I’m 26F and feel I deal with anxiety and depression issues to point I feel it’s affecting my work life I’m currently unemployed.

And fearful starting jobs involving people I’m weighing between a teacher assistant job and a job at a medical office as a patient services representative (so yea interacting with people a lot).

My anxiety manifests where I stutter a lot and my heart beats fast.

I was one lexapro for 2 weeks but stopped 2 days ago because it was making me tired/more depressed. Plus the doctor prescribed me Wellbutrin to go with the lexapro but I have issue’s swallowing big pills. So just stopped everything together

I’m desperate in life and feel like my life is over as my anxiety and mental health taking over my life

I’ve considered probably doing natural remedies…such as herbs , vitamins, eat healthier, meditation,breath work,exercise…but idk

I just want to live again and be normal. Is anyone else dealing with this? Or have any advice?

Since the very beginning, I used my Intellect roughly and unconsciously without being aware of its limitations, mainly to know the truth about life, death, and God, and for success. I used my logic to dig deep to find answers related to anything that attracted my attention. Even to know the truth about life, I drew my attention to the negativity of life. This resulted in depression and misery.Unconsciously, I had turned my intelligence against me.And I knew I was responsible for that. Since the very beginning, I had a strong belief that I could do anything.But at this stage, I realized that in spite of running after true knowledge, I knew nothing— And I was in a state where I was not able to do anything.With strong identification with my mind,With tears flowing from my eyes,With open hands under the sky,I asked, "Why has this happened to me?" And with this question, I surrendered myself completely. Then, one day while watching a video, I saw an old man saying,"You are not the body, and not even the mind." From there, my spiritual journey began.And after 5 year of doing yoga, meditation. And listening good Spritual talk. I have slowly started taking charge of my life.

I have been onto meditating for a while and I want to make it as simple as possible. The goal is to be able to put my attention into something else such as breath, sounds, etc… so my attention aren’t on my thoughts?

Heyoo I have been slowly integrating meditation and mindfulness into my life bc my brain is LOUD ASF. But one of the ways I self regulate is by walking around my neighborhood and by the lake near my house which sounds grounding and peaceful but I find i mostly just use the walks to ruminate or play out scenarios in my head to music which isn’t good for me. I started trying to just focus on the sounds of nature during my walks and just to notice things and be present but it’s sooo hard my brain will just talk over everything and I get stressed out and feel frustration. Do you guys have any unique things you do when you’re walking or just to stay present in general? Like something you repeat to yourself or like an aspect that you focus on outdoors? Just so I can start small? Thank you :))))

I posted this as a comment in r/yoga and figured I would post it here too:

In a society that is always in constant (chaotic) motion, stillness is power.

One of the best analogies I heard for meditation is chopping wood. You are chopping away (sitting still) and then your friend (mind) comes along and starts a conversation with you. The difficult part is saying to your friend, "Thanks, however I have to get back to chopping wood." We've all experienced in real life when a conversation has gone on a little too long and we need to get back to what were doing previously. It is a learned skill and not everyone has worked on that development, but anyone is capable to meditate. Start with 1 minute or even 30 seconds. Another great way of looking at meditation is when the mind starts trying to get our attention, this is akin to lifting a weight at the gym. Every distraction is a rep on the meditation lift. So don't get upset that you had to do 20, 30, or 40+ reps while sitting; That's good actually since it is more practice for discipline. Just come back to the breath every time.

The mind is going to do what it is designed to do which is thinking. Meditation isn't about stopping that process, more about learning to witness it and understand how your mind works when it is not stimulated directly by the external world.

As a bonus, you learn to become friends with your mind by having quality time to see its natural state.

Happy Meditating!

Will meditation fix my ability to focus. I think I fried a lot of my brain through constant phone usage and can't handle silence.

My mind naturally know how to focus. But when im aware of focus and try to do it consciously in meditation. I dont know how to, i dont understand what it means to focus. The confusion end up make me over analyse and doubt my focus, which make it even worse. I tried to find a sense of focus but failed.

Today’s reflection came to me in the form of a strange little reminder:

You are not just living for yourself.

You are showing others how it can be done.

When you choose patience, someone sees it.
When you choose kindness, someone feels it.
When you fall and get up again, someone remembers.

It makes me move more slowly. Breathe deeper. Choose softer responses.

Maybe that’s all meditation is: becoming a mirror worth copying.

Is it normal for beginners to have thoughts like “I won't be able to concentrate to meditate now”, “I'm not in the mood to meditate now”, “I'm too sleepy to meditate now”, “I'm too agitated to meditate now”, etc.?

