On this page
Anxiety is unusually good at recruiting whatever you use against it. Deciding to calm down becomes something to fail at, and the failing is more anxiety, which is why a practice built on relaxing tends to make an anxious hour longer.
What this practice is
This practice does not try to remove the feeling. It asks you to notice where it is in the body, what it is doing, and to let it be there while your attention rests somewhere steady. The anxiety is allowed to continue. That is not resignation, it is the removal of a second problem you had added to the first.
Most of what makes anxiety exhausting is the layer above it: the monitoring, the arguing, the checking whether it has gone yet. That layer is voluntary in a way the feeling itself is not, and it is the layer this practice works on.
The instruction is deliberately undramatic. Attention goes to the breath or the body, notices it has gone back to the worry, and returns. Nothing is being resolved and no insight is being sought, because insight is what an anxious mind offers instead of stopping.
The tradition treats this as the ordinary work of attention rather than as a treatment, and does not claim it removes distress. What people commonly report is that the feeling takes up less of the day even when its intensity has not changed. Whether meditation affects anxiety in a way that could be measured is a clinical question and it is not claimed here.
When to use it
Use it on the days anxiety is present and running, rather than saving it for a peak. At the peak most people cannot sit at all, and a practice first attempted there is being asked to do the hardest version of its job with no preparation.
It suits a mind that is spinning on something unresolved. If what you have instead is a body that will not settle, the guided breathing sessions reach that faster, and the piece on using a longer exhale explains why. If the pressure is workload rather than worry, the stress relief sessions are the closer fit.
It is a poor choice immediately before something you are anxious about. Ten minutes with the feeling is not the preparation you want at that point, and the confidence or grounding practices are better placed there.
The sessions
Anxiety Relief, one practice at four lengths, 8 to 24 minutes. Every session in this collection needs Premium. Four other meditation collections have a free session in them, and the free tier covers twelve guided sessions across the app.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 8 min | Premium |
| 12 min | Premium |
| 17 min | Premium |
| 24 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
Take the shortest session on the bad days. Anxiety makes sitting harder, not easier, and a length you can complete while uncomfortable is worth more than one you abandon.
The longer sessions leave more silence, which some people find settling and others find is simply more room for the worry to fill. If that is you, stay short and practise more often instead.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Sit upright rather than lying down, with your eyes open and low if closing them makes the thinking louder. That is common with anxiety and it is a reasonable adjustment rather than a failure to do it properly.
Let the feeling be there. The instruction is not to feel better by the end, and holding that as the goal turns the session into another thing to be anxious about.
Expect to lose the thread constantly. An anxious mind returns to the worry every few seconds, and each return you notice is the practice happening rather than the practice failing.
Practise on the calm days too. What you are building is familiarity with a place to put attention, and that is much easier to build when nothing is at stake.
What usually goes wrong
Using it to make the anxiety go away. The moment the session has a target it becomes another performance to fall short of. What it offers is a change in your relationship to the feeling, not its removal.
Checking whether it is working. Monitoring your own state is the layer the practice is trying to put down. Noticing you are checking, and going back to the breath, is the whole move.
Sitting with your eyes closed because that is what meditation looks like. For a lot of anxious people closing the eyes amplifies the internal noise. Open and lowered is a legitimate way to practise.
Treating this as the treatment. Anxiety that shapes your weeks is not a meditation problem. A session can make an hour more bearable, which is worth having and is a different thing.
For the day, not the peak
PanchPrana keeps this at several lengths so the session can match how much sitting you have in you, which on an anxious day is less than usual. The guided breathing sessions are the faster route when the body is the problem.
Who should take care
Meditation is generally low risk and it is not risk free, and anxiety is one of the places where the exceptions matter most.
If you live with panic disorder, take care. Attention turned inward, and on the breath in particular, can read as monitoring for symptoms and start the cycle it was meant to settle. Keep sessions short, rest attention on the hands or the feet rather than the breath, and stop rather than pushing through a rising session.
If you live with PTSD, complex trauma or a dissociative condition, do not practise alone with this. Sustained inward attention can surface material faster than you can meet it. Ease off or skip it, and work with a therapist or a teacher who knows your history.
Stop the session if distress climbs rather than settles, and come back to the room, your feet on the floor and your eyes open. Anxiety that is present most days, panic attacks that are getting more frequent, or anxiety that stops you doing ordinary things are all reasons to see a doctor. This is not a treatment for any of them and does not replace one.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Does meditation help with anxiety?
What people commonly report is that the feeling occupies less of the day, even when its intensity is unchanged. Whether it does anything measurable is a clinical question and not one this app answers.
What if meditating makes my anxiety worse?
It happens, and it is worth taking seriously rather than pushing through. Shorten the session, keep your eyes open, move attention away from the breath. If it still rises, stop and raise it with a doctor or a therapist.
Can I use this during a panic attack?
Not as a first plan. At the peak of a panic attack sitting still with attention inward is the wrong instruction for most people, and grounding in the room is a better one.
How is this different from the breathing sessions for anxiety?
Those work on the body, through a longer exhale, and act faster. This works on the thinking around the feeling and is slower. People wound up physically usually do better with the breathing.
Is this a substitute for therapy?
No. It sits alongside treatment for anyone who needs treatment, and nothing here is offered in place of it.
