Anxiety Narrows Your Brain. Here's How to Widen It Back Out. | Susa Talan

What It Covers

Meditation teacher Susa Talan, in a live Q&A session from the 10% Happier app, explains how awareness practice works as a tool for navigating anxiety, crying during meditation, ADHD-related focus challenges, and the difficulty of remembering to stay present throughout daily life.

Key Questions Answered

• •Anxiety and attention narrowing: Anxiety activates amygdala-driven fight-or-flight responses that narrow attention to a single threat. Counter this by deliberately engaging the prefrontal cortex — redirect attention to neutral sensations like hands, ambient sounds, or physical contact with a pet. This teaches the brain that multiple experiences coexist simultaneously with the anxious sensation.
• •Widening awareness during palpitations: Rather than resisting anxiety symptoms, which reinforces them, shift attention outward to three or four simultaneous sensory inputs — body weight in a chair, sounds in the room, hand sensations. The goal is not symptom elimination but building a mind capable of holding difficult experiences alongside neutral ones.
• •Micro-habit anchoring for consistency: Attach awareness practice to existing daily routines rather than carving out separate meditation time. Brushing teeth twice daily provides a built-in two-minute awareness session — notice toothbrush sensation, mouth feeling, what the free hand is doing, sounds, and body position. This creates sustainable momentum without requiring schedule changes.
• •Meditation definition without form: Meditation teacher Sayedah Utejaniya defines meditation as cultivating wholesome states of mind, with no requirement for cushion-sitting. Walking, multitasking, and conversation all qualify as practice when awareness is present. Noticing that you are currently seeing or hearing requires near-zero effort and counts as valid awareness cultivation throughout the entire day.
• •Crying during meditation requires no explanation: When emotions like crying arise during meditation, investigating the cause is often a subtle strategy to make the feeling stop. Instead, observe the physical components — chest pressure, throat tightness, tears — without seeking explanation. Talan notes that like all natural phenomena, emotional experiences arise and pass on their own without requiring intervention or understanding.