An experienced meditator told me that one-pointed focus like the anapana meditation in Goenka retreats can be a problem for people who are troubled by anxiety. He said that the very tight focus doesn't leave much room for the energy construed as anxiety to release (my clumsy paraphrasing, he said something a bit more elegant than that.)
I was talking to him about it because I'm going on a Goenka ten-day this Wednesday, and I was interested in his advice. He suggested that if I get into that sort of trouble I should probably take a break from the Goenka practice for a session, and do something I know is likely to help. No problem, I had sort of planned to do that anyway. But I was wondering whether anyone here had any further advice about this. He said something about maintaining a broad perspective, despite the tightly focused attention, which I didn't really understand.
In preparation for the retreat I've been doing a lot of mindfulness of breathing as described in the early parts of Ajahn Brahm's book
Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, with "breathing through the discomfort" of the physical components of whatever emotional reactions arise, as Thanissaro described for pain in
this essay. I've also been starting each session with metta for me and then everyone else in the world.