The Question
Does your anxiety have a movement to it? What happens if you reverse that movement?
The Intention
Curiosity
The Meditative Moment
The next time you feel anxious, see if you can “locate” it in your body. Do a body scan, slowly observing how your body feels from head to toe. Is there any spot where anxiety feels stuck? For me, it’s often in my tummy. Notice if that stuckness has a movement. If it’s spinning, can you imagine it spinning in the opposite direction? I know you think I’m barking mad now, but try this visualization anyway. Anxiety likes to circle in on itself. Think of what your thoughts do when you’re anxious: they tumble over each other in knots, spiraling tighter and tighter until you feel like you can’t breathe. This visualization attempts to get space into that spiral by unwinding it. See the anxiety moving in your body, then move it the opposite direction. It might not go away completely, but maybe it’ll loosen up a bit. And sometimes that bit is all we need so we can find relief and reach for other tools in our toolbox.
Originally sent August 30, 2023, to paid Substack subscribers. If you want to receive current Thin Space reflections, you can start a paid subscription here: https://laurenlmurphy.substack.com. You can choose to pay $75/year or $8/month.
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