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20130409

Anxiety Relief Through Meditation

Sometimes, when sitting in my room meditating, my mind gets restless. Anxiety leads to emotions and feelings appearing to get the better of reason. It's as though I have two minds.

When of two minds, it's as though the heart battles with reason.

Once I've calmed down, I let the heart-mind exercise compassion.

How do I calm down? I start by concentrating on my breathing. Within a minute, my heart slows down. At this point in my meditation, I let my thoughts come and go without following any of them. Since the object of the meditation is to collect my thoughts, I find that letting go of them leads to a calm mind.

When one lets go of thought, thoughts are free to dissipate.

Through single-minded concentration it is possible to rein in the heart through the use of reason. This requires no effort on my part, except to breathe and to observe my mind carefully.

If anxiety starts to rise, then I return to my breathing by "thinking breathing."

After a short while the mind is calm, all anxiety forgotten. As a result, I feel positive and self-assured. When the mind is calm, and the rational mind is once again in control, the heart-mind is free to exercise compassion.

At this point in my meditation, I start to generate good thoughts to ensure the positive frame of mind in which there is no room for negativity.

Then the meditation is over and I'm ready to handle the day.

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