Anxiety Meditation

We don't sit in meditation to calm down. We sit in meditation to be with whatever mess is there.

Any goals we might have for results in meditation must be dropped in order for meditation not to be a struggle.

When feeling stressed, instead of reaching for something to get rid or or ease the stress, we can just decide to sit with it and let the anxiety happen. The anxiety is here now, it has arisen now, so all we can do is be with it. All we can do is sit with the headache, the fatigue, the tightness in the chest, the racing heart, the racing mind. Let it all play out and run its course completely. Breathe with it and into it. Relax into it, really let it be there. Allow it in. Experience it fully. Hold yourself with compassion. Care about the pain. Care for yourself.

This is the training to stay. Stay with whatever is present. Don't run, don't rush, don't reach, don't grab. Just stay.