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Old Nov 15, 2008, 02:20 PM
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lifelesstraveled lifelesstraveled is offline
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Member Since: Oct 2008
Location: East Coast
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She covered the basic information about mindfulness and slow deep breathing. Some I just improvised.

Mindfulness: She told me to focus on something in my present place (my room usually) a candle flame, music-without lyrics, a single object or my breath while practicing mindfulness.

Deep Breathing: Slowly inhale and then exhale to a count of 7 or 8(this count will vary from person to person). If you are anxious, slowing the body down will eventually slow your mind down. T said it works every time..it takes while for me to get this to work as I have been sufferinng with anxiety for almost 20 years (I am only 25....go figure!)--so it may take more than mindfulness and deep breathing to elevate my anxiety(I am trying to avoid it)

I like to combine the mindfulness and deep breathing and visualization(i incorporated that myself) together to give me ultimate clarity--it's absolutely wonderful to have an empty mind, even if only for a few minutes. What I do is (I am flying by the seat of my pants) wait until everyone else is sleep, light my room with a single candle and lay on my yoga mat. At first I listened to smooth jazz sans the lyrics, but the tempos were constantly changing and I decided I wanted something that remained at a single tempo (i.e like the sound of heavy rain or a waterfall). Last night I listened to Heavy Rain and practiced my deep breathing and mindfulness all while visualizing myself sitting on a porch of a home in a Lousiana bayou watching the rain pour down across a landscape of cypress trees.

I don't know if this will help anyone. It so far helps me temporarily and the effects last long enough for me to get to sleep, thankfully. But since I have been suffering with anxiety for almost 2 decades, I think it will take more than meditation to alleviate it so I can function better on a daily basis.