Struggling with anxiety? Meditation can be a powerful tool for finding relief and balance. Through regular practice, meditation helps calm the mind, reduce stress, and manage the overwhelming symptoms of anxiety. Whether it’s focused breathing, mindfulness techniques, or guided imagery, these meditation exercises teach you how to centre yourself, fostering a deep sense of inner peace. As you gain mastery over these techniques, you can handle anxiety more effectively, easing into social situations with newfound confidence and clarity. Explore the benefits of meditation and take steps toward embracing a calmer, more focused life.
Let’s Talk About Social Anxiety
When you’re around others, do you feel anxious? Do you feel the need to perform constantly? When you return from a social gathering, do you feel drained and exhausted even though you didn’t do anything physically taxing? You are probably experiencing social anxiety. This type of anxiety might make you want to avoid social situations, and you might suffer from the fear of humiliation or saying something wrong.
As humans, all of us suffer from a certain level of anxiety when it comes to socialising, but it becomes a problem when it takes over your regular life. Experiencing anxiety of this kind can affect your personal and professional life. It can take a toll on your mental well-being, too. If this sounds like you, maybe understanding anxiety meaning will help you learn how to overcome anxiety. So, let’s begin.
Explore this calming guided meditation to release anxiety with Prameet Kotak on SoulSensei.
What Exactly Is Social Anxiety?
Social anxiety is common among humans today and more so in post-covid times. This is because we leave our homes less than the generations before us. Social anxiety is a form of anxiety in which we dread social situations. Also known as social phobia, social anxiety makes the individual struggling with it suffer from embarrassment and self-consciousness from everyday interactions with others. This kind of anxiety symptoms might look like:
- Fear of being judged by others
- Fear of acting in a way that might be embarrassing or humiliating
- Physical symptoms like blushing, trembling, sweating, nausea and dizziness
- Isolative behaviour
- Apprehension and self-doubt
- Difficulty forming new connections and maintaining existing ones
So, wondering how to deal with anxiety? The good news here is that this kind of anxiety can be managed with meditation exercises. It is considered one of the most powerful tools to alleviate these feelings.
Try this short session on how to conquer overthinking with Kanchan Wadi.
Why Meditation Might Be the Answer You’re Looking For
Meditation is an ancient practice that finds its roots in many cultures. This practice is known to soothe and calm the mind while promoting emotional well-being. Meditation exercises can lead you to feel a sense of inner calm and improved self-assurance. Through this practice, you can learn to observe and accept your thoughts without judgment. When doing meditation exercises, with time, you will notice your anxiety melting away and increased feelings of confidence arising in you. Benefits of meditation include:
- Calmer mind and body
- Positive thinking
- Improved focus and attention span
- Better quality of sleep
- Stronger emotional resilience
- Lower blood pressure
- Better heart health
- Emotional regulation
- Improved creativity and empathy
- Increased self-awareness
- Lower anxiety and stress
Practise this quick meditation to release anxiety with Prameet Kotak.
The Science Behind Meditation and Anxiety Relief
Meditation activates your brain’s regions that control worrying emotions and emotional regulation. It helps you become more present and curbs overthinking. Meditation exercises are also known to reduce cortisol levels in your bloodstream which is the hormone responsible for inducing stress in our bodies. It slows down your sympathetic nervous system which leads to lower blood pressure and slower heart rate. It can boost memory and learning. The benefits of meditation also include improved self-compassion and brain function.
Understand the states of meditation with Prameet Kotak in this short session.
Getting Started: How to Make Meditation Work for You
Now that we are aware of all the benefits of meditation, let’s understand where to start. The best part about meditation is that you don’t need much in terms of material. All you need to do is carve out some time in your daily routine and find a quiet spot in your home where you can concentrate on your breath for a few minutes. The key is to stay consistent and be patient.
Keep in mind to approach meditation with an open mind. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Different meditation practices work for different people so you’ll have to experiment to find your fit. If you’re not sure what’s the right way to meditate for you, consider joining guided meditation practices like the ones available on SoulSensei.
Consider this guided meditation to move from chaos to clarity with Arjun Aiyar.
Different Meditation Techniques to Try
To reap the many benefits of meditation, here are some techniques you can try.
1. Breathwork
There are a few different ways you can use your breath to meditate. You can try deep breathing, breath counting and breath awareness. For deep breathing, take deep breaths through your nose that reach to your abdomen and exhale through your mouth. For breath counting, you should inhale deeply through your nose, counting “one.” Exhale slowly through your mouth, counting “two.” Repeat this till the count of ten, and then start again. In breath awareness, you simply need to sit in a quiet place and observe your breathing.
Harness the power of breathwork for anxiety with Prameet Kotak in this short session.
2. Body Scan
Close your eyes and sit in a comfortable position. Now, bring your attention to each body part, starting from your toes and ending at your head. Notice how each part feels as you progress.
3. Visualisation
Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a beautiful or calming place. Engage all your senses in visualising how you’ll feel in that place. It could be a beach or a mountain, whatever works for you.
4. Affirmation Meditation
Sit in a quiet, comfortable place and repeat affirmations like, ‘I am happy’, ‘I am kind to myself’, and ‘I deserve all the love in my life’. Feel the feelings of kindness and empathy while doing this and extend these feelings to those who you interact with everyday.
Discover these positive affirmations to release fear with Saqib Rizvi.
5. Mindfulness Meditation
Pick an object close to you and then focus all your concentration on it. Observe its colours, textures, odours and anything else that comes to mind.
Explore this short session with Dr. Ddevika for building a daily mindfulness routine.
6. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This technique is great for releasing any physical tension in your body. In this method, you can gently tense and relax each muscle group starting from your toes.
Tips for Sticking with Your Meditation Practice
The benefits of meditation are best experienced when you practise it every day. Here are some tips on how to deal with anxiety by making meditation part of your daily practice:
- Start small. Try meditating for five minutes at first and then increase the time as you go.
- Make it a part of your everyday routine. Do it first thing in the morning or before going to bed.
- Measure your progress. Keep a journal and note down how you feel before and after meditating. This will help you start motivated.
- Accept that your mind will wander while meditating but the key is to always return back to the practice and to calm your mind.
Embracing Calmness in Social Situations
Social anxiety might feel like a lot to deal with, but it is treatable. If not addressed, this type of anxiety can disrupt your personal and professional life. Meditation is a great way to combat this issue. You can use techniques like breathwork, body scan, mindfulness, visualisation, affirmations and progressive muscle relaxation. Discover guided practices for all these techniques and more on SoulSensei.
Sources
- Format medical – Meditation to ease social anxiety: Inner calm for confidence.
- Psychcentral – How meditation can help you manage social anxiety. By Emma Dibdin.
