The Meditation That Makes Your Worries Feel Smaller

Emily Johnson · 2026-11-03

Ever feel like your thoughts are taking up all the space? Like your worries are so big they crowd out everything else? There's a meditation for that—and it's surprisingly simple. Shamash Alidina, a well-known meditation teacher, offers a practice that helps you step back and see your thoughts and worries from a different perspective. The goal isn't to get rid of them, but to give them a little more breathing room. ### The Joy of Feeling Small Feeling small doesn't mean feeling insignificant. It means recognizing that you're part of something much larger than yourself. When you expand your perspective, your problems don't disappear—they just take up less space in your mind. Alidina's meditation guides you to visualize the vastness of the universe or the expanse of the sky. As you do, you begin to see your thoughts as passing clouds rather than permanent fixtures. This shift in perspective can be incredibly freeing. ### How to Practice Here's a simple version of the meditation you can try right now: - **Find a comfortable position.** Sit or lie down, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. - **Bring to mind a worry.** Choose something that's been on your mind lately. Don't try to push it away. - **Expand your awareness.** Imagine your awareness expanding outward—first to the room, then to the neighborhood, the city, the country, the planet, and beyond. - **See your worry in context.** Notice how your worry appears against this vast backdrop. It's still there, but it seems smaller, less overwhelming. - **Rest in this expanded awareness.** Stay here for a few minutes, breathing comfortably. As Alidina says, "When you see your thoughts from a broader perspective, they lose their grip on you." This isn't about denying your feelings—it's about giving them space to exist without dominating your experience. ### Why It Works Our minds have a natural tendency to fixate on problems. It's a survival mechanism. But when we're constantly zoomed in on our worries, we lose sight of the bigger picture. This meditation helps you zoom out. Research shows that practices like this can reduce stress and increase feelings of well-being. By regularly practicing expanded awareness, you train your brain to be less reactive and more resilient. So next time you feel overwhelmed, remember: you can't always change your thoughts, but you can change how much space they take up. And sometimes, that makes all the difference. Give it a try. You might just find that feeling small is exactly what you need to feel free.