How does starting a daily meditation habit affect anxiety at first?

[Luna60]

Lately I’ve been trying to sit quietly for a few minutes each morning, but my mind just races through my to-do list. It feels like I’m just sitting there stressing with my eyes closed, not really getting any of the calm I was hoping for. Has anyone else found that starting a meditation practice actually made them more aware of their anxiety at first?

[ZacharyM]

Yeah I hear you. Mornings used to feel like a sprint with my eyes shut and the mind racing. Meditation started as a way to prove to myself that stillness could exist but it mostly showed me how noisy the inside is. It can take time before calm lands.

[SavannahKM]

From a cognitive view the brain sort of rewires when you sit with attention. The initial spike you notice is common because you are exposing the relief system that often hides behind busy thoughts. Shorter first sessions and a simple breath focus can help you build tolerance.

[Nora.M]

I tried meditation thinking it would erase the to do list. But I found it more like a weather report of the mind, a way to name the gusts and then decide which ones to pack for the day.

[RileyHR]

Maybe the point is not to reach calm but to notice the traffic. It might be asking the wrong goal. Or perhaps the practice is not about quieting thoughts but about learning to sit with them without judgment.

[KevinKW]

I am skeptical that a few minutes of stillness cure a long standing habit. If the mind is trained with constant strings of tasks the problem is bigger than the scene in the morning.

[Evelyn_J]

What if the morning habit is about building a threshold for attention rather than seeking peace? The aim could be to observe the urges without acting on them and to keep the day open for small experiments.

[Lily73]

I worry about how long I can sit and not move and I will admit I skip days. In the end I keep showing up because the awkwardness is part of the practice and the point is not to perform well.