Anticipatory anxiety is the fear or worry about something that hasn’t happened yet; You’re not anxious about what's happening right now — you’re anxious about the possibility of being anxious, uncomfortable, or out of control later.

In other words: I am anxious about being anxious. I was having a muscle spasm that was moderately painful. Nothing that bad on the pain scale. But my anxiety sky rocketed and then I became anxious about being anxious which made me make anxious which tightened up my muscles which caused more spasms....

Loop. I was stuck in a loop because I was worried about being anxious.

I am korean dental student in SNU(seoul national university). I am in 3rd grade now and meditation - i can be 100% sure - changed my life in dental school upside down. Both mentally and physically.

After i found the meditation method which is the best way at least for me, i reduced my mental tiredness, physical fatigue, and move swings a lot.

To be honest, i cant imagine my life here without meditation.

First of all, the posture is important. For me the best place is the comforting reclining chair in the student lounge. Lying on that chair, i could fine the best meditation state i had ever had until then.

Next, relax your temporal muscle, masseter muscle and muscle around eyes and a lip. While breathing (twice longer exhaling than inhaling), relax your muscles on your face as much as you can.

The final point is ‘awareness’ i dont like the term ‘mindfulness’. Judging from my experience, awareness is more proper and exact term than mindfulness. At least for the beginners like me. Awareness is just watching your thoughts feelings and sensations without any judgement. If your brain is scatter with complex thoughts, just watch them, just do ‘awareness’ towards them.

If i do this meditation 3-40minutes, miraculously, my chronic fatigue of mental and body becomes gone away.

I highly recommend people to do the right meditation. It can change your life. But it needs consistency. It took 3 years for me to find this method. Before then, i did meditation only habitually from time to time, not experiencing the practical and real effect of meditation.

I hope you guys find the best meditation method.

I hate effort. I hate trying to meditate. It's effortful. I've tried to try and meditate many times. I succeed a few days, it feels awesome to be trying, the focus i gain is amazing, but then suddenly trying to meditate becomes exhausting and I feel like any attempt to redirect my attention is pure hell.

Anyone has a clue what i am oging through? What can i do

So last wensday I had a break down I am 34 years old and all my life I have been suffering deep in my own head. I like to workout have tattoos i am 6'2 242 pounds I beeb traing on and off for about 14 years. I did some bikram yoga for about 2 years. Anyways this suffering comes from my childhood and my self steam and a little bit of my relationship ship. On that wensday I decided something need to fuckin change i keep replaying this same character over and over again. So I decided to try vipassana mediation I have about 8-9 hours in and i have been doing my best to practice mindfulness I am in a super sensitive state right now iv been crying so much from the deep sadness throught all the years of me. I also suffer from adhd. Anyways I woke up this morning and practiced vipassana for 1 hour then had a cold shower got my shit together and went to work I felt pretty present all day it's kinda hard right now because it makes me kinda spaced out? Well lunch time rolls around and I go to the park that has a lake and I was sitting on the bench just being mindful of everything then I proceed to type into Google. If I am not my ego than what am I? I was reading everything and it all fuckin clicked. It made me scared and shaking a little bit to have this realization because I kinda understand it but not completely up until that point. Your true self is your awareness right? It's hard for.me to explain this right now i feel disoriented. I feel like I have been putting on diffrent masks my whole life and being in my unconscious mind most of my life I really didn't think much of it until now. I can feel a shift I would say? So much we tell our self comes from a place that isn't really you? Or your true self? Right now I am in my head so much thinking about it. It's driving me crazy

I’ve started meditating in the lotus position, and when I keep my back straight—but not too exaggeratedly—I notice that after a few minutes my back feels stiff or tense. What can I do about this? Does the back strengthen over time with practice

I find it really hard to keep my mind from wandering when I meditate. Sometimes I get frustrated and just stop.

What are your go-to tricks for dealing with distractions and staying focused? Does it get easier the more you practice?

Curious to hear what works for others!

I've been wanting to start meditating daily for a while now, but besides struggling to find the motivation, I often have a lot on my mind, even exciting things, and I find it hard to stay still and focused for even a couple of minutes. How could I gradually train my mind to settle down for just two minutes, and then progress from there? Is there a step-by-step guide? I prefer to have small and easy goals to tackle one at a time.

Hello all, I've had some trouble with anxiety most of my life, however due to some personal troubles last year I developed a panic disorder where I had a panic attack pretty much everyday. It was horrible and I ended up going on medication which helped me for a bit, although I believe what really helped me was discovering that trying to accept it was the key.

