Chare’A Smith sat down for her first meditation session as an eight year old in elementary school. But she didn’t realize just how much she’d need the practice until she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in college.
Smith was first introduced to mindfulness meditation—the practice of watching your thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment—in the second grade. “I wasn’t necessarily a troubled kid, but sometimes I had a lot of anger,” Smith recalls. “I remember being a little confused about it, like, Why we gotta sit and be quiet? But with more consistency, I started to be able to observe myself and became more aware of what I was actually feeling, like, You’re not angry—you’re actually sad.”
In the fall of 2012, when Smith left her home in the south suburbs of Chicago for Indiana University in Bloomington, she suddenly found herself “running around every waking hour” as a science major, president of her university’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and an employee at the financial aid office.
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The anxiety started small. First, she struggled to finish papers to hit tight deadlines. Then she skipped an awards ceremony, a moment where she should have been honored for her hard work as a leader on campus, because she was afraid of speaking in front of people. Before major exams or class projects were due, bouts of panic struck where she couldn’t breathe. “I kept telling myself, Just breathe, just breathe, just breathe,” she remembers.
Smith knew she needed help when she broke down crying in the middle of a class in 2016. At the time, she and her classmates were writing response essays after reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, a book of letters to the author’s 15-year-old son in which he, as a Black man in America, tries to make sense of racial injustice and the death of a friend shot and killed by a policeman. Smith had recently lost one of her cousins to gun violence. She hadn’t been able to make it home for the funeral.
“I remember looking down and I literally could not write the paper,” Smith says. “It was bringing forth so much trauma.” She had always been an overachiever, but after failing to turn in this paper, her anxiety snowballed, and she struggled to keep up in other classes, too. “I went to the mental health facility on campus and told them, There’s something wrong with me. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not able to function.”
Asking for help
That day, a psychiatrist diagnosed Smith with anxiety and depression. He prescribed her an antidepressant called mirtazapine (Remeron SolTab) and later suggested she take alprazolam (Xanax), a type of sedative in a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, for her anxiety. But Smith decided against it because she had heard that it could be addictive for some people. (In fact, the Food and Drug Administration added a safety warning to benzodiazepines in September 2020 due to risks of abuse, misuse, addiction, physical dependence, and withdrawal reactions).
Smith also began to see a therapist on campus once a week. But otherwise, she tried to keep her struggles to herself. “It was a silent battle because I felt embarrassed to tell anyone what I was going through,” she says. “I’m a very private person, and particularly in a marginalized community, people can feel shame about experiencing mental health problems.”
Although Smith didn’t tell her professors exactly what was going on with her, she did ask one for support as she embarked on this new journey. As it turned out, the same professor who had assigned the essay Smith couldn’t write, Maria Hamilton Abegunde, Ph.D., a visiting lecturer in the African American and African Diaspora Studies department, was also a meditation instructor and yoga teacher.
When conversations during her office hours spilled over, the two often walked together to a nearby building where Abegunde led mindfulness meditation sessions. Smith gradually began to join in. “She really took me under her wing,” she says.
Four months into treatment, Smith weaned herself off of antidepressants because she wasn’t noticing a therapeutic effect. At the same time, she dialed up her meditation practice.
Meditation as a form of therapy
Currently, the first-line treatments for anxiety and depression are psychotherapy as well as medication. But some patients, like Smith, consider mindfulness meditation a form of treatment in itself.
“We don’t know yet how mindfulness meditation might compare to other treatments for anxiety disorders,” says Elizabeth Hoge, M.D., a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Program at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.
“Mindfulness meditation helps people to experience their thoughts differently.”
Previously, a 2018 study led by Dr. Hoge published in the journal Psychiatry Research had people living with anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or panic disorder (PD), spend eight weeks taking stress management classes or a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course, which incorporates practices like breath awareness, body scan meditations, and yoga, with two and a half hours of instruction each week. Those who learned how to meditate not only said they felt less stressed when they had to give an impromptu speech in front of an audience, but they also had a lower biological stress response according to blood tests.
“It seems that in anxiety disorders, mindfulness meditation helps people to experience their thoughts differently,” says Dr. Hoge. “Rather than acting on the thought or trying to get away from the thought, they would see the thought for what it is—which is just a thought—and not try to push it away or grab onto it.” Additionally, learning how to be less judgmental and more compassionate toward yourself is a fundamental part of the process as well, she says.
The path to healing
For her part, Smith says it took time to reap the benefits of meditation. “At first, I just didn’t feel so down all the time about doing simple things,” she says.
