Paulina Porizkova Details Anxiety Battle in Vulnerable New IG Post: ‘Bawling but Feeling Better’

5 Tips to Cope With Panic Attacks

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UP NEXT

• Paulina Porizkova shared how she grew to like meditating in a stunning new Instagram post.
• She initially saw it as “woo woo crap” but found it helped tame her anxiety and panic attacks.
• “I am starting to feel the difference. Even a five-minute session helps,” she wrote.

If you’re a doer who has trouble sitting still, you may struggle to imagine yourself meditating. That was the case for Paulina Porizkova, but when her anxiety and panic attacks escalated, she decided to give it a try. And she’s glad she did.

Like many people, the former supermodel, 57, initially thought of meditation as “woo woo c***,” she wrote on Instagram. “Ever since I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder in my late teens, I’ve been told to meditate. And I tried. But I wasn’t getting a hang of it,” she admitted. “Focusing on my breathing actually made me have panic attacks instead.”

Still, throughout her life, she kept trying, and even took a meditation class in her forties in hopes it would improve her experience. “The teacher told me to focus on sounds instead of breathing, and things finally clicked into place,” she wrote.

She enjoyed her newfound approach to meditation until her 30-year marriage to ex-husband Ric Ocasek began to fall apart. “Every time I sat down to meditate, I’d start crying. So I gave up,” she continued. “Tried in spurts, but no, every time the same thing would happen—I’d get into a quiet spot and start bawling.”

She initially thought the bubbling emotions were tainting her meditation experience, but she slowly learned that they were simply part of it. Of course, that hasn’t made sitting with sadness any easier. “In the last two months, since I finished writing my book, I decided to consciously make my way through the crying. Meditate and cry. Just let it happen,” she wrote. “So I’ve been meditating an hour a day, and crying an hour a day. It’s quiet tears, they just slide down my face, unbidden.”

© Jared Siskin - Getty Images Paulina Porizkova shared how she‘s made meditation work for her after initially seeing it as “woo woo c***.” It has improved her anxiety and panic attacks.

She added that she doesn’t feel relieved or cleansed after the emotional session. “I feel mostly drained,” she admitted. However, the process has been cathartic in that the rest of daily life is beginning to feel lighter.

“My anxiety levels in my everyday life are getting way more manageable,” she wrote. “I am starting to feel the difference. Even a five-minute session helps.”

Porizkova then shared some resources for those who might want to try it out for themselves. She said she often does guided sessions on the Insight Timer app and also recommended following wellness coach Tony LeRoy, who often shares free meditations online.

She was excited to share her revelation with the world, but didn’t want to get too “preachy” about it. “If you give it a try—know I’ll be your companion,” she wrote. “Bawling but feeling better.”

The pro-aging activist isn’t the only one to experience meditation’s benefits. Research has shown the practice can help tame stress and anxiety, reduce cardiovascular risk factors, manage chronic pain, and improve sleep. So even if you don’t deal with anxiety like Porizkova does, starting regular sessions could improve life in a different way.

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