Ask an Overthinker: Should You Fake Confidence?

I love this image, which I first saw on one of Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s columns.

Beautiful Voyager advice columnist Mohammedi Khan

The Beautiful Voyager advice column isn’t like most others. In this column, I ask a question, research, then gather advice, insight, and tips from you: family, friends, and fellow readers. There’s no right or wrong answer. This column encourages the sharing of ideas. Share your thoughts, and they will appear in future columns. Let’s build together a robust collection of diverse tips for us all to try. 

On to this week’s question…

We live in a society that values confidence in school and at work, but anxiety can attack that very confidence. How does this affect your self-esteem in daily life, and how you think others perceive you?

8 Ways Anxiety Attacks Confidence

1. Past experiences leave trauma that creates fear of failure and success.

Anxiety can be induced from resurfacing past experiences. Not just their memories, but the emotional familiarity they can bring to the forefront of your cognition. For example, the impact left by childhood bullying is a trauma that is more deeply ingrained than one would assume. Traumas have the ability to amplify insecurities in an individual that can last from their teens to late adulthood.

How is this? Well, the way a child chooses to deal with his or her bullying might have been their first introduction to coping with anxiety. Along with the unconscious decision of identifying with the defense mechanism(s) they will become accustomed to turn to in their future interactions. An individual who confronted their bully as a child, may choose a more direct verbal/physical approach if they come face-to-face with similar insecurities again. Or, an individual who chose avoidance and solitude as a child, may show reluctance and isolation in the way they handle that same situation. This is why adolescent trauma is important to recognize and treat. It can wire healthy and unhealthy coping in an individual that they involuntarily will return to again and again through life.  

Denise Granito

“Fight and flight sets in when there is a negative reaction being triggered because of emotions based on a past experience. One that was deemed impossible or even based on the fear of success itself.” — Denise Granito (Chicago, IL)

“Sometimes my anxiety gets too heavy that I sometimes “freeze”, and then get frustrated when I need to step away or isolate myself. 
Others may perceive me as dramatic, strange, over-sensitive, or even unrelatable. Since middle school, I naturally dealt with my anxiety by picking at my fingers, sometimes to the point of open wounds or blood. Because of this bad habit I’ve become self-conscious of my thumbs and how scarred they are.” — Anonymous

2. Your preconditions like race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion can lead to hyper-awareness of your salient identities.

When being in an environment that makes you hyper-aware of the differences of yourself in comparison to the rest of the composition (racial, gender, etc.) of the room - it can get scary. In my experience when I suddenly realize I might be the only woman, Muslim, or South-Asian in a room, it can sometimes abruptly make me feel uncomfortable. My confidence can quickly go from a reality, to a facade taking root. Anxiety creeps in. Not because I’m not used to working with people from diverse backgrounds, but because I feel as though I become representative for their identities and experiences as well. Without my consent or control (please reference Cidney's quote below). This is a truth of a societal-happening that occurs whether you intend for it to or not.

In certain situations, I begin feeling as though combinations of stereotypes are being placed on me, and I’m left to either confront and disprove them, or meld into them. This sort of pressure can leave you feeling uncomfortable to a point that it drastically affects your presentation of body language and decorum.

Melissa Vazquez

“As a Women of Color (WOC) who studied and worked at Loyola University, I felt I had to continuously prove myself before anyone could doubt my capabilities. When in reality, I became my biggest critic.” — Melissa Vazquez (Chicago, IL)

“My anxiety is impacted by the demographics within a room, and how they may exacerbate my anxiousness or allow it to subside. When I’m in a diverse familiar space in a classroom or workplace I am able to flourish. When I’m in an all-White space I am more shaken and my confidence is a lot more broken. I start to carry that experience of speaking up or “failing” out of that space and into my daily life. There’s pressure that comes along with me feeling as if I have to speak for every black woman in many spaces when my identity/experiences/trauma is so different from my black sisters in many ways.” — Cidney Robinson (Chicago, IL)

Cidney Robinson

3. Society’s expectations lead us to feel an ongoing pressure.

Pressure can come from living up to what is expected from us, or how we conform our notions to fit that of society's. It creates both a fear of owning your success, to accepting your failures.

