Lots of people talk about the benefits of meditation—it can reduce blood pressure, relieve stress, help you pay attention, improve your memory, and ease insomnia. As you learn to be present in the moment, you’ll find yourself a better listener, a stronger worker, a more compassionate partner, a kinder friend.
For those of us with anxiety, we understand intellectually that meditation can help. But the idea of getting started, of trying to figure out if we’re doing it right, and sticking with it despite our fears can be overwhelming. That’s where Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety comes in.
Author Michael Smith, Ph.D. has been studying meditation and practicing it himself for decades. In addition to that, he’s a psychotherapist, so he understands how to add in tested cognitive behavioral techniques to help keep those with anxiety moving forward in a regular meditation practice.
Smith offers 100 meditations, divided into sections. There are meditations to Calm the Mind, Calm the Body, Calm the Emotions, Morning, Evening, Moving, 5-Minute, and Do Anywhere.
Starting with the meditations to Calm the Mind, you will learn the basic techniques to build from, like observing without judgment, dealing with distraction, learning awareness, finding insight, and dealing with uncomfortable feelings. From there, you can learn to Calm the Body, and use meditations to breathe more deeply, to make better choices in your diet, to relax, to find balance, to move with mindfulness, and even to face fearful experiences like going to the dentist. When you move on to Calm the Emotions, you work on healing by quieting your inner critic, forgiving, and making amends.
There are also meditations for morning, for getting up when you don’t want to and starting your day with focus and intention; for evening, for winding down, dealing with insomnia, and being grateful; for moving, walking, cooking, taking tests, and even for flying; and for 5-minute increments, to stop the cycle of anxiety, resetting, and getting unstuck. There are also meditations that can be done anywhere, from standing in line or sitting in a waiting room.
Smith also includes resources for anyone who wants to do some more reading on mindful meditations or to look up websites on meditation.
Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety offers hope for those of us who suffer from anxiety, in small doses of daily meditation that we can try anytime and anywhere. I have been wanting a book like this, with meditations especially for my anxiety that includes short meditations that I can use at work or at home, when my brain starts to spin out of control. This book gives me exactly that, with 100 options for me to choose from, depending on where I am and how I’m feeling in that moment. And with repeated, consistent practice, I could lessen my overall anxiety just by using the mindfulness techniques here. I am excited to get started and find some relief!
A paperback copy of Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety was provided to be by Callisto Publishers, with many thanks, but I also bought the Kindle version, so that I could keep a copy of the meditations with me via my phone for anxious moments.