Anxiety Symptom

Anxiety symptoms have ruled a large portion of my life. I will spare you all the details of how this came about and no doubt there are many theories of psychology that could be applicable in my case. What is more important is how I left it all behind and became a very happy person.

Eventually what helped me is Vipassana meditation, but now I look back on my life I feel that many other things I tried before also had their value. I could not have started with Vipassana if something had not changed before. I cannot tell you exactly what did it, but like Paul in the previous post, I read a lot and tried many different things. I even took up studying psychology myself in order to find out more about what was "wrong with me". This really helped me to make me understand certain underlying tendencies in my behaviour. And in turn it made me strong enough to consider doing a Vipassana course.

This is why I feel that what people like Paul are doing is very important. Of course you can ask yourself why depression has become such a million-dollar industry and if that is ethical. Vipassana meditation is always given free of charge, including even the food and board while you are at the retreat center (see www.dhamma.org for details). At least Paul offers you a money-back guarantee and when you compare it to going to a psychologist, it really is not that much money. It actually costs less then one hour of talking to a psychologist. I went to psychologists as well and I did not find it helped me very much, but maybe you are different. For me self-study was the best policy.

What I am trying to say is that all people are different but in the end, everybody has to find their own way out of anxiety symptoms, no matter how difficult it gets. This does not preclude seeking professional help, but professional help can only be part of the solution. In the end, you have to do it yourself.
This is why I recommend Paul's book (click the banner above) because he has done just that ... read everything he could find to come to a greater understanding about his own mental thought patterns and behaviour. When you want to come out of anxiety symptoms, this is what you need to do. Stop lying in bed feeling sorry for yourself but get up and study .... try to understand. This is the only way out. The solution will not come if you stay in bed. You have to do something, because nobody else can make it go away for you.

Even when you find Paul's book not helpful. It does not really matter. Ask you money back and buy another book or find resources on the internet. So go for it ... do something! Good luck!

Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety Disorder - how simple relaxation methods can help you.

In our modern day and age, stress has reached an all-time high level. In order to combat stress and anxiety, many people try to find solace in drinking, smoking or using drugs. However, all these measures only work counteractive. Because you feel slightly more relaxed than before, you think that it actually works. But the opposite is true. These substances change our brain chemistry and make us addicted. In fact, we become more stressed and need to have our fix in order to feel slightly more relaxed again. If you do not want to go into therapy, you can try the following exercises.

There are many ways to relax easily with a minimum of time and effort. A very well known method is the muscle-relaxation method. This is something you can do just about anywhere at any time, but the best way to learn is to sit in a comfortable chair and do the following:

1. Breath in deeply through your nose. Feel your tummy fill up. Hold it ... and breath out slowly. Hold it .... and breath in again. Try to count to 8 when you breath in and when you breath out. Do this for about 1 minute until you feel a bit more relaxed.

2. Keep on breathing in this fashion. Now tense all the muscles in your left leg when you breath in. Hold it ... and relax all these muscles when you breath out. Hold it .... and breath in again but this time only THINK about how it felt to tense all the muscles in your left leg. Hold it ... and breath out and relax all the muscles in your left leg completely. Feel your leg get very heavy.

3. Do the same with the right leg, the left arm, the right arm, your torso and your head.

4. Finally, you tense all the muscles in your entire body from top to toe when you breath in. Hold it again and let go when you breath out. Do this one more time in though and feel your whole body go very heavy and relaxed.

This exercise will help you to feel more relaxed and be better able to deal with stress and depression.

Another way of dealing with relaxation which takes a bit more work is meditation. It takes a little while to get the hang of it and get the benefits but it is well worth the effort. Most forms of meditation have to do with concentration. They teach you to concentrate on a candle or other object or a mantra. However, the form I would recommend teaches you to concentrate on the breath. Here are the steps:

1. Sit in a comfortable position. Most Western people cannot sit in lotus position so do not worry about this. A comfortable chair with a straight back is just fine.

2. Close your eyes and breath through your nose. This is not an exercise to regulate your breathing so just observe it when you breath naturally.

3. While breathing naturally, which can be hard, soft, fast, slow or anything else, try to feel the touch of your breath inside your nostrils. Feel the cold air inside your nostrils go in and the warmer air go out.

4. In the beginning you will find that your thoughts go all over the place. One minute you are observing your breath, the next you are thinking about your shopping, the argument you had, what you want to say to another person, etc. Do not get upset by this, it is normal. When you notice that your thoughts have wandered off, just bring it back to your breath. It will take a long time before you can keep your concentration on your breath for some time, but in the mean time you will slowly start to notice that you get more relaxed.

5. A next step could be to go on to a more difficult form of meditation called Vipassana meditation.

I personally found meditation a very rewarding practise and it has changed my life. I am very relaxed now and only get the occasional bouts of stress.

There are also many other methods, products and tapes on the market. Relaxation can also be very rewarding in other fields. Lucid dreaming for instance can only be done when you are very relaxed. Although courses and products are not sold with relaxation in mind, they certainly have this very pleasant “side effect”. Also check out the sites for Remote Viewing and Light and Sound machines if you are interested in pursuing this path.

Just remember that you do not have to be stressed out. Relaxation, like anything else, is a choice. We can at any time in our lives choose to take another job, leave our spouse or anything else that gives us stress. You can either take more time for yourself and learn to relax or change your life. All that is keeping you from doing this is just fear ......

Smoking is one of the main causes of stress and I would like to urge everybody who smokes to try to stop. No matter what anybody says, it is never easy for yourself and for the people you live with. But it is a lot easier than the hell you will have to go through for the rest of your life if you don’t!

Anxiety disorder

Anxiety Depression

Anxiety Depression
I started Vipassana in 2001. At that time, anxiety depression was a bit problem for me. I also had panick attacks and was not at all well. A friend mentioned it to me and that same evening I had booked myself onto a course on the internet. I was really looking forward to it because I had been looking for something for a very long time and somewhere deep inside I knew: this is it.

The course was very different from what I had expected. I thought it should be about relaxation, blanking the mind, etc. The first three days was like a concentration exercise, concentrating on the breath, calming the mind. It was hard. Not only was I not accustomed to sitting for up to 12 hours a day on a mat on the ground, I also was unable to keep thoughts from getting into my mind so I was getting upset about not being able to concentrate properly. I had pain everywhere, was unable to find any comfortable position whatsoever. There were loads of other people, whom I did not know but was unable to speak to.

On the 4th day, Vipassana Meditation was taught. Although it was quite an experience, it created something I had not expected. Lots of things came up from my past, lots of thoughts and mental pain. It was hard to face. But finally, after about 10 days of this, Metta Meditation was taught and after that we could speak. It was a bit strange and by that time I did not really feel like speaking any more. I did feel very relaxed that day.

The real interesting part came afterwards. All the stuff that had come up during the meditation seemed like something of the past, something I had lost. As if a burden had fallen from my shoulders. It felt incredibly liberating. I kept on meditating daily and became better and better at the technique and more stuff started falling of. Not always was this easy. Usually it started with periods of anguish, the pain of letting go. But when I finally let go it was just great. It made me into a much calmer and more relaxed person. Although anxiety and stress still come occasionally, it does not really matter any more that much - I can let go and relax much quicker and easier.

It has been the greatest gift anybody could have given me. I am so much more aware, relaxed and happy then I every was. I can face the world, while before I just made due. I have no stress nor anxiety or panick attacks, only the occasional storm but you always know that they will pass and they do not happen very often any more. Even the difficulties that sometimes come up are something that pass and when you come out the other side, your are a happier person. So much weight will fall off your shoulders. Just try it ... what does it matter if you try. You will not change that much if you do just one course so try and see if you like it. If you continue, you know now what can happen and what you might have to face. Then again, you might not. Not everybody is the same. Be Happy.

More in the next posts on how meditation helped me with anxiety depression

Anxiety

Anxiety and panick attacks have crippled my life for many years. With this blog I want to show you how I maneged to overcome anxiety and panic attacks with meditation.