Social anxiety can lead to some confidence battles arising from external appearances, where one might feel judged for not fitting the spectrum of what classifies beauty. While some industries (i.e. makeup and modeling) are helping women accept themselves more, they at the same time can fuel more negative self-images. Women experience it more from body shaming, cat-calling, dressing, mannerisms, etc. They are critiqued more, while being expected to abide by traditional social conventions more. 

Those who have felt the onset of anxiety can testify that sometimes there are warning signs to give you a heads-up, and sometimes BOOM - it’s just there! The physical impact of anxiety is important to be aware of because sometimes the “fake it till you make it” approach is not applicable to those experiencing GAD. It can give you sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, tunnel vision, light-headedness, and to amplify the previous, just the worst-possible scenarios starting to seem plausible.

“Anxiety for me has stemmed from my own fear of failure and living up to society’s expectations.”— Treasure Pascal (Chicago, IL)

Treasure Pascal

Janay Moore

“My confidence is often shaken by anxiety. It is a fear stemmed from the possibility of being publicly wrong or just simply not good enough. Places like school and work value confidence, but they also value correctness and the ability to excel. The two are intertwined by circumstance but not necessarily in everyday life causing dissonance — this is where anxiety creeps in. How can I be confident and wrong? How can I be confident without mastering?”— Janay Moore (Chicago, IL)

“Social anxiety can affect confidence directly. What I’ve learned from my own experience is one can be an effective communicator; yet be plagued with worry that physically impacts them.” — Mohammedi Khan (Chicago, IL)

“ In the years where my self-confidence should have been ingrained and strengthened I encountered a lot of bullying from my peers. I started to constantly compare myself to others, never feeling good enough. I became consumed by how others perceived me that I developed a self-doubt that I still experience today.” — Melissa Vazquez (Chicago, IL)

4. Confidence can be a defense mechanism, or a means for over-compensation.

Confidence, or over-confidence can be a defense mechanism for some, or a tactic to deceive. For me anxiety is excessively worrying, and the smallest of things being blown out of proportion internally. It can lead to a feeling of, or a need for perfectionism. If any of this goes awry, negative self-talk ensues to“do better” on what is already fine. As simplistic as this might sound to some, *it is important to note that this is a reality for many who do not need validation of whether this reality exists or not. It IS their reality.

“Anxiety stems from the idea of being perfect, among my peers. Mainly because I perceive them to be more intelligent than me, and that my ideas may not be as valued compared to theirs. My anxiety drives perfection in my work. I can’t just turn in an assignment or do a presentation until I feel like it has been deconstructed and analyzed over and over again.. my overanalyzing makes me spend hours on an assignment that would take another student 30 minutes to complete. Because of my anxiety people may perceive me in a negative manner and associate traits of laziness and irresponsiblity. Not knowing that I probably put 5x more effort in my work to produce the same product as them.” — Anonymous

5. Not knowing how or when to stand up for yourself.

Confidence-anxiety comes from not having outlined your expectations, beliefs, and what you are willing to accept or not. So when things become blurred, your perceptions can cloud your judgement of what you believe you are deserving of. These moments are there to teach you how to stand up for yourself.

“Meeting so many diverse, inspiring people in college taught me life isn’t a competition. Many times I’ve run into people I felt deserved to succeed more than I did, which made me feel guilty for advocating for myself. When I gave up on gagging myself professionally, I found identity in the values I’d gained from my experiences.” — igetcha

6. Uncertainty means rushing to get to the known.

It is hard to grapple with the truth that there are some things we cannot anticipate or know immediately in life. For some, it is about accepting that, and for other worriers, this is a set-up for triggers leading to a cascade of events. Uncertainty for over-thinkers is an uncomfortable place that can take some draining navigating. Whereas, on the other hand certainty is security and knowing. The balance between the two, and levels of what you are willing to allow in your life, is something that an individual must come to terms with on their own. Which is no easy feat. 

“#1 cause of anxiety in college students would be the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Basically, people who know very little about a topic overestimate how much they know. Learning more exposes us to how much we don’t know, a vast unknown we tend to overestimate.” — igetcha

“My anxiety comes from overthinking and overanalyzing certain situations/scenarios which cause even more anxiety (it’s like an endless cycle). This effects my everyday life because it causes me to double-guess myself, question my self-worth or the quality of my work which results with procrastination (not because I am lazy) or even allowing myself to become depressed, without knowing till it is too late.” — Anonymous

7. Workplace/school anxiety (I mean, you do spend most of your day here).

For many a year, job market searches and school application processes take a toll of their own. They have you questioning everything — your intellect, your potential, and mostly your ability to make choices.