After a while, though, she began to notice helpful shifts in her thought processes and mindset. Problems at work became an opportunity to learn. Would-be confrontations with a friend, a chance to develop her communication skills.
“I think it goes back to what I learned as a child,” she says. “You’re able to observe things from an outside perspective rather than just reacting as things happen to you.”
The next semester, Smith had the best grades she’d ever had. Once trapped in an anxiety spiral, she felt like she was finally able to be her “full self” again.
“Meditation set me free,” she says. “It allowed me to see that the presence of anxiety is normal, but to live as a prisoner with your anxiety is optional.”
A lifelong practice
After Smith graduated from college, she struggled to manage a 9-5 job in sales, her first business, and a nonprofit organization—and her anxiety surged again.
“I began to understand that if I wanted to elevate within my career, my wellness journey would simultaneously need to elevate as well,” she says. Smith set a goal to level up from meditating three days a week as needed to six days a week on a set schedule.
Today, Smith works as a full-time yoga and meditation instructor and entrepreneur. She’s the founder and owner of two businesses: Worthy of Evolving, a self-care shop for the mind, body, spirit and home, and Ye’ Self Care, a meditation and wellness service that provides workshops for individuals and businesses. She also heads a nonprofit called Melanin Girl’s Club, which aims to make self care (including meditation) accessible and inclusive for women and communities of color in urban areas.
Chare’A leading a meditation session at Melanin Girl’s Club second-annual Self Love Goddess Trip in Indianapolis, Indiana.
How to meditate through anxiety and depression
If you’re interested in trying out meditation to help manage symptoms of anxiety or depression, it’s best to start by connecting with a mental healthcare provider such as a therapist who can tailor a treatment plan to your needs, says Dr. Hoge. This is especially the case if you’re dealing with traumatic memories which could arise during meditation and can be hard to navigate on your own, she notes.
While there are plenty of meditation apps to choose from, Smith and Dr. Hoge both recommend finding a teacher who can guide you through the practice in real life, at least at first. It’s normal to sometimes experience a surge in difficult emotions you’ve been ignoring—including depression and anxiety—when you sit in silence for the first time in a long time.
“But that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” says Dr. Hoge. “Certain emotions are going to come up when we leave a space for them to come up. And I think that’s part of why meditation has been so popular—people realize they have feelings that they need to process through, like unresolved grief, that they don’t experience unless they leave space for them, such as while meditating.” However, this can be unnerving or even make you worry that meditation isn’t working without someone there to talk it out with you.
Many drop-in mindfulness meditation classes are available free of charge, and your healthcare provider can help you enroll in an MBSR class. (You can also find certified MBSR teachers around the world in this online directory from the Mindfulness Center at Brown University.)
It’s important to understand that mindfulness meditation isn’t a quick fix. It’s more like a muscle to build and maintain which takes time and commitment like exercising or learning a new instrument, says Dr. Hoge. It’s also not to be confused with relaxation techniques which, while likely helpful for people with anxiety disorders, are different from mindfulness meditation. When you meditate, the goal is to watch your thoughts with openness and a nonjudgmental stance—which isn’t necessarily relaxing, she explains.
As you go, “realize that your change, breakthrough, or whatever you want to receive from your practice is not going to come overnight,” says Smith. “For me, meditation is now my relief—I enjoy it and want to do it—and the days when I don’t want to do it are the days when I know I really need it.”
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Lauren Krouse
Lauren Krouse is a freelance writer who covers health, domestic violence, and self-advocacy. Her work appears in _Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Prevention, Self, HuffPost, and elsewhere. When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to meditate more, weightlifting, or walking in the woods with her partner and black lab.
FAQs
Can meditation cure anxiety completely? ›
Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being.
How long does meditation take to cure anxiety? ›The above research implies that 13 minutes of meditation per session is enough to reap benefits. Still, regularity may be just as important. Practicing for 13 minutes once every few months isn't likely to yield as many benefits as practicing daily for 5 minutes.
What is the best coping mechanism for anxiety? ›Visualization techniques, meditation and yoga are examples of relaxation techniques that can ease anxiety. Make sleep a priority. Do what you can to make sure you're getting enough sleep to feel rested. If you aren't sleeping well, talk with your health care provider.
Can I ever be free of anxiety? ›Since it's a natural part of the human condition, anxiety is not completely curable. But feeling anxious should be a temporary state that resolves when a stressor or trigger has passed.
