Could meditation calm me down?

I've always thought i'd be a bit jittery for meditation but I wonder if it could help me? I'm basically a nervous wreck,Sometimes when I get nervous i find it hard to breath and I get very panicky. i wondered if doing meditation regularly would help me with my nerves? Has anyone got any ideas or techniques that could help me?
Whenever i've tried to meditate before I've found it hard to clear my mind of thoughts and worries- any help would be appreciated! x

 

someone told me that when u want to clear ur mind ...u should not try to ignore or push out any thoughts that come into ur head - instead u might try visualising those thoughts floating away like a cloud or a bubble. - worked for me.

 

Try Vipassana. I think it would be the best for you right now. I suggest you get some books on it like A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield. The preceding link leads to an exerpt from the book, and it may be enough for you need to begin your practice.

http://www.vipassanametta.org/daily_meditation.html

 

Here's a tip: consistency is the key. 5 minutes daily is better than two hours a week.

 

drumming! (you can hit a table too if you don't have a drum )
we used to do a meditation where you first drum {or chant}
at the speed of how you feel. when try to concentrate on that beat
you'll immediatly go slower cuz being nervous and concentrating is not such a good combination try to drum slower and slower and slower and finally quit drumming, when you feel you get nervous or unable to be that calm, start drumming again and bring that beat down once again.
this is a method they use in european shamanism by the way

 

Hey that sounds like a really good meditation lisa... never heard of it before. I'm going to try it.

 

Something that helped me is that instead of focusing on what's stressing you out focus on the areas of your body being effected.

Pick an area (for me it's the back of my neck and shoulders) and just concentrate your awareness on it.

Instead of thinking about the problems causing the stress look at the tightness in your muscles as the problem and just tell it to relax, slowly, over and over.

Your breathing should slow down on it's own and at some point the tension will start to feel like something alien to your body that found it's way into your muscles, and all you have to do to get rid of it is allow your muscles to let it go.

To me it feels like a bunch of bubbles rising to the surface and popping.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions-can't wait to start chilling out! heh heh. Lovelightlisa that drumming idea sounds great, I'm going to give it a go. Thankyou all!