Feeling off...

[Espinoza38]

So I've been doing good with my anxieties till today. I have this feeling of dread, like I'm a die today. I know alot of us with anxieties get this way I get it but i hate when the feeling is strong. I'm so anxious right now. Does anyone get this way too.

[laura920]

I get this way too. I'm struggling right now, but someone sent me this. Maybe it could help you: yourlifeyourvoice.org/Style...

[Espinoza38 in reply to laura920]

I dislike being this way. I really do. I'll look into that

[Celtic27]

Hello my friend what your feeling happens to a lot of people anxiety is also horrible and taking one day at a time is a start also breathing exer

[Espinoza38 in reply to Celtic27]

You know I've tried the breathing exercises and I have a hard time doing those. I really need to learn how to do those

[Celtic27 in reply to Espinoza38]

Try looking up on Google or better Google play there are plenty of meditation apps and they are quite good you just need to try them till you find one that works for you!

[Espinoza38 in reply to Celtic27]

I am and thank you

[Celtic27 in reply to Espinoza38]

Your welcome I hope thinks work out for you soon!

[old-soul]

I go through this too, and have for decades, though I had a reprieve for awhile until some really NASTY abusive stuff started back up again a few years ago.

All that aside, try this:

Lay on your back, no pillow, arms at your side, palms up or down, makes no difference. Arms should be just slightly away from your body by about the width of your hand. (This reduces stimulus from your arms touching your sides) and your feet slightly apart too. (About 1/2 shoulder width between your ankles.)

Now, with your eyes closed, imagine you see a dark room with a table in the middle, and on the table there is a candle burning. The air is perfectly still, yet sometimes the flame still occasionally sways.

Hmm . . . I wonder why it does that? That kind of cool." Now, your eyes are closed, yet you are "seeing" this scene quite clearly. How? Imagine an invisible third eye exists between and slightly above you eyebrows, and allow yourself to continue watching the candle through it.

Focus on you breathing, and let each breath flow in through you nose, slow and steady really filling your lungs, and gently changing over to gently and slowly blowing every bit of breath out through your lips . . . then gently transitioning once again to a long, slow, metered draw of fresh breath in through the nose again.

As you continue to watch this flame in your mind's eye, and breath very long, slow breaths, do not let anything that is outside the space your own body occupies.

Focus on your scalp. Can you imagine allowing you scalp to relax? Sounds funny, doesn't it? Well, imagine an endless bowl of warm water spilling onto the crown of your head in ultra slow motion, and as it makes It's initial contact with the top of your head, with it comes a great calmness.

As the water flows downward, it allows your muscles to completely relax as it movers over them. Your forehead relaxes and your eyebrows straighten. You ears, then upper jaw feel relaxed and rejuvenated next. You probably want to yawn at this point. Go ahead. It's natural.

Feel the sinuses, nose and lips relax, as this warm water continues flowing down. Feel the muscles in you neck just melt into a completely relaxed state and then down to the tips of you shoulders.

It's okay if you want to roll your head and/or shoulders around a bit to allow the relaxation to really settle into them.

Just continue imagining all of this as the water continues to flow downward. Imagine the upper arms relaxing, the your elbow, then upper arms . . . wrists . . . backs and palms of your hands, and down and off the tips of your fingers.

As the water falls from your fingertips, imagine it pulling all of the muscle tension it removed off and a way from you completely as it does. All of that tension just vanishes into the universe like water vapor. It is outside of you where it belongs. Everything is returning to It's natural balance, because as much as that tense energy did not belong inside of you, it did belong somewhere else, and not it is free to go back to where it was supposed to be . . .

Continue this exercise as you imagine it flowing over you collar bones and over you pectoral muscles, and down the back-strap muscles, still pulling all the last vestiges of tension out and down from your scalp, face, ears, jaw and neck.

Ahhhhh . . . how nice, just to be.

The water continues down your back, melting the tension away and allowing it to wash away . . . over the solar plexus and stomach muscles, pulling any of the stress that can build in one's gut with it, outward and down.

Now the muscles in your lower back are deeply relaxing, and that mystical warm water moves downward over and into the upper hips, both in the front and back, allowing the joint between the spine and hips to relax completely while also drawing down in front allowing the joints where your hips join to your legs to become completely relaxed and free of all pain.

Notice the water flowing down further, so slowly over your buttocks and pulling all of the tension out and down . . . then over your upper thighs . . . and as it flows, all of the tension pulls right out of them.

Maybe you want to sort of roll your hips back and forth gently to release and resettle them a little, freeing any little bit of tension or pain to just flow away. That's okay and good to do.

Follow the water downward, recognizing each muscle and joint as it drops into deep relaxation and all pain leaves. Knees and all of the tendons around the kneecaps and behind the knees as well, calf muscles and shins, ankles . . . and maybe it will help relax the ankles to roll the feet in little circles a bit . . .

Then the feet. Wiggle your toes just a tiny bit and feel the tension pull down and out of your Achilles tendons, over and out of your heals that carry your weight all day every day when you walk around . . .

