Best guided meditation for anxiety

Have you felt that anxiety has ruined every aspect of your life?

Do you feel the need to explain your mental state to everyone you meet, so they understand it better?

It is time to take control away from this mental state and put it back in your hands through meditation.

Anxiety is a mental health disorder characterized by feelings of worry, nervousness, and fear in everyday life. It can be experienced in different ways and to varying degrees and affects people on a day-to-day basis.

While we hope you have access to a healthcare professional who helps you manage this condition, there are quite a few things you can do yourself. Meditation, sleep, and diet are chief among them.

Meditation is a powerful tool in managing anxiety as it has both physiological and cognitive benefits. There are readymade solutions for anxiety through meditation apps like Headspace and Calm.

In this article, we will provide the best guided meditation for anxiety step-by-step. We also discuss how meditation helps people with anxiety.

We want to lay out the major points of meditation for anxiety. Details like duration should be left to the practitioner, as each person responds to it differently.

There are different types of meditation you can turn to, for similar effects. You can choose from mindfulness meditation, chakra meditation, mantra meditation, loving-kindness meditation, body scan meditation, and many others.

Here, we focus on a basic, approachable guide to meditation that requires no prior experience.

1. Pick a spot to meditate It is very important that you pick a place where you feel most comfortable. This is a process of relaxation, so you'd want to stay away from electronic devices, others in the home, lights from outside, and so on.

2. Assume a comfortable position Many like to practice meditation with a yoga pose, as this ensures a lack of movement and a more rigid system under which to meditate. But the key is to feel comfortable. So simply sit on a meditation mat with crossed feet, with your palms resting comfortably on your lap, with eyes closed lightly. You can just as well use a slightly raised seat or a normal chair if it suits you better.

3. Set an intention An intention is a thought you have in your mind, that directs the meditation process. For anxiety, the intention would be that you don't want the same thoughts repeating in your mind, driving you to an anxious state.

4. Deep breathing Now the intention is set, breathe deeply till your heart rate slows down. This automatically slows down your mind and it's not running away from you like it normally does.

5. Observe your thoughts Let any and all thoughts come and go. Some of these thoughts would be familiar, like fears and worries. But do not engage with them. Simply observe them with a dispassionate attitude. One of the prevalent symptoms of anxiety is the tendency to come back to the same agitating thought over and over again. Meditations for anxiety teach you to stay away from engaging them. These thoughts do not serve you or prepare you, but merely make something challenging seem impossible to overcome.

6. Wait till your mind is silent This will take some practice, but ideally, after observing thoughts naturally, your mind will grow silent. There are no thoughts that pass through your mind. You will notice only your breathing and how calm your mind feels. All anxious feelings will be gone, replaced by a sense of tranquility.

7. Close out the session When you reach a place of serenity, you can finish your meditation session. Some like to journal for a  few minutes, noting every thought that passed through their mind during the session. You can also chant a mantra right after the session.

We like to recommend closing out the session with a quick mantra meditation, for 5 minutes or so. For anxiety, we ask people to listen to or chant along with the Shaanti Paath mantra.

The word 'Shanti' means 'peace' in Sanskrit. The Om Shanti mantra is a simple peace chant, perfect for a short meditation session. You invoke feelings of peace and harmony in yourself.

This peaceful chant is part of the Ancient Chants from India - Volume 2 album. This album is included in the Ancient Chants from India - Gold Edition.

What we suggest is right after the mind becomes relatively silent, open your eyes and take in the room for a while.

Then chant the Om Shanti mantra, either inwardly or loudly. You can play our rendition of the Om Shanti mantra, and chant along with it if you’re more comfortable that way.

Do this for 5 minutes, and your mind will be still and at peace.

Meditation practices or mindfulness practices have numerous benefits for managing anxiety.

On a physiological level, it helps to reduce stress hormones and lower heart rate and blood pressure. This makes you less vulnerable to episodes of anxiety.

On a cognitive level, it helps to foster a sense of self-acceptance, clarity of thought, increased focus and concentration, and improved mood. This improved sense of self helps manage your anxiety.

In addition, it can also help to reduce physical symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension, rapid breathing, and insomnia. Furthermore, meditation can be beneficial for those who experience panic attacks as it helps to regulate the body’s fight-or-flight response.

There are several things you can do to make your meditation sessions go better.

First, it’s important to understand that the mind is not a static thing. It changes all the time. The more we practice mindfulness and awareness of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and emotions, the easier it becomes to notice when they arise in the present moment.

When we catch ourselves thinking about something from the past or worrying about something from the future, we have an opportunity to change our perspective and shift our focus.

We can choose to be happy now, at this moment, by focusing on what is happening right now. We can choose to let go of the past and worry less about the future. We can choose to live in the present moment and enjoy life as it unfolds before us.

There is a mantra whose natural vibrations have the power to ground us in the present. This ancient chant is called the Ganesha Beeja mantra.

This powerful mantra invokes the energy of the Hindu deity, Lord Ganesha. It is said to boost our powers of focus and concentration, making meditation more immersive.

This Ganesha mantra is part of the Ancient Ganesha mantras for Success, Prosperity, and Good Fortune album. The album is part of a mantra bundle called the Ancient Chants from India - Gold Edition.

Meditation can be described as a process of focusing attention on a particular object or thought. It is an ancient practice that has been used for thousands of years to help people cope with stress, anxiety, and depression.

Meditation is also associated with improved physical health and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

The major physical benefits of meditation are reduced stress, improved sleep quality, and increased attention.

Meditation is a form of mind-body exercise that can be practiced in various ways. Meditation has been shown to improve the ability to concentrate, reduce anxiety, increase self-esteem, decrease pain perception, and enhance immune function. It also reduces blood pressure and improves mood.

We hope that this step-by-step guide serves as a useful resource for those who are looking for ways to manage their anxiety.

Regular practice of meditation can help to reduce stress hormones, foster clarity of thought, increase feelings of self-acceptance, regulate the body’s fight-or-flight response, reduce physical symptoms such as headaches and muscle tension, boost self-compassion and empathy towards others, improve relationships with others as well as improved mental health, and improve physical health by reducing inflammation levels in the body.

By following this step-by-step guide to a guided meditation for anxiety, you can reap the many benefits that meditation has to offer and learn how to better manage your anxiety issues.