Could Meditation Be Adding To Your Anxiety?
It did mine. For years. I don’t care what the “common knowledge” says. You can do it wrong.
After my husband ended our marriage over the telephone, I signed up for a 10-day silent meditation retreat. I’d been told that practicing this type of meditation, called vipassana, would result in limitless love, compassion, and goodwill. I wanted those things so desperately, I was willing to lie to get in.
Ten days of meditating for nine hours a day without distraction is an objectively grueling journey. But I’d tried therapy, yoga, and sex already, and my heart was still broken. So I didn’t mention my past-and besides, I didn’t think my history applied.
Years before, I had abused alcohol and drugs, but by the time I signed up for the retreat, I hadn’t touched either in a decade. I had tried Paxil and therapy in the years since, but I hadn’t experienced anything like what I went through when I was using. Nonetheless, I vowed to be vigilant: If I stopped sleeping well or experienced racing thoughts, I’d…
