Pause: Finding Peace and Calm When Navigating A Broken World: Coping with Fear and Anxiety in an Age of Violence - A Meditative Practice [Pause 06]

Welcome to a Pause episode, different from the Sleep episodes (where we get into stories and content).

In Pause episodes, we put into practice training our minds and connecting with our body. Each episode offers you something different and is identified as a Pause episode by the white raven on the podcast cover art.

This episode was recorded a month before the latest round of mass shootings here in the United States. I grieve for the families who lost children in Uvalde, TX and their whole community, and those who lost loved ones just weeks earlier in Buffalo and Laguna Nigel. We live in a prosperous country with one of the highest rates of death by gun violence. This painful reality affects even those who don't directly suffer. Perhaps you felt it in your own bodies: when we hear stories of profound violence, we wonder if such a horror might happen to us, and we instinctively shift into fight or flight mode. Our bodies aren't made to hold such worry. It will wear us down and if it goes on long enough, cause physical manifestations of stress. When we are in a place where anxiety and the "what ifs" are easily accessible, they can take over everything and before we know it our muscles are tight, our heart is racing, and we are no longer in a grounded place. Where we need to be is a place where we can manage our feelings, for our own sake, and so we can be helpful to others who need support, and be able to participate well in conversations about how to address our violent society. Today's episode is practicing how to get out of an anxiety spiral and into the peace and calm you desire.

In this episode we:

1. Discuss what an anxiety spiral, or catastrophizing, looks like

2. Explore an example of a worry trigger

3. Quiet your mind

4. Invite your worry to show up

5. Practice noticing where anxiety and worry show up in your body

6. Return to calm or normal

Please remember that this podcast is not a replacement for treatment by a healthcare or mental health professional. This content is created for education and entertainment purposes only.