Get Out of Your Head

In meditation class, we talk about using our breath as an anchor - a stable place to return to again and again each time our mind wanders, and an indicator of our state of arousal. There have been many studies showing that attention on our breathing can help calm the nervous system.

There may be times, however, when everything inside ourselves feels like a vortex that just keeps us spinning in our own head. Sometimes bringing in a different anchor can be useful in those times.

Focusing on sounds outside ourselves can help get us out of our head and anchor us to reality - the sound of birds chirping, traffic going by, or another person’s breathing. If you feel like you are just mired in your own experience - sounds are a great anchor to come back to again and again in meditation to remind you of the world around you.

There are many ‘techniques’ of meditation - and it’s an advanced practice to notice the effect that different techniques may have, and to choose what may be most helpful to us in the moment.