Mowditate
Anxiety can also arise during meditation. When external distractions fall away and attention turns more strongly inward, thoughts, feelings, or physical sensations may become clearer. Physical sensations such as your heartbeat or breathing can intensify anxiety for some people.1
You do not need to keep looking inward at that moment. Open your eyes and orient yourself consciously in the room. Move, feel the floor beneath your feet, or direct your attention to something in your surroundings.
If you wish, you can try meditating again later with a different technique or for a shorter time. Stopping a meditation does not mean that you have done something wrong.
At the same time, meditation can also help with anxiety in the long term. You can learn to notice anxiety without only being anxious. A psychological distance can arise between an experience and observing that experience.2
But if severe anxiety repeatedly occurs during meditation, or if you know similar anxiety from your everyday life, you should not simply try to meditate it away. Professional support is often more useful than more meditation.