Is anxiety curable forever? ›Anxiety is not curable, but there are ways to keep it from being a big problem. Getting the right treatment for your anxiety will help you dial back your out-of-control worries so that you can get on with life.
Can meditation rewire an anxious brain? ›Yes!
Daily mindful meditation practice has been shown to produce measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. Studies have even documented changes in the brain's grey matter over time.
Any type of meditation will help quiet overthinking, but mindfulness meditation is a particularly good place to start. To reduce negative thoughts, try just 10 minutes of meditation daily, sitting and observing your breath.
How do you know if meditation is working? ›One of the first signs that you're meditating correctly is a sense of heightened awareness. This simply means that you become more aware of your surroundings, and of your own thoughts and feelings. You may notice things that you've never noticed before, or start to pay attention to things that you normally wouldn't.
How long does it take for meditation to rewire your brain? ›Can meditation restructure our brains? Several recent studies have claimed that, with daily practice, meditation can boost grey matter volume and density in some brain areas in just eight short weeks.
How I healed my anxiety without drugs? ›- Keep Your Blood Sugar in Check. ...
- Avoid Stimulants. ...
- Get Enough Sleep. ...
- Just Breathe. ...
- Practice Mindfulness. ...
- Exercise. ...
- Do What You Enjoy. ...
- Where to Get Help.
What calms severe anxiety? ›
- Breathe. One of the best things you can do when you start to feel that familiar panicky feeling is to breathe. ...
- Name what you're feeling. ...
- Try the 5-4-3-2-1 coping technique. ...
- Try the “File It” mind exercise. ...
- Run. ...
- Think about something funny. ...
- Distract yourself. ...
- Take a cold shower (or an ice plunge)
A little anxiety is fine, but long-term anxiety may cause more serious health problems, such as high blood pressure (hypertension). You may also be more likely to develop infections. If you're feeling anxious all the time, or it's affecting your day-to-day life, you may have an anxiety disorder or a panic disorder.
Why won't the physical symptoms of anxiety go away? ›An anxiety disorder can be caused by multiple factors, such as genetics, environmental stressors and medical conditions. New research also indicates that chronic anxiety symptoms that will not go away can be due to an autoimmune response, triggered by common infections.
Does anxiety go away with age? ›Does anxiety get better with age? Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. Although there are reasons we might expect a senior to have less anxiety, such as being retired and no longer living with the stress of the workaday world, for many older adults anxiety may not necessarily improve.
Do some people never recover from anxiety? ›It's not that they can't recover, but that they don't do the required work to recover and attain lasting success. There are many reasons for this, for example: It's difficult to successfully identify and address the root causes of anxiety disorder without the professional help.
Is anxiety a lifelong mental illness? ›The answer is it depends on the person. An anxiety disorder can last anywhere from a few months to many years. It will go away completely for some, and for others, it may be a lifelong condition to treat.
Does anxiety get worse with age? ›Anxiety disorders don't necessarily get worse with age, but the number of people suffering from anxiety changes across the lifespan. Anxiety becomes more common with older age and is most common among middle-aged adults.
How do you break the cycle of anxiety? ›One important step in reversing the anxiety cycle is gradually confronting feared situations. If you do this, it will lead to an improved sense of confidence, which will help reduce your anxiety and allow you to go into situations that are important to you.
How does your brain reset after anxiety? ›- Find the source.
- Prioritize sleep.
- Make time to relax.
- Meditate.
- Feed yourself.
- Move your body.
- Take a break.
- Make a plan.
- 1) Exercise: Having a good workout shortly after a stressful experience will help your brain get rid of the stress chemicals that cause negative effects. ...
- 2) Rest: While we sleep, the brain and body “heals itself,” clearing away the clutter and processing the day.
How long does it take to retrain your brain from anxiety? ›
Creating new neural pathways may take time — several weeks to months — but it can help your brain address triggers with more confidence, so you feel less anxious overall. Consistency is the key. Just like going to the gym for one day won't give you a six-pack, one meditation exercise may not have a lasting impact.
How do you rewire your brain to stop overthinking? ›- Step back and look at how you're responding. ...
- Find a distraction. ...
- Take a deep breath. ...
- Meditate. ...
- Look at the bigger picture. ...
- Do something nice for someone else. ...
- Recognize automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) ...
- Acknowledge your successes.
- Notice When You're Stuck in Your Head. Overthinking can become such a habit that you don't even recognize when you're doing it. ...
- Keep the Focus on Problem-Solving. ...
- Challenge Your Thoughts. ...