After settling down on a choice, some must deal with the post-anxiety that comes after. From the lack of mental health understanding in employer's affecting how much an employee can effectively take on; to burnouts exposing students to feeling both overwhelmed and incapable of accomplishing. There are a range of emotions and triggers one must learn to unravel and decipher in order to make positive livelihood a habit.  

“My current employer isn’t very well trained on mental health, so when I’m told I’m disengaged I make clear every time that my mental illness means I may not perform the same as my coworkers in certain respects.” — Anonymous (Miami, Florida)

“Imposter syndrome makes navigating the ambiguous job market 100x harder. I would never work somewhere I wasn’t treated like a human being. No dream was worth giving up my self-respect. A friend told me that if I degrade myself, it’s indirectly degrading others in similar situations and humans in general. I keep in mind that I have the rest of my life to fail and try again and the only truly harmful thing I can do is give up...Game changers fail 100x more than everyone else because they experiment 1000x more. I feel I’ve learned the most from the times I’ve fallen the hardest, the times I beat myself up for months and then woke up to realize one day that I had worked way too hard for it all to be in vain.” — igetcha

8. Misery needs company.

We've all heard this phrase - well it cannot be truer. 

“Yet, somehow, no matter how many YouTube videos you watch, you’re the only person in the room who doesn’t get it. When the self-proclaimed legends are out picking up fans, you can find miserable company with your fellow self-doubters. You’ll leave feeling validated, understood, less alone, but more hopeless. — igetcha

This article focused on the different reasons as to why we might experience wavering confidence and anxiety. Be on the lookout for a second part to this prompt on working through this specific type of anxiety. 

This is a safe space, so please share your own experiences that may have affected your self-esteem and confidence. The BV family would love to hear them!

Ask an Overthinker: Advice for High-Stress Times

Beautiful Voyager advice columnist Mohammedi Khan

The Beautiful Voyager advice column isn’t like most others. In this column, I ask a question, then share advice, insight, and tips from all of you: family, friends, and fellow readers. Since there’s no right or wrong answer, this column is simply meant to encourage the sharing of ideas. Let's hear what works (or doesn’t work) for you, and build together a robust collection of diverse tips for us all to try. On to this week's question...

Readers, I’ll own up to it: I’ve been having trouble striking a balance between my work, side projects, and my social life.  I struggle with waves of overwhelming workloads in my pursuit of academic and career aspirations. That’s why, for this first installment of the Beautiful Voyager advice column, I wanted to dig into the following question:

How do you navigate your anxiety in high-stress times? How do you monitor overthinking and negative thought processes when papers and work from your beloved professors and/or bosses are piling up? What happens when deadlines hit you head-on?

1. Break it down (*as necessary).

Melissa Rohman

“I find that taking it day by day helps. Focusing on what today will bring, what you need to accomplish, and starting off any day with being kind to myself and easing into the day as much as I possibly can…because we are never guaranteed how the day will play out or what will happen. Someone wise once told me that it’s better to be centered than set and I think that deems true for this.” — Melissa Rohman  (Chicago, IL)

2. Remember breaks! Avoid overworking yourself.

Overworking defeats the purpose of producing quality work and retaining information. There is a difference between effective time-management and multi-tasking, and low-quality work due to strained conditions.

“I make sure to give myself a good to-do list of what goals I have for the day and to make sure I take mental and physical breaks regularly when a pending deadline is approaching or a lot is on my plate.” — Melissa Rohman 

3. The outdoors will calm your nerves.

“Nature also does wonders, so if it’s nice outside I like to take advantage of the magic the sunlight can have on your mood.” — Melissa Rohman

4. Enjoy what you do. Do it with passion and a desire, and the task ahead won’t seem as daunting or a burden. Remind yourself why you are doing it.

