Meditation??

I have tried a couple of different meditation apps and I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of meditation. During a panic attack, I can focus on my breathing, but it doesn't do much to help or stop it. Am I doing something wrong? It just doesn't seem to be clicking for me.

I found meditation tough in the thick of withdrawals. I wouldn't have been able to apply it at times, not a chance. But I found it helpful to do the Body scan meditation with guided audio by Jon Kabat-Zinn and 5 minute reset by Sarah Raymond seemed to work. Fairly standard recommendations but seem to be good for me. It was hit and miss, no miracles, I think it helped.

 

In all honesty, I think that breathing exercises are likely to be more effective for people with our troubles. Rather than just focusing on breathing as in meditation, it's intentional breathing in a controlled way. It can be very powerful. 4,7,8 breathing (Google it... plenty of tutorials and YouTube vids to learn from) is a good starting point. Wim Hof breathing is more rigorous, makes you go tingly and lightheaded and can spike tinnitus, some will find it unnerving. But it's powerful, calms me, and seems to make me more vigorous all round. There's a lot to be found in between. But the basic gold is in taking longer, deeper, slower breaths with a pause (but never forced) when your lungs are empty. 4,7,8 is doing that gently, more advanced techniques from what I can tell expand on the same basic principle. I am just getting into it, enough that I know it's power and I am enthusiastic and can say something about it, but not an expert. It really does work though. Some techniques combine meditation with intentional breathing, I think "pranayama" has that but I'm not sure. It's something I keep meaning to check out, because I also am open to meditation and believe in it, but it doesn't seem like I can get the most out of it just yet.

 

My personal take is that regular practice of mindfulness meditation as well as deep breathing makes panic attacks less frequent and perhaps there is even the opportunity to eliminate them, given time. This is rather than being a tool that is primarily helpful to deal with a panic attack when it happens. That's not to say it can't help calm us in the moment too but regular practice definitely helps keep those moments at bay to an extent.

I tried meditation for awhile during the worst of it but my brain was too squirrelly.

Hi All,

 

I have been practicing mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises and qigong during my taper and have found all to be extremely helpful. I found the easiest practice by far is qigong. This incorporates gentel (very gentle) movement, breath work and intention. Google Jeffrey Chand or Qigong for vitality on youtube.

 

If I am extremely anxious I go to qigong first. Every morning I begin my day with breathing exercises as I listen to worship music. I use the calm app for meditation for extra peace.

 

I think qigong is the easiest way for beginners to start to calm down with these eastern practices.

 

Best,

Bibsjo

Thankyou Bibsjo. I am going to try that when I have a free house. I don't want anybody to see me fumble around trying, but I do want to get into something. Gentle is good.

I did a form of meditation for several decades but since Benzos, I can’t focus. No way around it, just impossible. I’m 4 yrs off Clonazepam and no signs of recovery as of yet. I miss being able to suspend the thought process, and place put me in.

I tried meditation for awhile during the worst of it but my brain was too squirrelly.

 

 

Me too, my brain was frazzled.

Used to love meditation, breathing exercises, even tapping, also did yoga!

 

Loved it all!

 

There is no fricking way, any of the above even touches this kind of panic and anxiety!

 

I was a very calm person before all of this!

 

I had life stresses, but no where near to this degree.

 

This is just insane!

 

No one can understand unless they've been through it!

Winnie

I decided to try a form of Eastern Orthodox meditation, I'm Catholic and experienced in contemplation and meditation. But the Eastern Orthodox one is simple and easy for me to do. It's simply repeating the Jesus Prayer, which I did while lying down in my bed with the massage motors on normal setting. The motors run for 30 min before turning off automatically. I did feel myself relax as I kept repeating the prayer in my mind while the massage motors gently stimulated my body. I think I drifted off and napped afterwords. I'm going to keep doing this, and hope it keeps working.