- Schedule Time for Reflection. ...
- Learn Mindfulness Skills. ...
- Change the Channel.
- Take some deep breaths. Close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly. ...
- Find a distraction. Distractions help us forget what is troubling us. ...
- Look at the big picture. ...
- Acknowledge your successes. ...
- Embrace your fears. ...
- Start journaling. ...
- Live in the present moment. ...
- Ask for help.
"The relaxation response [from meditation] helps decrease metabolism, lowers blood pressure, and improves heart rate, breathing, and brain waves," Benson says. Tension and tightness seep from muscles as the body receives a quiet message to relax. There's scientific evidence showing how meditation works.
What happens when you start meditating everyday? ›Daily meditation can help you perform better at work! Research found that meditation helps increase your focus and attention and improves your ability to multitask. Meditation helps clear our minds and focus on the present moment – which gives you a huge productivity boost. Lowers risk of depression.
What happens to your brain if you meditate everyday? ›It can strengthen areas of your brain responsible for memory, learning, attention and self-awareness. The practice can also help calm down your sympathetic nervous system. Over time, mindfulness meditation can increase cognition, memory and attention.
Can meditation change everything? ›-Meditation will develop your intuition, make you more alert, increase will power and make you less aggressive. -Since it helps you clear your head, meditation improves your concentration levels, memory, creativity and also makes you feel rejuvenated.
What happens after 8 weeks of meditation? ›When, after eight weeks, their MR images were tested, it was found that their gray-matter density in the hippocampus had increased.It is a factor that boosts one's learning abilities, memory, self-awareness, compassion and introspection.
Does meditation reset dopamine? ›One study including 8 experienced meditation teachers found a 65% increase in dopamine production after meditating for 1 hour, compared with resting quietly ( 48 ). These changes are thought to help meditators maintain a positive mood and stay motivated to remain in the meditative state for longer ( 49 ).
What vitamins help with anxiety? ›
B-complex, vitamin E, vitamin C, GABA, and 5-HTP are 5 vitamins commonly used to help with anxiety and stress.
How do you detox from anxiety? ›- Listen to Stress-Reducing Tunes. ...
- Master a Three-Part Breath. ...
- Practice Better Posture. ...
- Eat Glucose-Balancing Foods. ...
- Try the Raisin Meditation. ...
- Unplug Your Tech Distractions. ...
- Declutter Your Inbox and Desktop. ...
- Enjoy a Cleansing Nightcap.
- Kava. ...
- Passion flower. ...
- Valerian. ...
- Chamomile. ...
- Lavender. ...
- Lemon balm.
Panic disorder involves repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). You may have feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a rapid, fluttering or pounding heart (heart palpitations).
How do I stop living in my head? ›- Meditate. ...
- Try an intense workout. ...
- Pay more attention to the outside world. ...
- Focus entirely on your breathing. ...
- Watch an entertaining TV series. ...
- Don't fight your thoughts. ...
- Regularly write down your troubling thoughts. ...
- Live in the present moment.
Research has indicated that individuals with high emotional reactivity (high neuroticism) and introverted tendencies (low extroversion) are more likely to experience anxiety than other personality types [101].
Is being anxious over nothing normal? ›Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. Many people may worry about things such as health, money, or family problems. But people with GAD feel extremely worried or nervous more frequently about these and other things—even when there is little or no reason to worry about them.
What is high-functioning anxiety? ›Instead, high-functioning anxiety typically refers to someone who experiences anxiety while still managing daily life quite well. Generally, a person with high-functioning anxiety may appear put together and well- accomplished on the outside, yet experience worry, stress or have obsessive thoughts on the inside.
Will I ever go back to normal after anxiety? ›Feelings of anxiety are likely to pass with time as we get used to the "new normal" but it's important to do what we can to take care of our mental health. There are lots of things that can help you to manage these feelings and make it easier to adjust.
What is permanent anxiety? ›GAD is a common anxiety disorder that involves constant and chronic worrying, nervousness, and tension. Unlike a phobia, where your fear is connected to a specific thing or situation, the anxiety of GAD is diffused—a general feeling of dread or unease that colors your whole life.
What time of day does anxiety peak? ›
Similarly, among those with panic attacks, general anxiety and panic symptoms are highest in the afternoon; however, sense of threat is highest in the morning (Kenardy, Fried, Kraemer, & Taylor, 1992).
Do anxious people age faster? ›That's a classic sign of stress aging. It's what happens when an overload of life adds years to your looks. It can age your face far more rapidly than the passage of time. Here's the shocker: Stress can age you three to six years or more.
