Buddhist Counseling for Anxiety

If you’ve landed on this blog, you may be looking for alternative therapeutic methods to treat your anxiety. Odds are, traditional talk therapy only helped a little bit. You’re looking for something deeper to help you find inner peace. This is where Buddhist counseling comes in. Buddhist counseling is traditional psychotherapy that incorporates Buddhist teachings such as mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhist Philosophy. In my experience, Buddhist counseling is quite successful in treating anxiety. Today, I want to dive into this subject a little more. I will explain what Buddhist counseling is, what you can expect when you begin meeting with a Buddhist therapist, and how it helps alleviate your anxiety symptoms. 

What is Buddhist Counseling?

Buddhist counseling is a form of psychotherapy that aims to combine traditional counseling and talk-therapy with Buddhist wisdom and teachings. A core Buddhist teaching is that suffering is a part of life. So we don’t see problems as abnormal or an issue. Instead, we treat problems as something to work through during your journey towards freedom from suffering. 

The goal of Buddhist counseling is to develop compassion, peace, calmness, joy, and most importantly freedom from suffering. This is done largely through meditation and mindfulness training, Buddhist Philosophy, and traditional forms of talk therapy like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). 

Meditation:

A major component of Buddhist counseling (and something I advocate for) is meditation. A common misconception about meditation is that you are trying to silence your mind. But this is far from the truth. If your mind happens to go silent that is a great bonus. However, the practice of meditation is about shifting your attention into your present experience. If your present experience is a racing mind, then you do your best to focus on your object of meditation while accepting the racing mind or possibly even just sitting and observing the busy mind.

For someone with anxiety, meditation may sound daunting, but I can assure you that practicing meditation is possible and enjoyable. I first started with just 30 seconds of meditation, and built up from there. It just takes time and commitment. As a Buddhist therapist, I am committed to working with my clients to find a way to meditate that works for them and their lifestyle. 

The purpose of meditation is to be more mindful and bring this mindfulness into your everyday life. For example, you might be mindful of your breath for 10 minutes during your morning meditation. Then, you can grow this mindfulness skill by remembering to pause several times throughout the day to check in with your breath, slow it down, and release any body tension that has built up. This only takes 15 seconds, and if you do it several times throughout the day, it will have a cumulative effect on lessening your distress.

Karma:

Buddhist counseling also discusses the concept of karma and how it impacts your life. This is a concept often shrouded in metaphysical jargon. But it is traditionally understood as the relationship between cause and effect. Your mental health can be made worse or better by certain behaviors and patterns of thinking. Therefore, examining the cause and effect of these helps undo patterns of negative or unwholesome thinking. 

How Does Buddhist Counseling Lessen Anxiety?

Buddhism discusses the concept of suffering a lot in the sacred texts. In fact, the Four Noble Truths state: 

1. In life there is suffering

2. There is a cause to our suffering

3. There is an end to suffering

4. The end to suffering is found by following the eightfold path. 

But this doesn’t mean that we view everything as suffering. In fact we see that a lot of our suffering comes from treating our painful experiences as more than they are. Difficulty is a bump in the road that will be passed as you journey through life. This is not meant to minimize any real pain you’ve had to go through in life, but rather normalize it. Your pain is not personal- it’s an experience that has happened to you. The suffering you’ve experienced is not a flaw or a failing, but rather a normal part of life that the Buddha taught us how to overcome.

So let’s take a moment and unpack these truths in terms of anxiety. 

In life there is suffering

As someone living with anxiety, I bet you can relate to this statement? The world and adult life is filled with stressful and anxiety-producing situations. This can lead to suffering. Furthermore, anxiety is greatly exacerbated by struggling with it. But Buddhist counseling aims to cultivate acceptance and equanimity which cut off the fuel supply that feeds the anxiety

There is a cause to our suffering

In Buddhist counseling, we try to get to the roots of your suffering/anxiety by looking at where there is trauma, maladaptive core beliefs, or old patterns of behavior that are causing your anxiety. The traditional view in Buddhism is that suffering is caused by clinging to things that don’t serve us and having aversion towards pain which is inevitable. We use Buddhist strategies to address these things. For example, you may sit with difficult memories and feelings in meditation. But, by practicing insight meditation you will gain an understanding of the inner workings of the mind and be able to treat yourself with self-compassion or forgiveness to heal wounds. By practicing letting go of clinging and aversion you can reduce the anxiety that comes from struggling with reality.

There is an end to suffering

The goal of Buddhist counseling and meditation is to help you relieve suffering by helping you be more mindful. This does not mean that suffering won’t happen again. But, by getting Buddhist counseling you will have the tools to properly deal with your suffering. Furthermore, research shows that practicing meditation is one of the most effective strategies for overcoming anxiety long-term. In overcoming anxiety it is also so important to have hope and confidence that you will get better. This is where this third truth becomes incredibly helpful. Buddhism has tested and proven for 2500 years that there is an end to suffering, so why wouldn’t yours end?

The end to suffering is contained in the eightfold path. 

You may be wondering what is the eightfold path? The noble eightfold path is a guide to live your life in accordance with Buddhist teachings. 

The noble eightfold path consists of the following:

1. Wise understanding (Samma ditthi)

2. Wise Intention (Samma sankappa)

3. Wise speech (Samma vaca)

4. Wise action (Samma kammanta) 

5. Wise livelihood (Samma ajiva)

6. Wise effort (Samma vayama)

7. Wise mindfulness (Samma sati)

8. Wise concentration (Samma samadhi)

You can read all about the noble eightfold path here.

Buddhist Counseling Offers You a Way to Overcome Your Anxiety

You don’t have to suffer from anxiety. Understanding the cause of your anxiety and having the tools to both identify it and deal with it gives you the power to take back control of your life. Buddhist counseling offers you powerful tools to do just that. Furthermore, by combining Buddhist philosophy and teachings with evidence-based psychotherapy methods, you can gain greater self-awareness and develop a healthier relationship with your mind. I offer Buddhist counseling at my counseling practice in Asheville, NC, and via online therapy in North Carolina. 

Begin Buddhist Counseling in Asheville, NC:

If you are ready to learn more about the teachings of Buddhism, mindfulness, and get counseling, then I am here to help. To begin therapy in Asheville, NC, or online therapy in North Carolina, follow these steps:

1. Call or email me to set up a free consultation

2. Learn about Buddist therapist Mike and Strive On Counseling

3. Begin Buddhist counseling and start finding relief.

Other Mental Health Services at Strive On Counseling

I offer a variety of counseling services at Strive On Counseling. If you are interested in beginning therapy, would love to see you in our Asheville, NC counseling office. I treat a variety of mental health concerns including substance use or addiction, support for families of addicts, chronic pain/illness, and PTSD. To learn about the many other mental health concerns I treat during individual therapy click here. I use many different modalities of therapy including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), EMDR and trauma therapy, and meditation and mindfulness practices. To learn more about all the therapies I provide, please click here. Contact my office for more information on how I can help you!
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