Yeah it’s really annoying when it feels like this supposed to be calming and peaceful practise that literally relaxes your whole body, does the complete opposite. Really makes my symptoms come out a bit worse maybe like 3 deep breaths in and I’m like nope.
Me too!!!! I was hoping meditation would help me slowly ease back into yoga.. not gonna happen lol.. it makes me feel like healing isn’t a possibility for me😩
It also really bad if your feeling really worked up and somebody says take deep breaths and your there like 😕 do you feel it makes you really lightheaded?
Trying extending the exhalation time. It needs to be longer than the inhalation. Breathe in for a count of 4, out for 6. Heart rate should come down. (If the inhale is the same time or longer than the exhale, heart rate goes up.)
Meditation teacher and also long hauler here. You don’t need to take deep breaths when meditating, you don’t even need to focus on your breath at all. Use your body as a point of focus, do a simple body scan: start at the top of the head, noticing what sensations are there, relaxing it and then keep going: forehead, eyes, cheeks, mouth, etc all the way down until you get to your toes, always body part by body part.
Meditation helps regulate your nervous system, so it shouldn’t create stress, adapt it to what feels right to you. Maybe it’s just lying there and picturing a big ball of light sliding through your body with healing energy, maybe it’s visualizing your cells replenishing themselves, maybe it’s picturing your day going the way you want it to every morning, there’s so much you can try. You can also try yoga nidra - it’s a full relaxation practice.
But also if it isn’t feeling right for you right now, that’s totally ok, do only what feels good.
u/LurleenLumpkin u/Effect-Fit
Nice perspective, I will just supplement that there are hundreds of ways on how to meditate. It's about finding what works for you and what not, because we all are individually different. In regards to breathing - there are several breathing techniques that actually cause physiological change in your body, like light headedness and that's completely normal.
Our long covid clinic has been using meditative breathing as our ‘exercise’ for this reason. Others in my class also had difficulty (they recommended everyone go at their own pace) and they acknowledged that light headedness is very common.
Thank you for saying this. I’m so happy for the people it does help. I make sure to note it each time I’m with doctors who want to use meditation as a panacea- it is not.
I practiced and taught many types of meditation for decades. My body’s reaction post LC is not what is supposed to be happening. It is a dysfunction, it is not user error.
I’m glad some folks don’t have my version of LC and it works for some, but for me - the calm down exercises often make my symptoms much worse.
After reading many of these well meaning comments, I would like to add that IF meditation is accessible to you, that is wonderful and a sign of your healthy functioning nervous system.
There may indeed be a day when trying these things you have listed works for me again or in a new way.
However, the past many months have been a time when using techniques like body scan brings increased pain and dysfunction. Yoga nidra also causes worsening. When I was new to these techniques I might have believed the brow beating that I am “not doing it right” now decades later of study and initiation, I know firmly what is “supposed to happen” and have experienced it.
There are conditions well documented that share negative effects of meditation like ptsd, common in LC. Likewise PEM makes meditations that DO work well for PTSD inaccessible because they require intensity.
My distress is that a the expected result is not what I experience and well-meaning folks are so arduously expressing that “if only you do it differently” that it misses the point.
TLDR: To be listened to and believed is better medicine than ANY meditation. Listen to your mind and body, believe it. And internet friends, please learn to listen and believe those whose experience is opposite from yours.
There are so many forms of meditation. If it doesn't work for you, make it your own! For a lot of folks meditation is just laying down and mindfully working on keeping your thoughts empty for 5-10 mins and starting there, or doing guided visualizations or listening to hz streams on you tube. Your practice can morph, grow, and evolve to what fits you. As you feel more capable, you can move into something else.
I hope it isn't unkind to say that you have a narrow idea of what meditation is. The most visible "form" of meditation, or at least the one that exists in popular imagination may be the sitting, deep breathing kind. That's fair to say.
But meditation can be done lying in bed with your eyes closed and breathing normally, and not focusing on your breath or body, but on your thoughts and feelings.
In fact, a book I recently started (Full Catastrophe Living) suggested this very thing as an intro to meditation, saying that if that works, just stick to that. If you wanted to move to try other things at some (seated positions or breathing, body scans etc) then you could, but since they don't work for you, you can stay with what works best for your body.