Are you born with anxiety or is it developed? ›Most researchers conclude that anxiety is genetic but can also be influenced by environmental factors. In other words, it's possible to have anxiety without it running in your family. There is a lot about the link between genes and anxiety disorders that we don't understand, and more research is needed.
Am I going to have anxiety forever? ›Unfortunately, it is unlikely that you will be able to eliminate your anxiety forever. Anxious feelings are a normal part of life. However, with treatment, you can significantly reduce and manage your symptoms, and you may even have long periods where you don't experience any significant anxiety.
Is there hope for anxiety sufferers? ›Is it Possible to Fully Recover from Anxiety Disorder? Yes, you can fully recover from anxiety recovery just as thousands of patients have done. For years, little was known about the factors responsible for recovery from anxiety.
What does anxiety feel like in your head? ›Some common mental symptoms of anxiety include:
Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom. Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry. Having difficulty controlling worry. Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety.
According to the American Psychological Association, many people improve significantly within 8 to 10 therapy sessions. While many different types of therapy are used to treat anxiety, the leading approaches are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy.
How long does it take to see results of meditation? ›Studies point to 8-weeks of meditation practice to see results. One study found improvements to memory, emotional regulation, and mood with 8 weeks of 13 minutes of meditation a day.
What will happen after 30 days of meditation? ›Some of the things I noticed were: small increase in my ability to focus and ignore the distractions around me, moments of blissful peace which felt amazing in my hectically busy lifestyle and being able to control my mind and emotions better. These were probably the biggest changes I saw after 30 days of meditation.
What happens if you meditate 3 hours a day? ›Better concentration: due to decreased emotional reactivity and greater emotional detachment, my brain feels less rigid and more plastic. As if meditation nurtured a cognitive state of flow. I seem to be able to retrieve, analyse, process and organise knowledge faster and with more ease.
Why wont my anxiety go away? ›
An anxiety disorder can be caused by multiple factors, such as genetics, environmental stressors and medical conditions. New research also indicates that chronic anxiety symptoms that will not go away can be due to an autoimmune response, triggered by common infections.
What is the number one prescribed drug for anxiety? ›Benzodiazepines (also known as tranquilizers) are the most widely prescribed type of medication for anxiety. Drugs such as Xanax (alprazolam), Klonopin (clonazepam), Valium (diazepam), and Ativan (lorazepam) work quickly, typically bringing relief within 30 minutes to an hour.
What does successful meditation feel like? ›When meditating deeply, you gradually loosen the restraints of self-centeredness. As you ease into the practice, your mind shifts to a more subtle kind of awareness. You become less self-conscious. Physical pain and emotional stressors can vanish for a time, and there can be a profound and abiding feeling of peace.
What happens when you meditate everyday? ›Daily meditation can help you perform better at work! Research found that meditation helps increase your focus and attention and improves your ability to multitask. Meditation helps clear our minds and focus on the present moment – which gives you a huge productivity boost. Lowers risk of depression.
What happens after a lot of meditation? ›Quick Read Demystifying meditation
Over time, mindfulness meditation can increase cognition, memory and attention. It can also decrease emotional reactivity, stress, anxiety and depression.
When, after eight weeks, their MR images were tested, it was found that their gray-matter density in the hippocampus had increased. It is a factor that boosts one's learning abilities, memory, self-awareness, compassion and introspection.
How long do the benefits of meditation last? ›A single meditation session can reduce stress for a couple of hours; however, consistent meditation practice is required to reap the long-lasting positive effects of meditation.
How long does it take to reach enlightenment through meditation? ›So how long must you practice meditation before you experience continuous enlightenment? Study participants say anywhere from seven to 30 years.
What does it mean when you meditate and see a bright light? ›Another popular explanation for the phenomenon posits that the experience of light is linked to meditation-based stimulation of the pineal gland which is situated deep in the brain at the level of the “third eye.” Some would suggest that visions of light indicate that the “third eye is opening.”
Is there a limit on how many times you can meditate? ›You certainly can! Meditation has no limits. If you want to develop a habit of practicing, it's critical to make it a daily priority to meditate. If you could meditate at least once a day, that would be ideal. However, some people enjoy the practice so much they meditate even more.
What happens after 10,000 hours of meditation? ›
Some equate 10,000 hours of meditation to a PhD in happiness. Other people say it is peace, emotional freedom, serenity, self-awareness, liberation, or non-attachment.