Body forgetting to breath, not nice and quite odd..

[miahcalm]

Hi there, I have been following the Frantic World 8 week course, has to be said very slowly as I keep hitting walls! My GP tells me I have anxiety disorder so I arrived at this point in the hope it would calm me down somewhat.

My experiences so far haven't been great and wondered if anyone else has the same problems as me? When I am meditating 1st thing each day I actually start to feel anxious despite not being anxious before or during the practice. My breathing becomes laboured and I find I am yawning to get air or deep breath.

Its also quite common when focusing on the breath that I suddenly catch myself not breathing, its as though the body just stops. I then feel a sort of adrenaline rush up my body as my body catches back up, does that make any sense. It almost feels like I was drifting off to sleep, then bang, the rush hits..

I have been trying to follow the course on/off for a number of weeks but keep stopping due to the above events, really not very nice.

Anyone else get this at all?

Thanks

[JonW]

Hi miahcalm.
I haven't had that experience myself but I'd guess it's not uncommon during the first few weeks of the course. Towards the latter half of the course, the subject of difficult thoughts/emotions/sensations is addressed. But if you're finding it difficult to get past the first few weeks, I can understand how anxiety becomes a bit of a vicious circle.
Does anybody else have any ideas? Maybe someone has experienced this very same thing?
All best, Jon

[FeeHutch]

I've found sitting recently has made me quite anxious/antsy.
I deal with it by reminding myself I have never yet regretted sitting for at least a few minutes and if I planned to sit for 20 minutes and only manage 2 it is better than nothing. I practice being compassionate and neither striving for a goal or defining practice in terms of failure.

I wonder sometimes if trying a different way of practicing might help? I have got a years subscription to Headspace but haven't done that practice for a couple of weeks because right now it doesn't feel like the right fit for me.

[miahcalm]

Hi there and thanks for your kind replies. The first time this happened to me was whilst meditating during the Frantic World 8 week course, I thought I best put it aside for a few weeks.

After that period I too started the Headspace, 10 minutes for ten days [freebie] which also seems to have raised my anxiety and triggered this strange breath issue. It happened early this morning again whilst simply doing my own meditation focusing on breathing, I tried to just accept the feeling and start breathing again which seemed to control the head rush somewhat.

Its certainly confusing me why staying calm would trigger an adrenaline rush during meditation, its almost like my blood pressure shoots up too as my head goes warm.

I am hoping to stick with it and see where it goes.

Kind Regards

[nnikolic]

I had similar issue with sudden anxiety, just after I sat down to practice. What I did about it? First, I have identified where I feel this anxiety, and try to breathe "through" it for a while, just to feel it as a part of myself. I usually felt it in the abdomen/chest area. Sometimes it helped reduce anxiety.

Now, this is how I managed to reduce anxiety. What the underlying problem was, is what I have found out only after a while. Anxiety was starting as a response to guilt feeling, that after a 8 hours at work, I "neglected" the family (wife and kids) for even more. The solution - I have discussed about my meditation motivation with my family, and they all agreed it can be good for everyone.

Now, I feel anxiety sometimes, and quite often it is about some underlying problem I am facing at work or at home.

My advice would be - find out what is the source of anxiety. Another advice, do not stop practicing, because this way you are effectively thinking that some action (quitting practice) will make anxiety go away.

For other issues, I had, for example, for a few days, very uncomfortable feeling in the legs, while doing sitting meditation. I also have started to feel anxious about these weird sensations, and being genuinely scared that something is wrong, and that meditation is somehow causing the problem. After few days of observing them, they just went away and never came back.

As for breath stopping, I found that if I get really engaged in some thought while practicing, my breathing pauses for a while. Just like when you are scared, and stop breathing just to be able to hear better.

[FeeHutch]

Welcome to the community nnikolic

[nnikolic]

Thanks Feehutch, really nice to be here!

[calm_one]

I sort of get this now and then, sometimes it feels I'm focusing so much on sounds and thoughts that I notice I'm not breathing properly. I also noticed after shavasna in yoga I was breathing shallow and fast.

I'm not sure if its being very mindful but I know to be conscious of my breath and sometimes during my practice take a few deep breaths.