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Meditating - Without Breath

M

masterglen

Greenlighter
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
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4
Hi guys, First time poster. Kudos for having such a knowledgeable forum.

I'm looking for some advice on meditating, only with a twist.

As an anxiety sufferer, my breath has become seriously messed up. Erratic, forceful etc. I'm doing a therapy just to fix it, and relax it, as it's become such an ingrained habit. It's just taking time.

I'd like some advice on where to begin meditation, where the breath plays far less of a role.

My anxiety is pretty under control, and life it pretty easy for me right now, but I have a lot of anchors in my mind, reminding me of suffering. Nothing like PTSD, but just very little evidence of sustained 'happiness' or peace'. It would be nice to find a method that would allow me to take each day a new, and find a little enthusiasm and joy again, to become more present and involved with things, instead of detached.

Help would be great, you folk do seem clued up on such a subject. Sadly there are no real teachers in my area at the moment, so I have to start this journey semi-alone :)
 
as a very visual thinker, i often just naturally focus on that.

i think visualizing to too much of an extreme can be anxiety provoking though... it's like your brain only can handle so much processing at one time, and visualizing takes a lot of energy.

imagine a red triangle or circle... don't get discouraged when it morphs into things you can't explain and you can't keep it to the shape you want. eventually you'll get control of the visual focus (i don't have this yet :/)
 
Following the natural rhythm of the breath is at the heart of meditation - do you have a teacher, someone to guide you? This really helps.

Mindful meditation is also breath focused but teaches walking, sound, body, pain etc meditation. You can use anything as your anchor to the moment.

Breath is handy as it is always there, our very connection to life and easy to return to when the mind wanders as it undoubtedly will do. Try and keep meditation "soft" - non-attainment and non-effort are the name the game, just let it happen and practice often regardless of how long you do it (minute, hour) - just doing it whether it be so called "good or bad" is beneficial.

Jon Kabat Zinn is worth a looky, especially if you have an anxiety or other physical / mental health issue.

<3
 
I'd follow Kate's advices.

I used to have heavy anxiety for some years, but thanks to meditation (I've been practicing on a daily basis for one year and a half now) my mind is slowly becoming calmer, which is helping a lot. Somehow, I still get anxiety attacks, and even tho I can keep my mind calm, my body still panics (tachycardia, fast-breathing, im-gonna-die-feeling, etc). One trick my meditation teacher told me when I asked him about this was talking to my body as if it was a little baby: warmly tell it that it's okay, that it's just a mental pattern what is triggering this anxiety, but that everything is okay, there's nothing to worry about, thanks for caring for me being alert when you feel it could be dangerous, etc. Doesn't work immediatly but if you keep doing it for some minutes it'll work. And follow your breath naturally, without trying to make it calmer, just follow it, just be aware of it.
 
I'm with you, I find focusing on my breath actually makes me more anxious and screws it all up because I over think it. .

I suggest reading about mindfulness... just watch yourself getting anxious while you breath, watch everything including your boredom, anxiety and ennui about practicing meditation.

I find the works of J. Krishnamurti on meditation to be very helpful.
 
Thanks for the responses. Each of you have posted some great tips that I'll incorporate.

It's only really the breathing I have an issue with. I became a habitual over-breather, think gasping loads of air all day, just out of habit. I became pretty dizzy and spaced out a lot. For some reason, when I meditate, it just become extremely irrational. Not out of fear, but just because I'm aware of it, so I feel I perhaps emphasize the act a little more. I pushed through, saw some results, but found after a few months, it wasn't doing me many favours physically. I was getting symptoms from over breathing, e.g. reflux, a spaced out feeling etc. I think I'm just so aware and judgemental of my breath, I find it hard to keep the neutral, and open stance towards my practice.

I'll read through some of the posts. I may try, as a few of you mentioned, becoming mindful and watching the process. I experimented with it a little. I may try meditating for longer periods, to see if my body reaches that second stage of natural breathing. I've been using the Buteyko method to reduce and normalize breathing, so hopefully it can return to normal, and I'll be able to meditate in a more convential way. I may try meditating on an object, it sounds interesting.

I'll be sure to check out the links, appreciated.
 
focus on the lack of sound. imagine the quietness as a portrait. imagine 1 little sound makes a tiny speck of paint on this giant portrait. but even in a loud room the portrait is more then half empty. just focus on the emptyness
 
Lost Ego said:
focus on the lack of sound. imagine the quietness as a portrait. imagine 1 little sound makes a tiny speck of paint on this giant portrait. but even in a loud room the portrait is more then half empty. just focus on the emptyness
Click to expand...

Had to quote this. I like this kind of thought alot, nicely put into words.
 
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