“To manage overthinking and negative thought processes is still in the works for me, but I’m getting better and better at it every day by telling myself that if I am enjoying what I’m doing and that I’m putting in my all that it is enough. It’s hard to make yourself believe that a lot of the time; I’m guilty of it. But I’m not perfect and I’ve come to realize there’s beauty in overthinking as long as you’re the one in control and not it.” — Melissa Rohman

5. Make completion of your task(s) tangible. Lists and deadlines are your friends.

“Schedule out all that I have to do on Google calendar and prioritize what I need to do, being honest with myself at what needs to be done and what the hard deadline is.” — Huma Nizamuddin (Chicago, IL)

Huma Nizamuddin

6. Communicate transparently with peers and colleagues. Ask for help.

Naseeb Bhangal

“Sometimes I’m emboldened to simply have a conversation with others and say…look I’m stressed here. Can you help?” — Naseeb Bhangal (Chicago, IL)

“Remind myself to communicate with others and ensure that they are receiving what they expect by the proper time. Sometimes we forget that people are on the other end waiting on us. It shouldn’t be stressful, but a reminder to organize ourselves carefully. Planning it all out by time really helps with my stress because I know I’ll be able to complete it all at least.” — Huma Nizamuddin (Chicago, IL)

7. Remind yourself: It will get done. Determine your style of work ethic.

Savannah Bays

“One thing that I always know is that it will get done. Whether it’s early or the day before, the assignment will get done.” — Savannah Bays (Chicago, IL)

8. Spirituality/Faith/Mindfulness Meditation. 
 

I go to a quiet area in my surroundings and try to refocus my thoughts using this religious hymn:

“I also try to do simran/prayer, which calms me down.” (Sikh faith) — Naseeb Bhangal (Chicago, IL)

Please share your anxiety-alleviating approaches! I'd love to hear them.

Top 10 Nailed-It Moments From the Hilarious World of Depression

If you haven't had a chance to check out John Moe's podcast, the Hilarious World of Depression, holiday travel is a great time for binge-listening. Plug in on a flight across the country and get involved in someone else's life and experiences. Along the way, pick up great insight about anxiety and depression from smart, funny people, like the ones listed here.  Without further ado, here are the top ten nailed-in moments from my favorite mental health podcast in 2017.

1. On the Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression.

“[Anxiety and depression] are closely related. For me, depression comes in to help manage the anxiety. And no, it doesn’t do a great job of it.” - Aimee Mann

2. On Being the Child of an Addict

"My mother (god bless her heart) was an addict when I was in high school. And since our emotional language comes from our parents, whatever they're stuck on, we are as well. As a result I wasn't aware of mental health issues for a long time. As a kid, you compartmentalize. You think you deserve to be treated however you are...Being a child of an addict is a surefire way to have some anxiety or depression as you get older. " - Baron Vaughn 

3. On Positive Thinking

"I thought, 'I can't do comedy as a trans person..' Luckily I had a friend who was sending me links and telling me I had to come to New York to do it. So that was very helpful, to have people around me who are like 'It is possible, just don't lead with your apprehension. Don't lead with your egheghwheww. " - Patti Harrison

4. On Suicide

"If you look at the Venn diagram for people who have bipolar disorder, people who are addicts and alcoholics, and people who have tried to commit suicide, statistically you could have guessed...It would have been a pretty safe guess that I would have attempted suicide. " - Ana Marie Cox and John Moe

5. On Writing

"I've often thought of writing as that childhood pool game Marco Polo, but I'm in my basement for 4 or 5 years just saying "Marco, Marco, Marco" over and over again, waiting for that one person to say Polo back." - John Green

6. On Hiding

"I didn't tell anyone about the OCD thoughts until I was 35 because I felt so ashamed of what they were. But then I googled my thoughts and...turns out, OCD sites came up. That's why I love the internet. Anything you're worried about, you type it in and someone's already done it, they've written a book about it." - Maria Bamford

7. On Reckoning with Truth

"When my dad admitted he didn't love me, it actually made me feel better. It was both excruciating and liberating. It meant I wasn't crazy."  - Neal Brannon

8. On Dealing with Other People

"I'm a snob about depression. I think we are superior." - Jen Kirkman

9. On Anxiety and People Pleasing

"When I was around 12 or 13 years old, anxiety started for me. Attention became uncomfortable. I began to feel I wasn't doing things for myself as much as doing things other people expected me to do...For example, it was important to the adults in my life that I do teen magazines. I didn't want to do that. It felt like a distraction. I just wanted to make believe."  - Wil Wheaton

10. On Being Misperceived

"I was not an aggressive person. I didn't have that killer instinct. I was very timid. I just happened to be born into this was this 6 foot 6, 240-pound body. I was very athletic and I could run fast and jump high but my mental makeup was more like Richard Lewis." - Gary Gulman

Do you listen to Hilarious World of Depression? Did I miss one of your favorite moments? Let me know by commenting below!

