/adv/ — Can meditation help with social anxiety? If so, how?

>>34611918 (OP)
Meditation lowers cortisol, provides better emotional regulation, and makes it easier to make on the fly, deliberate decisions without stressing. If you struggle with extreme periods of self doubt, not knowing what to say when interacting with others, or focusing on one topic at a time, then meditation is probably a good idea. I suggest just starting with a couple minutes at a time and moving on to 10 minute sessions daily. Good luck anon, wagmi

>>34611918 (OP)
Yes, it can. The root of social anxiety is selfhood. Anxiety can only come from the root thought "i want people to think well of me". If it weren't for consistently thinking that thought, whether consciously or subconsciously, you'd have nothing at all to be anxious about. So the topic of daily meditation ought to be renouncing selfhood, understanding that other people's thoughts about you are outside of your control and should be disregarded.

It also helps to understand that anything good about "you" doesn't actually belong to you and is simply passing through you. For example, if you have a strong sense of justice, what that really means is that you renounce yourself insofar as the principle requires it. You set aside what "you" want in order to do what's just, and what's just isn't something that came from "you" either, since you didn't invent justice, but rather justice is an eternal principle that you're simply making way for. The more you can set aside "you" and live in principles, the less you'll have to be anxious about. Hopefully that was helpful and not overly metaphysical.

>>34611918 (OP)
Yes. Brainwashing. Instead of panicking, you are brainwashed to stay calm.

I would argue that apart from benzos, there really aren’t any meds that can lower your baseline anxiety. The only real way to do so is through exposure therapy.

i like to do hot vinyasa yoga becos if you are doing the poses and maintaining the breathing you don't have mental space for anxiety because you are spending an hour pressing against your physical limits

and if you're not just close your mouth and incorporate more inversions, flights, and twists until you are

there is very little peace in this world quite like holding yourself in some weird upside down shape until you simply cannot and then crumpling into shavasana in a pool of your own sweat

>>34612124
Oh shit you said meditation, yeah having a clear mind definitely helps.

Ok

>>34613001
ok

>>34611918 (OP)
Do 1-2 hours a day and you'll get the benefits. Regardless you need to spend time socializing instead of sitting at home alone. You can't just meditate and hope that's enough.