How meditation helped me feel less anxious

This week's blog is about ANXIETY ... and how meditation helped me to find my peace.
Anxiety ... it's such a common issue these days. Mostly it seems to be generated by a very high expectation of how our life is SUPPOSED to be now or was MEANT to have been in the past.
I moved down to Phillip Island in late 2013 to start my own business. I thought a sea-change and being my own boss would be more empowering and less stressful than having someone tell me what to do all day long.
It was quiet to begin with, as is usually the case when you start a business, and there were mornings when I woke up with the peaceful sounds of birds, sunshine on my face, no alarm, and had an overwhelming anxiety. Thoughts would swirl around my mind like 'I SHOULD be doing something' ... 'I can't just lie around all morning.' ... 'I'm SUPPOSED to be running my own business.' ... 'Did I make a mistake?' ... etc. etc. etc. 
Lots of old beliefs about work and being seen to be 'doing something' all the time were coming up. It was not making me feel good. And we all know that when we feel bad we can't function very well. I needed to shift my energy and focus so that I could move forward.
So, I decided to use the skills and tools that I wanted to teach others.
I made a pact with myself to start my day with high vibrational energy.
When I woke up, while still lying in bed, I would put on my headphones and start my favourite Deepak Chopra or Doreen Virtue or Brian Weiss meditation ... 15 or 20 minutes later if I didn't feel better I would do another one. Moving meditations are fantastic too! Take a walk and listen to a meditation at the same time. Bonus exercise!! Yay!
I reminded myself every day that since my time was my own I could take as long as I needed to shift my thoughts and energy to a better space. I took my power back.
If you are new to meditation and 20 minutes seems like forever then you can start with 5 minutes until you feel comfortable.
I have some 5 minute meditation downloads or a CD that you can try:
 Five Minute Meditations, by Pip Coleman
OR you might like to join my next Beginner Meditation course - starting on Monday 20th Feb @6pm in Cape Woolamai.
Either way ... meditation is proven to reduce stress, anxiety, fear and anger and assist in healing and balancing the body. Why not give it a go?
Blessings Pip xxx