I really understand that. Maybe think of things that would have the power to distract you. That is exactly what the music is doing for me. It gives something very simple to focus on. ....the beat. I try to breathe to the beat if you know what I mean.

I'm still playing with mindfulness and meditation but struggle as go off track so easily. I can focus on a beat of music but if I try to focus on my breathing just by itself, especially when my nervous system is on high alert, my efforts fall by the wayside. I'm still practicing though. I do think that one day it will help me.

The one thing that HAS come from my looking into mindfulness was a tiny comment in a single article I read on flipboard. As I like to understand what is happening in my physical body at a deeper level, I read that if we breathe in deeply. ....and hold our breathe for even for just a couple of seconds. ....that this tells our fight/flight/freeze nervous system that it's OK. .....and the response from our body is that our heart rate with drop, and I'm sure it said our boys pressure does too.

I had a go breathing in deeply and holding my breath for just a count of 2 or 3...whichever felt right. ..... and I could feel something different.

I saw my doctor for a regular check in about a week later and asked her about this as I hadn't found any other article to back this one up. She said that it does happen that way. Off the top of my head I think it's called the sympathetic nervous system. Other articles speaks of taking longer to breath out than in. ....but I work better with the "hold breathe for a couple of seconds". Finally after years of people saying "take deep breaths" I have the reasoning WHY.

Every now and then. ....when I'm so razzed up and fidgety, talking so fast that not even I can understand what I'm saying, or when I can feel my frustration climbing a tad close to a blow out.....every now and then I remember to take a long and shaking breath in. ....then I consciously try to hold it for a couple of moments. .....then I breath it all back out again. I can actually FEEL my heart rate slow down.

The more I remember to practice this " in the moment" when I am feeling so razzed up inside me and around me. .......the more easily I remember to TRY it.

So that might be a tiny little thing you could try....and hopefully you'll find it equally helpful.

It makes sense too why breathing to my music helps so much as I am effectively breathing in to a count of 4 then back out to a count of 6.....otherwise I hyperventilate. So it's that longer breath out.

Isn't it wonderful learning WHY we're told to do something as simple as breathing deeply?