Guided Meditation for ADHD and Anxiety
When you have anxiety and ADHD, it can be very hard for your brain to focus. You might notice yourself getting easily distracted or focusing on random tasks besides the one you have at hand. This is normal, understandable and a diagnosable part of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But even if it is normal and understandable, it doesn't always make it fun to have to deal with.
Understanding ADHD and Anxiety
Image Credit: Unsplash, Melissa Askew @melissaaskew
Part of the work we do at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis includes work on your brain. This brain work includes helping your brain focus, solve problems and get things done when they have to get done. One of the ways we do this is through practicing meditation and mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness includes tools that help your brain to stop and refocus.
Meditation for ADHD and Attention
One of the ways you can practice meditation for attention is by using the following guided meditation script. You can listen to the meditation below as well as review the script for you to use at home, during study hall, or even with a school therapist.
Guided Meditation for ADHD and Anxiety Script
Below, you’ll find our script, including the section headings to help place you, bolded. Plan to set aside 5-10 minutes for this meditation.
Introduction to Guided Meditation
For today's guided meditation, we are going to take the time to stop and think. Everyone's mind is a monkey mind, which means everyone's mind can get focused on the next shiny object. You can get distracted, you can try and think about one thing and then end up focusing on 20 other unrelated things. This is normal and common and just part of having a human brain. But we can train our monkey brains, our monkey minds, to not get so distracted and to instead stop and think about one thing.
Preparing for Meditation
So there are several techniques for doing this. One opportunity that we have to focus on this today is to close our eyes and to use this guided meditation to just bring our attention gently back. So if you feel comfortable, close your eyes or find one spot on the wall or the ground or the space in front of you to focus. Whatever feels best for your body. Uncross your legs or even lay down if you have the space to do that.
Grounding
Start with a slow breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Take another breath in and out. One more in and out. Let your body and your muscles relax and soften. I want you to imagine yourself standing in front of a lake. And every time a thought or distraction comes up for you, I want you to take that thought, place it on a pebble, and then just gently plop that pebble into the water and let it sink below the surface.
Visualizing Distractions
The next time a thought comes up for you, take that thought, put that thought on or in a pebble. Gently plop that pebble into that water and let that pebble gently sink away from you. Thoughts come up for us all the time. Every brain gets distracted. So as soon as you notice you're distracted or you notice a thought, take that thought, put that thought on or in a pebble and plop the pebble into the water.
Managing Multiple Thoughts
You may be noticing lots of thoughts that are happening at the same time. So take each thought, place each thought on or in the pebble and let each pebble plop into the water again and again. Plop, plop. Some thoughts might feel kind of sticky. It might feel hard to send those pebbles away into the water. So each time the thought comes up, no matter how many times, take that thought, place that thought on or in a pebble, and let that thought plop into the water. And if it comes up again, put that different part of the thought in the pebble, plop that pebble into the water.
Addressing Common Thoughts
You may also notice thoughts like, how long is my therapist or how long is Kelsey gonna make me do this? Also very okay, as soon as you notice that thought, take that thought, place that thought on or in a pebble, and plop that pebble into the water. We'll spend a few more moments here, just noticing the thoughts, placing those thoughts on pebbles and plopping them into the water as needed. Remembering you can always come back to this lake. You can always plop those pebbles into the water. Whenever you need. Great job.
Building attention skills when you have ADHD and anxiety takes practice!
If you notice your brain has a hard time during this activity, just remember that the more you practice, the easier it is to train your brain to let go of distracting thoughts; even when you have ADHD. If you're interested in learning more about how the therapists at Compassion Counseling St. Louis specialize and work with anxiety and attention, you can schedule a free phone call right here on our website. We look forward to hearing from you.
Curious to hear more, or are you a little reluctant about counseling? Compassionate Counseling St. Louis provides specialized anger management and anxiety therapy in St. Louis for kids, teens, and college students. We work in Clayton, MO and serve kids, teens, and college students throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Ladue, University City, Town and Country, Webster Groves, Creve Coeur, Kirkwood, Richmond Heights, and Brentwood. You can set up your free phone screening to see if we’re a good fit for your needs right on our website.