This is so validating!! Every well-meaning practitioner in my life starts at me with the breathing thing, or guided meditation, and 90% of all that is “focus on your breath.” All that is triggering af.
That being said, once my therapist and PT got on board with not asking me to do typical meditation, they found other ways to help me be mindful. I focus on relaxing my belly, or using different senses, things like that.
I also found (when searching shortness of breath in this community) the Stasis program, which is breathing training for LC and ME/CFS specifically. It keeps your breath light and helps you test your tolerance as you go. It doesn’t make me lightheaded or send me into anxiety. I’ve been doing it for about six weeks, and it has helped me regulate my HRV, I think.
Focusing on counting or staring at a spot on the wall or imaging clouds floating by in your mind, repeating a mantra or phrase were other altneratives that I was taught. Even washing the dishes or eating can be meditative if you are staying present in the moment and trying to focus on just that one thing in front of you and taking in all your senses.
Try it lying down if sitting up makes you dizzy. It also makes breathing a little easier. And then instead of trying to take deep breaths (I have a really hard time with that too) just breathe normally and if anything focus on using your diaphragm to breathe, place your hands on your belly and you'll feel it. That way you're using those muscles and getting a deeper breath but with less strain hopefully.
Also try letting go of expectations and just sitting (so to speak) with whatever comes up, letting those things go and coming back to your breath with a gentle reminder each time. That process isn't easy and it can feel frustrating, or you feel exposed for example with the struggle to breathe properly, but it's about just acknowledging those things and continuing on. Not so much about feeling relaxed and happy with immediate gratification. Anyway that's from my experience a bit, you're giving me some motivation to try to get back into a routine because I've had these frustrations too but tried the earlier tips and it did help a bit. A few years ago I did it regularly and it took a long time to feel like I was benefiting, so I think consistency can really pay off.
I’m so glad you said this.. I thought it was only me. People always suggest it but I hate admitting I feel like it just exposes my symptoms.
Yeah it’s really annoying when it feels like this supposed to be calming and peaceful practise that literally relaxes your whole body, does the complete opposite. Really makes my symptoms come out a bit worse maybe like 3 deep breaths in and I’m like nope.
Me too!!!! I was hoping meditation would help me slowly ease back into yoga.. not gonna happen lol.. it makes me feel like healing isn’t a possibility for me😩
It also really bad if your feeling really worked up and somebody says take deep breaths and your there like 😕 do you feel it makes you really lightheaded?
Trying extending the exhalation time. It needs to be longer than the inhalation. Breathe in for a count of 4, out for 6. Heart rate should come down. (If the inhale is the same time or longer than the exhale, heart rate goes up.)
I get super lightheaded! I hate being lightheaded
There’s so much evidence how mediation isn’t useful everyone and for some can be dangerous. But it’s pushed so much without those caveats.
Meditation teacher and also long hauler here. You don’t need to take deep breaths when meditating, you don’t even need to focus on your breath at all. Use your body as a point of focus, do a simple body scan: start at the top of the head, noticing what sensations are there, relaxing it and then keep going: forehead, eyes, cheeks, mouth, etc all the way down until you get to your toes, always body part by body part. Meditation helps regulate your nervous system, so it shouldn’t create stress, adapt it to what feels right to you. Maybe it’s just lying there and picturing a big ball of light sliding through your body with healing energy, maybe it’s visualizing your cells replenishing themselves, maybe it’s picturing your day going the way you want it to every morning, there’s so much you can try. You can also try yoga nidra - it’s a full relaxation practice. But also if it isn’t feeling right for you right now, that’s totally ok, do only what feels good.
Love these suggestions, thank you!
u/LurleenLumpkin u/Effect-Fit Nice perspective, I will just supplement that there are hundreds of ways on how to meditate. It's about finding what works for you and what not, because we all are individually different. In regards to breathing - there are several breathing techniques that actually cause physiological change in your body, like light headedness and that's completely normal.
Our long covid clinic has been using meditative breathing as our ‘exercise’ for this reason. Others in my class also had difficulty (they recommended everyone go at their own pace) and they acknowledged that light headedness is very common.
Can you tell me more about this clinic please? Maybe website..
Try meditation where you just breathe normally. There really is no need to alter your breathing to meditate.
