Anxiety, disturbing thoughts, irritable

[Iowaboy21]

Hi all! so I just started meditating with lifeflow seriously at the beginning of february and ive defiantly seen by now what meditation can do for a person! I suffer from anxiety and panic and meditation has defiantly helped me manage these symptoms a little better. I also have obsessive thoughts that have to do with everything and anything that flow into my mind at random that use to scare me but are now just annoying. I kno the crazy thoughts all stem from anxiety but sometimes just knowing that doesnt help my case. So anyway i feel i am at a roadblock in recovery. Many times after meditating i find myself very irritable and im much less patient. I mean not to an extreme extent but still i feel those symptoms and it confuses me because some times after meditation i do not feel any anxiety symptoms at all! but lately i almost always feel this way. I know the secret to overcoming anxiety and panic is to just be ok with the feelings and not judge them but some times that is a pretty hard thing to do. I am hoping that continuing meditation will allow me to be much more ok with the feelings. Oh and i just started meditating with a mantra today and i defiantly had a deep meditation for 20 min. I can defiantly see the mantra technique is the way to go. But i still felt irritable afterwards :/ So i guess my question is to anyone who has or is dealing with similar circumstances is am i doing anything wrong? Or do you have any advice that could perhaps help?

thanks!

[Panthau]

Hey there,

First of all, i think you mean "definitly", because defiantly means something totaly different.

If you feel irritated or more anxious after your meditation, it means you should slow down a little. As you might know, meditation can and will bring up unresolved emotions, and that can be sometimes overwhelming. Meditation isnt an instant cure for something, it rather alters your view of life and your self (besides bringing up unresolved emotions and cleaning you up from inside out). Thats a lifelong process, so take it slow if you feel its too much.

And yes, the way to handle your feelings and thoughts is just by accepting them and dont resist anything. Your body is a machine and when it gets fed with wrong things, it behaves weird.

[Iowaboy21]

I am kinda confused on what i means to "accept the feelings" i mean if something is bothering me so much and feelings and thoughts make me feel so uncomfortable, just by sitting there and watching them come and not resisting them does not really help, i mean i have tried that. I get bad feelings, thoughts, emotions and i would just let myself feel them and act like they dont bother me but that doesnt make them go away. They linger and they make feel uncomfortable as hell and i dont really get how i can just be "ok" with them.

[Panthau]

Accepting your feelings is way easier, if you dont identify yourself with those feelings. If you feel nervous, then you are not that nervousness. You are the one thats watching it. Its a state of mind, that you reach at one point with meditation.

Its about not altering these feelings in any way, just accept that theres a feeling of this or that. Dont try to do anything with yourself or those feelings, just stay there and experience them. Feelings are 99% bodily responses to your thoughts. Its your mind that sends you thoughts and its your body that sends you feelings. Youre the one experiencing them, but you are not that thought and you are not that feeling.

Its ultimately your decision what you think, and therefore what you feel. This may be hard to understand and translate into your everyday life at the beginning. Just be patient with yourself and with time and meditation, itll get easier.