I Just Want to Feel Calm Again — A 10-Minute Meditation for Anxiety & Stress

You're not asking for much and you don't need every problem solved. You don't need your whole life fixed. You just want to feel calm again. Not calm forever.

Just calm. Even for a moment. Let's see if we can find our way back there together. This is calming anxiety.

I'm your host Martin. Whenever this feeling shows up again, Anchored is there to bring you straight back to a moment like this. It's on iOS right now and Android in two weeks. For now, let's just settle.

Let's try something steady, sometimes called coherent breathing in for a counterfall, out for a counter-six. As a paramedic, I spent years watching people's breathing tell me far more than their words ever could. A slow, even breath. It's one of the simplest signals to give the body permission to soften.

So with me, ready? Breathe in. Two. Three.

Four. And out. Two. Three.

Four. Four. And out. Three.

Four. Five. Six. And then again, in the through the nose, really?

Breathe in. Two. Three. Four.

Exhale through the mouth. Three. Four. Five.

Six. Breathe in. Two. Three.

Four. Five. Six. Breathe in.

Two. Three. Four. Out.

Two. Three. Four. Five.

Six. Now just relax. Let the body go soft. Let your thoughts find their own balance.

And even if you become distracted, which is natural, acknowledge those random thoughts. Then when you're ready, bring your focus back to the rise and form of your chest.

You've probably been trying very hard to feel calm, trying to relax, trying not to worry, trying to switch off your mind. But trying can become its own kind of effort, another task on top of everything else. Imagine for a moment that you've been pressing down on the accelerator, pushing, pushing, trying to get somewhere. What if just for the next few minutes you simply lifted your foot, not stopping, not crashing to a halt, just easing off?

Notice what happens when you stop pushing so hard. The card isn't need to force itself to slow down. It simply does on its own, the moment you stop pressing. Now once more, with me, breathing 2, 3, 4, release 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Notice the surface beneath you, the weight of your body, just resting. Notice the air around you, its temperature, its stillness. You don't have to do anything with any of these, just notice. Perhaps calm isn't something you have to find.

Because it's something you can simply stop getting in the way of. Within this moment, as you learn to love all that you are, mind, body and song, visualize these words, see them in your mind's eye as I say them. And if you wish, repeat them softly on your tongue, feel the meaning, then let them land somewhere deep in your soul. I do not have to fix everything right now.

I can let myself slow down. I am allowed to rest. I do not have to chase calm. I simply allow it.

I can simply be here for these few minutes.

Let those words settle. You don't have to feel them fully yet. Just let them sit quietly nearby. And then once more, in the beauty of your mind's eye, visualize the words, taking note of the color of the shape in your thoughts, and then repeat.

I do not have to fix everything right now. I can let myself slow down. I am allowed to rest. I do not have to chase calm.

I can allow it. I can simply be here for these few minutes.

And now just drift. Feel your breathing with your mind, the almost hypnotic rhythm of every rise and form.

But with every outbreak, allow that natural sense of unwinding of release to spread through every fiber of your being through every thought and find your moment of calm.

And to take this sense of balance, of self-worth with you, here are your three daily caring tips.

One, today when you notice yourself rushing towards calm, try easing off instead of pushing harder. Two, give yourself 60 seconds today. When you don't feel the silence with anything at all, three, notice one moment today when you feel even slightly calmer and let yourself register it rather than moving straight past it. In a little while, we'll come back into the room, but feel your breath easy now.

Weakle your fingers, wiggle your toes. Breathe in through your nose, hold this time at the top and then as you breathe out, roll the shoulders, then stretch out the arms. And when you're ready, let your eyes open. You may not feel completely calm yet.

That's all right. We've given yourself 10 minutes where you didn't have to fight or fix or perform and that's enough for today. If you need to come back to this feeling, anchored will be there. As I said, it's on iOS.

I spent four months creating it. Your very own coffee break for the song in your pocket for wherever you are whenever you need it. Download it. It's free, but for the price of a large mocker, you get a month's worth of content advert free and the ability to download all the content offline for wherever you are.

But more than that. I built it so that one day you never need it. That you can go on and become a beacon of hope, of positivity for others. That way we make the world a kind of place.

Have a lovely day, my friend. Truly, smile often whenever you can, positive thoughts and then in everything my dear friend.

Be kind.