Everyday Mindfulness

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to do a quick introduction.

I suffer from General Anxiety Disorder and thought that mindfulness and meditation might help. My fiancé introduced me to a guided mediation app called Headspace, which I've only just started using. My problem is that I tend to get discouraged; my anxious mind often uses meditation as an opportunity to agonize over minutia.

Should I just stick it out? Does it really help?

Welcome HorseFlye,
You should definitely stick with it! Mindfulness takes a lot of time. You have to be very patient. Mindfulness has been a great remedy for lots of people with anxiety disorders. I wouldn't recommend getting into mindfulness with an app though. I'd recommend doing an 8-week course. Preferably with a teacher, or otherwise via a good self help book. A book we tend to recommend here is: 'Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world'
Good luck!
Peter

Thanks, Peter. I will definitely check it out!

Welcome to the forum Horseflye,

I hope you can experience the benefits that come with the practice. I've recently done the Mark Williams book (that Peter mentioned) and I found it really helpful, it comes with a CD that has guided meditations.

Good luck.

Everyone is different, and different methods of learning work for different people. Like Peter says, I thinking the safest way to learn mindfulness is through the 8-wk course with the experience of a teacher.

Good luck!

Hi there, Horseflye.
I can only echo what Peter has said. It's important to ground yourself in this practice if you want it to make a difference to your life. An app might be enough but I very much doubt it.
Any teachers in your area?
All good things,
Jon

I'm sure there are plenty of coaches in the San Francisco area. Will definitely look into it. Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone!