Meditation - A Drug Free Solution for Anxiety

Meditation defined

One of the safest anxiety disorder treatments that anyone can adopt without the need for any equipment or professional help, meditation impacts the mind and body and brings about desirable changes in both. The concept behind meditation is that you focus your attention and consciously eliminate the constant stream of thoughts that keep your mind stressed and overworked. Practitioners will tell you that this is a technique to transform your mind.

Can meditation help anxiety symptoms?

With meditation, you gain control over your thoughts and keep those thoughts away that cause you anxiety. The American Psychological Association has conducted a lot of research in this area and come to the conclusion that this technique can reduce stress, depression and anxiety disorders. Those who practice meditation techniques regularly are seen to have calmer, more composed reaction to stressful situations, thus resulting in less anxiety. Meditation also helps train the brain to respond efficiently and in a healthy manner to stress, which means that you benefit in the long term.

What type of meditation works best for anxiety?

While it is clear now that meditating may be one of the simplest anxiety disorder treatments you can adopt, you should know exactly what kind works in such situations.

• Mindfulness meditation:

This method tells you how you can take back control of your thoughts and relieve your mind from its continuous, feverish activity. Practicing mindfulness also helps you learn how to calm down your body. Mindfulness is the practice of being in the ‘now’, accepting your mental journey as is without allowing it to sway you. Meditation is the mental training aspect. You combine both in this technique, often with the help of deep breathing. All you may need to practice mindfulness meditation is a silent, calm, free space and a willingness to give your best to this practice.

• Body scan meditation:

This is a more targeted meditation technique and it works well when you are looking for anxiety disorder treatments that address physical manifestations of anxiety as well. Anxiety often results in physical discomfort. Many patients suffer from chronic pain, such as lower back pain, migraines or overall muscular achiness. These, when left unattended, can blow up into long term issues as well. The body scan meditation technique is a simple, effective way to put a stop to this vicious cycle quickly. In thistechnique, you consciously take your attention to various parts of your body and relax them. This is done in a structured way so that no part of your body is ignored.

• Loving-kindness meditation:

This self-care methodcan make you more empathetic and forgiving towards yourself. This technique takes more practice than the others because you need to call upon your mind to think lovingly and kindly about yourself and about others. While this can take a bit of time to master, the result is a change in your overall sense of wellbeing and the way you approach life itself.

How to succeed in meditation with crippling anxiety?

When you are feeling anxious, how can you meditate successfully? This is a common question, but the fact is that while you may be quickly distracted during the first sessions, you will find yourself being able to meditate for longer periods as you keep at it. Here are some tips:

• Take it one small step at a time and don’t overreach with expectations

• Ease yourself into meditation with some deep breathing or music

• Consciously relax your body and let your mind slip into the right state too

• Don’t get frustrated if you cannot seem to stop thoughts; let them come in but don’t hold on to them

In conclusion, anxiety and related issues can destroy your quality of life and that’s why you must address these quickly. Meditation techniques are simple and effective anxiety disorder treatments that require no ingestion of medication and can be done in the comfort of your home. They are easy to learn and require just patience and perseverance to master, but once you do, they transform the quality of your life for the better.