Lately while meditating I've been prone to experiencing intense bouts of fear and anxiety. When I try to calm myself down, another thought crops up: perhaps I'm doing this wrong, and I'm doing harm to myself. That in turn leads me to feel more afraid.
Why is this happening? And am I doing it wrong?
Hi promit, this happened to me a while ago. There were instances, when I would simply stop my meditation or chanting because I was scared. I don't know till date what I was afraid of though. But let me tell you the good news, it goes away with time. And the best remedy is Faith. Here are just a few methods to cope: you can sit in your puja room, or keep a photo/idol of your chosen deity in front of you or a picture of someone whom you consider to be your guru(you don't have to be initiated by this person, if you think of this person as your guru that's enough) while meditating. And just have faith that the person in whose presence you're sitting will protect you no matter what. I also found out that chanting mantras of your favourite deity is more soothing than simply sitting and meditating at this phase. I used to chant Om namo narayanaya and meditate on it.(If you start feeling scared just chant it more loudly or more intensely and vigorously, you'll feel better). Common mantras like om namah shivaya, hare krishna mahamantra or the one I mentioned are meant for the masses so you can't go wrong with them. You can also just chant the name of the deity(for eg: Ram naam. But it can be any deity's name), it works like a mantra as well.
As for meditation techniques you can read A MILLION THOUGHTS by Swami, it's all about how to meditate properly.
I am not an expert on any matter. But this is what worked for me. Hope it helps!
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