Feel the water move over the tops and soles of your feet, and wiggle your toes ever so slightly as the water runs off the tips of your toes and awat from your body, again just turning to thin vapors before vanishing, along with all of the tension.

At some point, bring your focus back to the candle, and your long, slow, purposeful breathing. With each breath you blow out slow and easy, feel even more tension leaving right through your breath . . . over and over again.

It can be amazing when even more unrecognized tension leaves. There is always way more tension in us than we realized . . . until it is leaving us.

I hope you (and others) find value in this post. God bless.

[Espinoza38 in reply to old-soul]

Now this seems awesome. While I was reading it I was imagining it. Wow just wow. Thank you I really appreciate it and I'm a copy this so I can have it with me. Thank you again

[old-soul]

I have been really struggling through a lot of family abuse the few years, Espinoza38, and have been going through a really rough patch again this last week or so. I awoke this morning feeling really hurting, both physically and emotionally, really sad about the outlook for the remainder of my life, and just feeling really trapped. (Which I actually pretty much am in certain ways) Needless to say, the way i feel is very much in this, "NO FUN" category.

So, I got my coffee, started planning the things I need to accomplish today, sat down at the computer to see if the electric company had send some stuff I need, and found your comment above. So, I just wanted you to know how much of a difference your kindness can mean to someone.

Please, do feel free to use what I wrote above and to share it with others too if you will. This is something that has existed for thousands of years before I was introduced to it, so believe me, I hold no claim to it. It's at minimum, 7,000 years old, and is just one of many different forms of meditation developed by and taught by Buddhism. There are a LOT of ways to heal anxiety and depression in the midst of a world full of selfishness, separations and hatred. I also find a great deal of value in things from many other sources, the Spiritual Exercises developed by Íñigo López de Loyola. And how did he develop these exercises? Yeah, through much suffering and a long period of isolation where he was able to come to terms with just how meaningless his life was a a vain, self-serving womanizer after he'd had his legs buste by a canon ball.

Sometimes it is through our own intense suffering and the loss of the entire world we once knew that we find the simple truths by which we can heal. It turns out that, healing others is often the best medicine for us, and there certainly is no shortage of people that need one another's help in this day and age, as sad as that may seem. There are no less than 26 million things I'd love to talk further about on this subject, but alas, the bills are waiting and I don't want my electricity cut off. :/

If ever you need a friend, I hope you are always able to find one in me.

[Espinoza38 in reply to old-soul]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you.

[old-soul in reply to Espinoza38]

Believe me, the feeling of gratitude is entirely mutual, Espinoza. It's funny how we can help and be helped by perfect strangers, yet so often we can-not find safe harbor among those that we have known for decades and see on a daily basis. The separations among people are getting worse and worse, but there are a few things I take comfort in, one of which is the fact that these intense separations and dissensions have run in cycles for centuries, and we are no different than those that came before us, so there are treasure troves of solutions to problems as old as history itself. The part that scares people off the solutions is their fear of what is real and is NOT good. Unfortunately, there is no solution to a problem that can not be acknowledged OR discussed among those that can (mutually) use reason rather than emotion to guide the conversation. Without that bond between people, then the separations grow wider and problems that aren't even real spring up everywhere.

Most every empire through recorded history has collapsed at or very near year 250 of it's existence, and as empires collapses, the leaders stir up more and more hatred and separations among the working class while they make off with the REAL gold, leaving all the paper lies and burned out stores behind as fodder for the poor to fight over.

This is fairly long, but it's a real good indicator of what is happening on a more global level today, and it also clearly illustrates some of the things I mentioned above as well. I'm sure you have plenty of time to watch the whole thing several times through between your career, doctor's appointments for kids, homework help, gymnastics, football practices and games and and and . . . (sigh. It's okay. We'll get plenty of sleep when we're dead! lol)

So, yeah, here's this thing, IF you can find a block of time to check it out:

youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquH...(Not working as expected?)

Another thing that interests me is that he Mayan calendar ended on December 21st 2012, so maybe this long over-due change that people who SAY they want change, but want it to happen by still doing everything their own way as they always have, is taking place now, and it could be that the overall suffering of so many is ending.

Lots of people want to sew gloom and doom into that, and the truth is, a big part of the suffering is the wealthiest few spinning fear and hatred to all of the lower income classes.

Here are some words from a man that was considered to be a savage becasue he was a fierce warrior chief in the mid to late 1800's. He WAS in fact a fierce warrior, but not by choice. He was a kind soul and below is one of the things he frequently said. (He didn't write it, becasue he didn't know how to read or write, of course. Remember, he was just a "Godless savage.")

"Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day, there will be those ...among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be one."– Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux Chief

It sounds to me like he was fighting to defend something worthwhile.

From what my studies of Crazy Horse have suggested, he never allowed his image to be captured by photographer nor by a painter, so I'm not sure why so many people post pictures of random red people in conjunction with his words, but I just think it is important to mention, becasue that fact was important to Crazy Horse.