Is meditation a good practice for dealing with stress and anxiety?

Yes, meditation is an amazing practice to help you deal with stress and Anxiety. The act of meditation, when done long enough changes your brain waves, shrinks your Amygdala ( the part of the brain involved with fear), and teaches you to be an observer of your thoughts and emotions instead of being consumed by them. I know meditation can seem like a daunting task, but it is an important reminder to remember how we perceive things in our minds, matters. So if we see meditation as a daunting task and keep telling ourselves this, then well, it will be a daunting task. But if we allow ourselves to get excited and change that story to one of "I am so grateful to be doing this task. It is going to bring me great peace and joy". And just like it takes a while to get into working out, it takes a while to get into working out your brain too.

I would start with Headspace if you have no idea where to start. I also lead meditations, so you can chat with me further if you are interested.

Yes, meditation can be very helpful to alleviate stress and anxiety. Along with mental work, nutrition can help to stabilize brain chemistry that contributes to stress and anxiety. Low blood sugar, coffee and any food allergy can cause a stress reaction, making real life stress even harder. Certain foods and supplements can actually stabilize the way your body handles stress and anxiety.

Very much so! Meditation is a space for the rest, digest, and heal part of the nervous system to come online. When we're stressed, that part of the nervous system is shut off.

For anxiety, regular meditation practice strengthens our ability to identify racing thoughts and an activated nervous system.

To start a meditation practice, begin small. Even just sitting with yourself to breathe in quiet for a minute to start is great. Build up the time you meditate week by week.

Yes meditation is great tool to reduce stress and anxiety. When you meditate, you clear away the information overload that builds up every day and contributes to your stress. Meditation is about focus concentration on the breath which in turn brings you to the present moment. Stress and anxiety usually stem from overly focusing on the past or worrying about the future, but meditation is about bringing your attention to the present moment through focused breathing. Remember the past is done and the future hasn't happened yet, so meditation is trying to teach you to focus on what is rather than what was or what could be, as well as being kind to yourself. Some find meditation to be stressful because thoughts can still take your attention which can cause feelings of failure. Everyone who meditates experiences this, and the object is to just notice the thought without adding any judgement or feeling about it, and once you notice allow the thought to pass as you regain focus on your breath. Be kind to yourself! ✨

A great meditation for stress is the Box Meditation because it distracts your mind as you count to four and calming your nervous system.
Begin by slowly breathing in for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale slowly for counts, and then hold for four counts. Continue for a few rounds or as needed.

The gift of mindfulness is awareness. Once we start practicing, we begin to notice our stress or our anxiety more, as well as our relaxation and 'flow' moments. I have found it most helpful to notice what is happening in our bodies with stress and anxiety. How do you know you are anxious? What are the sensations you're experiencing that you label 'anxious'. Coming into our bodies with awareness and curiosity helps us move out of the 'storyline' which can keep us riled up. Noticing areas of tension and then relaxation can help the body and mind come into greater self regulation. I have recorded meditations on anxiety here: www.insighttimer.com/choosingmindfulness
Enjoy!

Yes! I love meditation for managing stress and anxiety! What I love about it is that it allows us to become the watcher of our mind. There's a great quote by Viktor Frankl, "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Meditation allows us to create more space between the event that creates the stress, and our reaction to it. Through meditation, we can learn to RESPOND to stress and anxiety versus REACT to it.

Yes, meditation can be very successful at easing anxiety. Personally, I've found that Movement expression , freestyle dancing, walking, or practicing a flow arts skill, like martial arts, juggling or hooping, are even more satisfying. Besides building mental confidence & physical grace, these modalities burn off excess unexpressed emotional energy that can be a deterrent to a "sitting" meditation. There are many paths to self-cohesion!

Yes, Meditation is a great way to to help with stress and anxiety. There are a couple of other things I also, recommend. 1- Learn a breathing technique. My favorite is to do the 5-5-7 breath. Simply breathe in for 5 (fill lungs about 2/3 full), hold for 5 and release for 7. (If this is too long at first, you can start with a 3-3-5 breath and work up). I like this breathing technique because I focus on the counting and that is kind of like meditation since I am clearing my mind as well as slowing down my breathing. And 2- List all things you are grateful for. By focusing on what we have vs. what we don't, we create so many health benefits. So, what happens physiologically when we choose to control our breathing or choose gratitude? The Autonomic Nervous System in our bodies regulate our bodily function. This has two branches that greatly impact our health. The Sympathetic Nervous system, known as fight or flight, turns ON the stress response. And the Parasympathetic Nervous System, known as rest and digest, turns OFF the stress response. They cannot both be on at the same time! When you Control your breathing or are feeling grateful, your Sympathetic Nervous System switches off and the Parasympathetic Nervous system switches on. That means that your stress response turns OFF and your relaxation and peace response turn ON.

Meditation can be a good practice to maintain a baseline of mindfulness and calm over time, but on its own may not be the antidote many people are looking for. Breathing exercises are a more direct and rapid approach. There are a lot of different breathing exercises out there, but the simplest is to do a deep breath followed by a cleansing exhale--the exhale should last twice as long as the inhale. This resets the vagus nerve and calms the amygdala (the brain area that initiates the 'fight or flight' panic response). People also get rapid results with EFT tapping and havening. There are a lot of neuroscience-based exercises that many hypnotists teach their clients. If you are not getting the results you want from meditation alone, I suggest working with someone who specializes in anxiety.