It actually made me more anxious. Had to stop. I’ll resume in awhile and see if it was just a fluke.

@artscaping @cdcc @johnhans may have some comments about using meditation for anxiety.

How much time per day do you spend on meditation, @annedodrill44 ?

Hi. I have been meditating for many years and now I’m able to stand in grocery store line up and meditate. I love it!

I meditate mostly at bedtime and I listen to harp music. It’s so very beautiful! But if I really need to I take a ten minute to fifteen minute meditation. It’s different for everyone.

My sister does meditation and yoga. I am not sure I could settle down long enough to do this. For those that do this, it is probably calming and healthy. The harp music sounds nice and I love the harp. I think everyone is different and find something to relax. I should do something, but I actually never thought about it. Now, I am thinking about it. Music is good therapy.

Hi Lisa! We were to encouraged to meditate for 20 minutes first thing in the morning and 20 min. before dinner. Certainly it is not easy to put intrusive thoughts from your mind, but the teachers say that is not the immediate goal. Rather, you allow thoughts to come, then gently return to your mantra. This approach is to help cleanse the years of anxieties bit by bit. Patience is necessary. But when you sit, breathe calmly, and quiet your mind, the brain is eventually retrained and conditioned to behave that way.
At Mayo in Rochester there are beautiful meditation rooms. Their physicians encourage their use. If Mayo thinks there’s benefit to meditation, that’s good enough for me.:)
Thank you for everyone who responded to my post. Mayo Clinic Connect is truly a gift.

I have been meditating daily for almost three years now. For me, bedtime is the best time. At first, I did five minutes, then ten minutes and am up to an hour now. I wear a watch that has an hourglass setting on it and every half hour, I set it to relax and do deep breathing for two minutes. Between daily meditation and mindfully breathing throughout the day, I've found a new calm for myself. I would encourage anyone to try it. Our grandchildren are learning this too in their PE classes at school! Mayo Clinic is awesome, they completely changed the course of my life for the better with their diagnosis.

@annedodrill44, It is difficult to imagine my life today without daily mindful meditation practice. It always amazes me that we want medication to work for hours. What about meditation? How long are the good effects supposed to last? A day? A week? A few hours?

Remembering that meditation gives our entire brain a rest, we can understand why it is better to meditate daily. While it is best to meditate at the same time and in the same place, finding a peaceful corner somewhere can work. And it is best when you have trained your brain to rest "on-demand" and you can meditate for a few minutes….anytime and anywhere.

Then we can call on our meditation practice to counteract our anxiety. Anxiety leads to pain which leads to more anxiety, etc. etc. etc. Mindful meditation will help us control the anxiety……and in doing so, help with the pain.

I hope you will make time to meditate. Please be free of suffering today. Chris

Chris, thank you for sharing your experience with meditation. It’s taking me a while to easily drop into the meditation zone. I hope I get to that point. My anxiety has been with me for so long — I’m really good at that!! I realize I need to exercise some patience here, but am confident that I’m doing something good for myself by meditating.

I cannot seem to let thoughts float on by!

I don’t do well with meditation. It actually increased my anxiety. I’ll give it another try at a later date.

@sears It's okay to not feel comfortable with meditation. Sometimes it takes time to get your mind accustomed to a new way of "just being". There are many forms of meditation. Even simply walking quietly and mindfully can be considered meditation. Good for you for trying again in the near future! I would like to hear what you decide to do and how it all works out for you!
Ginger

I used to meditate successfully for years to help with anxiety/ocd.. I agree, it can change your life. I remember once describing it to other ppl like I felt like I was always on vacation.. that feeling you get right before you have your breakfast the morning of your vacation flight to Jamaica. Lol.. meditation for me slowed things down.. I felt as thought I could see things coming at me in slow motion and had the time to react appropriately. I miss that feeling. If I sit and meditate now, after a few days I get irritable and short fused.. it’s weird.. tried 2-3 times and this always happens.. something needs to come out I guess.. my favourite was the bodyscan.. for 30mins.. loved it..

@cp6401 That is an interesting observation about your meditation practice. I am curious what prompted you to stop meditating, and have you thought about trying another meditation technique? This time of year, especially, it is beneficial to have a measure of control in your responses to stressors!
Ginger

Thanks for the reply ginger
I’ve toyed with the idea of trying it again.. I used to love the way it made me feel after awhile of doing it ..and to your point, I’ve also wondered about other approaches. Like transcendental meditation.. the idea of keeping the brain busy with a mantra while the rest of the mind relaxes and recovers is intriguing.. but I’ve read that ppl think it’s evil etc.. I’m not the most religious person, I have my beliefs.. but I heard you had to get a mantra from a guru etc .. bah.. and ooommmm never really worked for me. I’m quite confused right now about religion to be honest.. as a family I talk to my kids about bedtime.. the power of intention etc..the wife also has her beliefs, but doesn’t practice, I also have a sister who is into other worldly things.. I don’t know.. my ocd makes it worse. I feel like I’m religiously confused lol..perhaps this is all tied in together somehow..