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MeditationPanicking SOS

Panicking SOS

In a fight or flight moment, anchor your mind and body in the present.

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Better mental health starts with Headspace. Unrivaled expertise to make life feel a little easier, using guided meditations, mindfulness tips, focus tools, sleep support, and dedicated programs.

Better mental health starts with Headspace

So no matter what the cause or conditions are for the anxiety that you're feeling right now, just take a moment to sit down. Just pausing, taking a big, deep breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Try to feel the movement of the body as the body breaths. Rising sensation as you breathe in, falling sensation as you breathe out. With the next out breath, just gently closing the eyes, allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm. As you just feel the weight of the body press down against the seat beneath you and the feet on the floor. So we're just gonna take a moment to focus our attention, you can choose it can be the seat or it can be the feet on the floor. That's gonna be your anchor, so that sensation is ever present, it doesn't change. So it doesn't matter how many thoughts come and go, it doesn't matter how strong any emotion becomes. In the moment we realize we're getting caught up in that, we just come back to that sensation, that feeling of being grounded. It's as though we're able to just step out all the busy-ness of the mind and just be present in the body. If you find you get distracted by another sensation in the body, rather than pushing it away just gently noting it. Okay that's feeling. And then coming back to that sensation, that anchor against the seat beneath you or the feet on the floor. Likewise, if you get distracted by thinking, just noting it, oh yeah, thinking, letting it go and coming back to that anchor. So we're not pushing anything away, we're allowing thoughts and feelings to arise but the moment we realize we're getting caught up in them we just note it and come back again to that feeling of being grounded, present, no longer caught up in the busy-ness of the body and mind. Just take a moment longer feeling everything begin to slow down, bringing the attention back into the space around you. And then when you're ready, just gently opening the eyes....

Details

TypeMeditation
Duration3 min

About your teachers

  • A former Buddhist monk, Andy has guided people in meditation and mindfulness for 20 years. In his mission to make these practices accessible to all, he co-created the Headspace app in 2010.

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  • Eve is a mindfulness teacher, overseeing Headspace’s meditation curriculum. She is passionate about sharing meditation to help others feel less stressed and experience more compassion in their lives.

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  • As a meditation teacher, Dora encourages others to live, breathe, and be with the fullness of their experiences. She loves meditation’s power to create community and bring clarity to people’s minds.

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  • Kessonga has been an acupuncturists, therapist, and meditation teacher, working to bring mindfulness to the diverse populations of the world.

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  • Rosie Acosta has studied yoga and mindfulness for more than 20 years and taught for over a decade. Rosie’s mission is to help others overcome adversity and experience radical love.

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