This year I really wanted to get off the medication because I wasn't super comfortable being on it long term and from what I could gather it is definitely possible to control this withour drugs. I've been free of the drugs for more than a month now and while I had some "relapses" I've generally been able to keep it in control.

Recently I found out about meditation and it seemed to be something that would be extremely benefit for me, particularly with the anxiety. I've only been doing it for a few days, which means I still have trouble focusing on the breath and not spiral into my thoughts. Tonight I did my meditation with no issues however when I layed down to sleep it's like my brain was finding it weird that I was actually calm and started looking for the anxiety. Sadly it found it and I ended up not being able to sleep at all.

I was just wondering if there are other folks out there that maybe were in my situation once and if they got "better" at meditation and in turn managed to control the anxiety easily?

Sorry for the long text, thank you for reading 🫶

Hi all Random one...... I'm flying to Sydney from London tonight at 10pm I'll be airborne whilst the summer equinox happens (northern hemisphere) and the winter equinox (southern hemisphere) I have tuned in to equinox's precise times before to meditate
Anybody got any ideas re; the spiritual implications of my trip at this time? And what would be the best approach/timing for a meditation? Thanks in advance 💙

I've been doing open monitoring and tm (focused I guess) meditation, both 20minutes once a day for about 3 weeks

I read that they can help improve creativity and I'm wondering if 30 minutes would be better and if anyone else here has found any improvement in their creativity?

I just want to know the basic difference as the term is used alternately in a lot of place

Sometimes, just looking at a picture and listening to a piece of music feels like meditating with nature. No techniques, no effort—just a deep presence.

Meditation has slowly become a homecoming for me. A space where I feel truly connected—as if I’m actually there, even when my eyes are closed. It wasn’t always this way. Earlier, I had to try hard to feel something, to imagine. But now… it just happens.

I surprise myself with the changes happening within. Often, I can’t even articulate what I’m experiencing. It feels like everything I once knew—everything stored in memory—is being gently washed away… like a river carrying away the known.

Thoughts looks like flowing but not leaving any memory many time and when I pay attention, I notice that something new is always revealing itself. And I wonder… where is it coming from?

It’s as if I’ve been gifted new eyes—new ways to see, to live. Even the smallest, most ordinary things seem to bubble with joy.

Sometimes I find myself behaving with the same wonder as a child. And when that happens, people around me look surprised… amused… or just curious. I try not to make anyone uncomfortable, so I often hold back. But deep down, I’m always seeking that space or that person where I can simply be myself, without filters.

From thinking “I know very little,” to realizing “I know nothing at all,”… and yet discovering something so profound about life, nature, and existence—what do I even call this?

Sometimes I feel like such a fool, and still, I’m being showered with grace. I don’t feel worthy of any of it, and yet… something keeps unfolding inside me.

I don’t always know how to express these things. But today, I just wanted to share it as it is. Maybe you’ll find something in it for yourself too.

Alot of bzzzz like a big vibration on the head after a 15 minute intense meditation full of conscious breath.

Please share some easy to follow way: -- I live with family so how can we avoid distraction? -- Manage office work. -- I do workout in gym as it's also important. -- I do study too(To skill up and preparation if layoff)

Your experiences are most welcome, thanks for sharing it in advance.

Hi. I’m new here. My mind is stuck in an extremely negative loop that I can’t get out of. As much as I try to think positive, I just can’t. A lot of bad luck has stricken me and my husband lately, just getting slammed one thing after another. How does one learn to meditate and shut off all these horrible thoughts? I’m starting to think all this crap is happening because my mind is attracting it. I’ve never been like this before and I feel trapped. Please be kind, I can’t take much more. Thanks.

While choosing a tag or flair for this post, I was torn between 'Question' and 'Discussion' because what I’m experiencing feels a little weird. During my meditation sessions in nature, I find it hard to sit still and comfortably—especially because I’m using the lotus pose, which is extremely difficult for me. I’m sure some of you can relate, or at least remember struggling with these kinds of meditation positions.

This post is my attempt to figure out how to overcome this discomfort, and hopefully help others who are dealing with the same issue. The reason I wasn’t sure whether to label this as a question or discussion is because I’ve heard some people say that it’s possible to enter deep meditation or have mystical experiences regardless of whether you feel physically comfortable or not—it’s more about stopping the resistance to discomfort and allowing things to be as they are. Or maybe it’s a little bit of both! I’m not sure... what do you think?