Are you seeking a way to decrease anxiety and increase peace in your daily life? Discover how a 15-minute guided meditation can help you bring tranquility and calm into your day. Imagine starting your morning feeling centered and grounded, ready to face any challenges with a peaceful mind.
Join Andrea Wachter, a renowned meditation guide on Insight Timer, as she helps you quiet your mind and calm your body. This practice is perfect for anyone looking to reduce stress, nervousness, or panic, whether you’re new to meditation or a seasoned practitioner.
Inspiration Behind Decrease Anxiety and Increase Peace Meditation
Andrea Wachter was inspired to create this meditation from her psychotherapy practice. She often wanted to send clients home with a tool or resource to use between sessions. Initially, she used “sticky notes with reminders,” but with the rise of smartphones, she began recording mindfulness practices and guided meditations for her clients.
Andrea’s husband introduced her to Insight Timer, and after experiencing the benefits of daily meditations on the app, he suggested she upload her own. She shares:
“We began a sweet routine of starting every day with an Insight Timer meditation. A few months into our daily use of the app, he suggested that I try uploading a meditation, since I’d mentioned to him that many of my clients were benefiting from their personal recordings, and here we are!”
A 15-minute guided meditation to decrease anxiety and increase peace
This 15-minute guided meditation practice can help decrease anxiety and increase calm, so you can start your day on a peaceful note.
For more guided meditations and mindfulness practices, explore Insight Timer’s vast library of free guided meditations.
Decrease anxiety and increase peace meditation script
Step 1: Get comfortable
Begin by ensuring your body is as comfortable as possible. Find a quiet place where you can sit or lie down without distractions. Close your eyes if you’d like.
Step 2: Focus on your breath
Bring your attention to your breath. Notice how the air feels cooler as you inhale and warmer as you exhale. Feel your chest rise and fall with each breath.
Step 3: Notice your surroundings
Tune into your environment. Notice the surface underneath you and how it supports your body. Feel the sensation of the cushion, the ground, or whatever you’re sitting or lying on.
Step 4: Observe sensations
Bring your awareness to the sensations in your hands. Notice what you’re touching and any sensations in your palms. Now, shift your focus to the sounds around you, whether they are close by or far away.
Step 5: Relax your body
Begin to soften and relax your muscles. Start with your face, releasing tension in your forehead, eyes, mouth, and jaw. Let your neck and shoulders relax, followed by your arms, hands, back, legs, feet, and toes.
Step 6: Sink into support
Allow your entire body to release stress and tension. Feel how the surface beneath you holds you up and supports you. Surrender to that support and take in that, in this moment, you are safe.
Step 7: Scan your body
Perform a gentle scan through your body. Notice any sensations, tightness, or tension. Observe these sensations without attaching any thoughts or judgments. Imagine your breath as a warm breeze soothing these areas.
Step 8: Cultivate love
Think of something or someone you love deeply. It could be a place, an animal, a person, or even a favorite flower. Feel the sensation of love in your body and let it expand, filling you with warmth and peace.
Step 9: Stay with the feeling
Continue to let this feeling of love grow and spread throughout your entire body. Imagine it washing through your mind and every cell of your body, until you are completely filled with it.
Step 10: Gently return
When you’re ready, slowly open your eyes and give your body a gentle stretch. Transition back into the next part of your day, carrying the sense of peace and love with you.
This guided meditation script was adapted from Andrea Wachter’s Decrease Anxiety and Increase Peace meditation, which you can find here.
Take a moment to reflect
Take a few moments after the meditation to reflect on your experience. Here are a few reflective questions to consider and journal about:
- How did the meditation make you feel?
- What sensations or thoughts did you notice during the practice?
- How can you incorporate the feelings of peace and love into your daily life?
- Does your body feel different after the meditation? How?
Expert tips for anxiety meditation beginners
Andrea Wachter advises beginners to set their intentions before starting their practice. For instance, you might say or think, “I want to be as present as possible with this meditation. I give my mind permission to quiet, and I give my body permission to rest.”
She also emphasizes the importance of being compassionate and patient with yourself. It’s normal for the mind to wander during meditation — recognizing this and gently bringing your focus back is part of the process. Andrea likens it to “a gentle dance that requires intention and consistency.”
Why Andrea Wachter Loves Meditating with Insight Timer
Insight Timer has been a significant blessing in Andrea Wachter’s life. When she first started using the app, she was amazed by its reach and the community it offered. She says:
“Insight Timer has enabled me to carry my message to people all over the world. It’s been such a gift.”
Another reason Andrea loves Insight Timer is its “vast buffet of options” when it comes to guided meditations. She shares, “Once people learn how to search and save, they can have 24/7 access to calming, soothing, uplifting, and inspiring messages.”
Embrace calm with Insight Timer’s free meditation app
Discover a wide range of meditations to help you decrease anxiety, increase peace, and cultivate mindfulness. Download Insight Timer’s free meditation app and explore our extensive library of guided meditations and meditation music to enhance your practice.
Looking for a meditation community? Join one of our many groups and experience the calming effects of meditation with like-hearted people.
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