Health
Two Meditation Techniques to Help With Panic Attacks and Anxiety
Panic attacks are very common nowadays and so are its treatments. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with prescribed medicines is considered the most effective cures for overcoming panic attacks. But it takes a lot of time and money to undergo these treatments. One can use meditation as a regular practice to complement the existing treatment or alone if the disorder is in the initial stage.
Meditation also acts as a preventive therapy for stopping yourself from having panic attacks ever and will help you in your quest in overcoming shyness/social anxiety.
How to Cure Panic Attics with Meditation
How to cure panic attacks with meditation – Thousands of meditation techniques are practiced all around the world, but right now we will discuss only 2 very basic techniques. They are so easy to practice and effective that they are the best starting point of meditation for beginners. There are four basic requirements for practicing these techniques:
- A quiet comfortable place
- A relaxed posture
- An object to focus upon
- An outside attitude.
In both techniques, you always start by assuming a relaxed posture in a comfortable seat where you won’t be distracted from outside sources for the next 20 minutes. You have many inside distractions to deal with already. But don’t bother about them too much. Keep an outsider’s attitude. Don’t criticize, judge, or involve.
Concentration Meditation
It requires you to focus your awareness on a chosen object. It may be your breathing pattern, an affirmative word like ‘peace’ or ‘love’, a religious mantra like ‘Om mani Padme hum’ or ‘om Namah Shivaya’, or a sound like ‘om’ or ‘Soham’. You need to dwell on your chosen object gently and at ease. If any distraction arises, be aware of it, notice it, and start dwelling on your object of focus once again till 20 minutes are over.
Awareness Meditation
You begin it the same way. But in awareness meditation, there is no single object of focus. Whatever content (emotion, thought, image, fantasies, etc) arises in the realm of awareness becomes your object of meditation. We can say that concentration meditation is an all exclusive form of meditation, while awareness meditation is an all-inclusive form of meditation. Start by bringing you to focus on your breathing pattern.
After a while, allow yourself to become aware of any perception that rises up. As soon as you notice a thought or an image; register it, observe it without judging and name the perception such as ‘tingling in arms’ or ‘an image of a big man’. Don’t indulge yourself in your thought, just keep at the bay.
Suppose you find yourself lost in your thought (it happens a lot initially), bring back yourself by focusing on your breathing pattern. Gather yourself and re-assume the role of passive witness.
Hopefully, this short guide will help to calm you and reassure you that there are methods in which you can help to reduce the chances of panic attacks and any anxiety that you might face. If you do decide to seek professional help then please do a quick background check to make sure that the experts you consult have the relevant qualifications and come highly recommended.