Try: Hugging Away Holiday Stress

By Renee Pletka, Holistic Health + Eating Psychology Coach

While the holidays can bring abundant joy, they can also trigger tremendous stress.

Jam-packed stores, perfect-gift hunting, travel delays, overindulgence, kitchen bickering, family conflicts, unmet expectations and more all lead to stress, anxiety, tension and not-so-merry moods.

I have a foolproof remedy for busting holiday stress that's fast, easy and super-duper effective:

Hug it out.

That's right.

Hug. It. Out.

Instead of squabbling, snapping or snarling, give your partner, kiddo, sister, mom or brother-in-law a big ol' hug. Doing so will immediately dissolve any stress, tension, anxiety and grumpiness. 

Photo by Gus Moretta

In fact, hugging decreases cortisol (your fight-or-flight stress hormone), lowers blood pressure, and releases oxytocin (your bonding and trust-building hormone).

I've personally tested this stress buster numerous times and know firsthand that it truly works not only during the holidays, but every day of the year. 

Give it a whirl. You have nothing to lose, except your cranky pants!

---

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Try: New Breathing Techniques

Here are two breathing techniques I've been using lately. The first one is from Dr. Andrew Weil, it's simple, and it's easy to remember.

Here's Andrew Weil's 4-7-8 breathing method:

That's all you need to remember, actually. Breath for a count of 4, hold for a count of 7, then breath out for a count of 8 to, in Weil's words, "reset your involuntary system."

I don't know if that's what's happening when I do the exercise, but I can say that every time I do it, I feel better.

The second technique is from a cult-like figure named Wim Hof.

Just Google his name and you will learn all about the cult surrounding him.

Here's Wim Hof's method, in brief:

• Take 30 breaths, ballooning your chest.

• Breathe in as much as you can, expanding your chest.

• Breathe out completely, drop your chin, and relax until you feel your reflex.

• Inhale again deeply and hold for 10 – 15 seconds.

• Repeat.

• Reserve five minutes at the end to scan your body.

Here it is in a little more detail, if needed. 

1. Get comfortable with legs crossed and prepare to warm up.

2. Inhale deeply until you feel some pressure in your chest. Hold your breath, then exhale, pushing out all of your air. Hold for 2 – 3 seconds.

3. Repeat warm-up 15 times.

4. Once you're warmed up, pretend to blow up a balloon by inhaling through your nose, exhaling through your mouth in short, powerful bursts with a steady pace. Repeat 30 times. If you get lightheaded, that's OK.

5. During your big breaths, focus on each part of your body. If you sense something that doesn’t feel quite right, release that part of the body.

6. After you’ve completed your 30 power breaths, inhale deeply and fill your lungs to capacity, then force the air out. Drop your chin and relax. Hold your breath out until you experience the gasp reflex. Then inhale normally.

7. Inhale again deeply. Release any tension in your chest and hold that breath in. Drop your chin to your chest and hold for 15 seconds. Scan your body again for anything that feels “off.”

8. Relax and scan your body.

I've been using the 4-7-8 breath at small random times, like on the subway or in a meeting. I use the Wim Hof method when I need a deeper "intervention" -- like if I'm overthinking something at bedtime or in the middle of the night. Give both a try. I would love to hear how it goes for you

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Riding the Wave: The Single Biggest Thing I've Learned About Anxiety

In July, 2015, I found out I had anxiety. It was like being handed the keys to my brain. Before that, I felt different than others, but wasn't sure why.

In the past year and a half, I've done a lot of digging and connecting. I've talked to others with anxiety. I've researched and talked to doctors. I've read many books. 

The single-most important thing I've learned: anxiety is a physiological response involving hormones released in the body.

Those hormones hit the system in a surge and draw back in time. They can come in one big cresting wave, or many mini waves, but they hit the body the same way a wave hits the beach.

This information has affected me deeply. When the hormones hit, I now ask myself: Can the beach fight the wave?

I know the answer: No.

I've also learned the shaky feeling many people experience after a stress response or panic attack is a sign of the hormone wave receding. It's actually a good thing! We often fear the strange shaky feeling. We should be looking forward its arrival. If we understand what the shakiness means, we can enjoy that another wave is over and our strength remains from our place on the beach.

