit too - my mind seems to respect the stop sign, most of the time anyway.
