Introduction
When anxious, the mind is preoccupied with the future, wondering what might happen next. Intentionally returning to the present can help ease anxiety. In this gratitude meditation for anxiety, we return to the present by focusing on all we have to appreciate.
There is often something to be grateful for, even in difficult moments. This gratitude meditation script invites us to appreciatively observe our breath, our beating heart, and the feeling of gratitude itself.
The more we can practice opening to gratitude in meditation, the more likely we are to notice gratitude arising outside of formal practice. By imbuing each day, and each moment, with gratitude, we become present with all that’s going well, and anxiety may ease.
- Practice Time: <10 minutes
- Purpose: Reduce Anxiety
- May Help With: Cultivating Gratitude, Heart Opening, Presence
- Practice Level: Intermediate
Here’s a Sample of the “A Gratitude Meditation to Relieve Anxiety” Guided Meditation Script:
You might find a comfortable position in which you can be still and quiet in your body
You might close your eyes, or keep them open and soften your focus
Breathe slowly and patiently in and out through your nose
Intentionally place your attention on your breath
Take three deep cycles of breath
And let yourself be fully present with each one
Stay with breath as it moves in and out through the nose
Or feel the sensation of breath as it moves the body
Or notice how the body is breathing itself
Three full in breaths, and three full out breaths
(pause for 3 breaths)
And now as you notice your breath,
As you look upon your breath with wonder and awe
Notice also a warm sensation of gratitude arising in your heart
Continue to watch the breath
As you let this warmth or this light of gratitude
Grow and expand
(pause for 2 breaths)
And as this gratitude grows,
Feel it embracing or enveloping the heart itself
And intentionally draw awareness to your heart and your heartbeat
Feel or hear your heartbeat
Or just visualize, imagine, trust that it’s there
How to Use this Gratitude Meditation for Anxiety Script
You can use this gratitude meditation script to inform an intention for your personal practice, or you can use it to help guide others in mindfulness meditation.
In either case, familiarize yourself with the script and its intention before your meditation. Then, you might use the script in any of the following ways.
- Read the script as is, or make edits that better reflect your own authentic voice
- Use the script to guide others in person, either 1-on-1, or in a group
- Make an audio recording of yourself teaching the meditation, using the script as a guide
- Create a meditation video, using this gratitude meditation script as inspiration
Cultivating gratitude benefits us all. Even if we’re not experiencing anxiety, the human brain tends toward a negativity bias that can keep us from accepting the present moment. The practice of gratitude can help us see the good that is with us.
Conclusion
Gratitude meditation is just one means of countering anxiety. It can work by grounding us in the present and directing our awareness to all that’s going well. We can often find gratitude for our own body and breath. Cultivating gratitude on a regular basis may also have benefits beyond feeling more calm. If anxiety is a regular struggle, this practice complements, and does not replace, support from a doctor or therapist.
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