Accepting the hormone release—navigating the triggers that set it in motion—is how I think of riding The Beautiful Voyager.

I'm not the only one to describe the wave. Barry McDonagh describes it this way in DARE:

Anxiety is nothing more than nervous energy in your body. This energy rises and falls just like waves on the ocean. Think of it as if you're bobbing around in the ocean and every now and then a wave rises up in front of you. When you resist the wave, it tosses you around and scares you, but when you move with it, you ride up and over it and eventually lose your fear of waves...Where you once resisted each and every sensation because your anxious mind thought it was the right thing to do, now you're learning to sit in friendly curiosity, allowing it to be without any desire to stop or control it. So every time you feel a wave of nervous energy, you can bob up and down with it as it rises and falls. 

Here's an incredible example from Dani Shapiro. She's writing about writing. Listen to the similarities: 

During the time devote to your writing, think of the surges of energy coursing through your body as waves. They will come, they will crash over you, and then they will go. You'll still be sitting there. Nothing terrible will have happened. Try not to run from the wave. If, at one moment, you are sitting quietly at your desk and then--fugue state alert--you are suddenly on your knees planting tulips, or perusing your favorite online shopping site, and you don't know how you got there, then the wave has won. We don't want the wave to win. We want to learn to recognize it, accept its power, and even learn to ride it. We want to learn to withstand those wild surges, because everything we need to know, everything valuable, is contained within them.

Responding to the hormone wave with curiosity, openness, and even excitement for the shakes has been my biggest learning to date.

I work so hard on this project. Sometimes I ask myself, "Why are you doing this?"

My answer: "This is how I learned about the wave. It's not how everyone does, but it's how I did. It's worth it."

Originally published Feb 08, 2016. Updated November 25, 2017.

Try to: Pick Up Some Drumsticks

I recently re-acquired my drum kit following my divorce. As a result, I got to play the drums for the first time in over fifteen months.  In doing so, I realized playing drums is an amazing way to help deal with depression.

When I played the drums I became so focused my mind was prevented from wandering and ruminating. I was in what is known in psychological terms as being in Present Moment Contact. This concept works in a similar way to mindfulness. I have discussed this concept in more detail in a previous article of mine entitled Under Pressure.

When it comes to depression, it's incredibly useful to find a coping/distraction technique that works for you. I know that even when a successful distraction technique is found, a person may not always be able to engage with it. Example: I am sitting next to my drum-kit right now, as I'm writing this. However at this specific moment I can't bring myself to play them, not right now. But the drum kit is always there. I know there will be times when I will play them and they will help me.

Finding a positive distraction technique helps. We all know there are plenty of maladaptive ways to cope with depression, masking the issue. At the same time, remember: not being able to find a positive distraction technique should not be seen as a failure.

I like these words said by Stephen Fry, the British comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist:

“If you know someone who’s depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather. Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.”

Learn more about btg dad  at www.peacenospas.com. 

If this experiment works for you, hit the heart (no login required) to let others know they should give it a try!  

Try: Big Group Meditation

Last week, I attended my first big group sound meditation event at famous Grace Cathedral here in San Francisco. Here's an excerpt from the official description of the event:

On October 23rd, 1300 of us will come together to resonate with peace and tranquility at the beautiful Grace Cathedral. This experience not only brings you to your deepest meditative state, but also ushers us closer as a community.

Led by Guy Douglas and featuring an array of amazing and talented musicians on gongs, crystal singing bowls, Tibetan singing bowls, Native American flutes, Didgeridoo, Celtic Harp, Monochord, Vibraphone and so much more.

Despite feeling weird about it, I Facebook Live'd the event so that others could see what it was like. Also, I wanted to force myself to do something that scared me. As a result, I have this video from the event itself: 

Here are my thoughts on big group sound meditation as an experiment in dealing with stress and anxiety:

• It was exciting to try something new and the setting was beautiful.

• The floor was HARD. I had to shift around a bunch to try to get comfortable.

• I wanted to feel more vibrations. Like in the pit of my stomach. I don't know if it's because of where we were sitting, but I didn't feel those.

• The best part was when there was a human voice in the mix.

• It was somewhat relaxing. I was also a bit hopped up from the excitement of the experience. 

• I would try it again. I bet different settings vary greatly.

I see that there is another big group sound meditation event happening in a few weeks at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.

If this experiment works for you, hit the heart (no login required) to let others know they should give it a try!