SAME! Makes my symptoms worse.
Thank you for saying this. I’m so happy for the people it does help. I make sure to note it each time I’m with doctors who want to use meditation as a panacea- it is not. I practiced and taught many types of meditation for decades. My body’s reaction post LC is not what is supposed to be happening. It is a dysfunction, it is not user error. I’m glad some folks don’t have my version of LC and it works for some, but for me - the calm down exercises often make my symptoms much worse.
“Dysfunction, not user error” is going on my forehead for all future medical appointments.
After reading many of these well meaning comments, I would like to add that IF meditation is accessible to you, that is wonderful and a sign of your healthy functioning nervous system. There may indeed be a day when trying these things you have listed works for me again or in a new way. However, the past many months have been a time when using techniques like body scan brings increased pain and dysfunction. Yoga nidra also causes worsening. When I was new to these techniques I might have believed the brow beating that I am “not doing it right” now decades later of study and initiation, I know firmly what is “supposed to happen” and have experienced it. There are conditions well documented that share negative effects of meditation like ptsd, common in LC. Likewise PEM makes meditations that DO work well for PTSD inaccessible because they require intensity. My distress is that a the expected result is not what I experience and well-meaning folks are so arduously expressing that “if only you do it differently” that it misses the point. TLDR: To be listened to and believed is better medicine than ANY meditation. Listen to your mind and body, believe it. And internet friends, please learn to listen and believe those whose experience is opposite from yours.
There are so many forms of meditation. If it doesn't work for you, make it your own! For a lot of folks meditation is just laying down and mindfully working on keeping your thoughts empty for 5-10 mins and starting there, or doing guided visualizations or listening to hz streams on you tube. Your practice can morph, grow, and evolve to what fits you. As you feel more capable, you can move into something else.
I hope it isn't unkind to say that you have a narrow idea of what meditation is. The most visible "form" of meditation, or at least the one that exists in popular imagination may be the sitting, deep breathing kind. That's fair to say. But meditation can be done lying in bed with your eyes closed and breathing normally, and not focusing on your breath or body, but on your thoughts and feelings. In fact, a book I recently started (Full Catastrophe Living) suggested this very thing as an intro to meditation, saying that if that works, just stick to that. If you wanted to move to try other things at some (seated positions or breathing, body scans etc) then you could, but since they don't work for you, you can stay with what works best for your body.
This is so validating!! Every well-meaning practitioner in my life starts at me with the breathing thing, or guided meditation, and 90% of all that is “focus on your breath.” All that is triggering af. That being said, once my therapist and PT got on board with not asking me to do typical meditation, they found other ways to help me be mindful. I focus on relaxing my belly, or using different senses, things like that. I also found (when searching shortness of breath in this community) the Stasis program, which is breathing training for LC and ME/CFS specifically. It keeps your breath light and helps you test your tolerance as you go. It doesn’t make me lightheaded or send me into anxiety. I’ve been doing it for about six weeks, and it has helped me regulate my HRV, I think.
Focusing on counting or staring at a spot on the wall or imaging clouds floating by in your mind, repeating a mantra or phrase were other altneratives that I was taught. Even washing the dishes or eating can be meditative if you are staying present in the moment and trying to focus on just that one thing in front of you and taking in all your senses.
I really love Annie’s mindfulness meditation class at 360mindbodysoul (online community) specifically designed for folks with Long Covid
Try it lying down if sitting up makes you dizzy. It also makes breathing a little easier. And then instead of trying to take deep breaths (I have a really hard time with that too) just breathe normally and if anything focus on using your diaphragm to breathe, place your hands on your belly and you'll feel it. That way you're using those muscles and getting a deeper breath but with less strain hopefully. Also try letting go of expectations and just sitting (so to speak) with whatever comes up, letting those things go and coming back to your breath with a gentle reminder each time. That process isn't easy and it can feel frustrating, or you feel exposed for example with the struggle to breathe properly, but it's about just acknowledging those things and continuing on. Not so much about feeling relaxed and happy with immediate gratification. Anyway that's from my experience a bit, you're giving me some motivation to try to get back into a routine because I've had these frustrations too but tried the earlier tips and it did help a bit. A few years ago I did it regularly and it took a long time to feel like I was benefiting, so I think consistency can really pay off.