Can anyone give me any suggestions on how to keep your mind focused when listening to relaxation tapes?  I am trying to cope with my anxiety by just making it through each day at a time. Sometimes I find I even have to just make hour to hour.  I have been trying to use a couple of relaxation tapes but find it very hard to keep myself focused.  I have read in this forum about meditation, could anyone provide me with any information about this, as I am willing to try it if it will help with my anxiety and shaking.  It is so wonderful to have this web site to visit and read.  I had no idea that all of these scary thoughts, feelings and emotions could be from menopause.  I was told that I am suffering from depression and put on antidepressants.  They do seem to have helped with the crying to some degree but I still have my days.  Just to know that I am not alone helps.Thank you, for any help you can provide and I hope things are better for all in the New YearPeggy  

Hi Peggy, The old focuse problem That is a hard one. I dont have as many of these days anymore but I sure did.Have you found a differance with the meds? I could never take them because of side affects. You need to make sure you are not dealing with side affects. With anxiety I find that learning to relax is very important but listenig to tapes was not always easy for me also.Relaxing your body is very important (you can not be anxious ad relaxed at the same time) This also takes practice. Relaxing your mind also takes practice and is a bit harder to do.When we are anxious our minds have a mind of their own. I would try to watch a favorite movie,write my feelings down, I have always kept a journal and reading it helps me allot. I find that I would forget about those bad days while the good was around. It helped me to read about the bad days and remember what they were like. Listening to tapes is good but very hard when you are anxious, the tapes are best learned when you are somewhat relaxed so that you can use those skills when you need them the most. There are several meds that will take the edge off for you but you do need to experiment some. antidepressants didnt work for me, the side affects were awful, that doesnt mean that they wont work for you but dont spend allot of time on them if they are not working, find something that will. When you do that then you will be relaxed enough to learn the skills from your tapes. You can do this even if it is one minute at a time. Hugs Janel  

Peggy,

I used to have those kind of runaway thoughts around my periods...like I was wired and could not settle down.  Mine was helped with progesterone cream.

I am doing meditation and I don't try to focus; more like I am easy on myself and just "watch" my thoughts like I am an observer.   I think when you try too hard it makes it harder to ever calm down.    I think if I just practice regularly it will become more natural.

Also if you could afford a massage, I have found that a massage quiets the body, and when the body is quiet the mind becomes calm too.    I have not had too many of these but I do find that they have been great for helping me feel calm mentally.    I don't like the overly aggressive deep tissue ones as they are not relaxing but I went to a woman once who did healing touch I think it was called and it was wonderful.

Hope you feel better soon.