Breathe for Anxiety and Panic Attacks
I have been finding that the main issue that clients are bringing to therapy is anxiety. Are you one of the many who suffer from anxiety or panic attacks? For so many it is a physical feeling that manifests in so many different ways: light headiness, shortness of breath, numbness in different parts of your body, you feel like you are going to faint or wishing you could just disappear (not suicide but a feeling that this physical feeling that comes over me ever so quickly is so overwhelming that I want to just disappear, I want it to stop). As I notice my clients talking about this anxiety I notice that the more they talk about it the more their breath changes. They become anxious just talking about feeling anxious (it is so real). This got me to thinking and noticing that most people don’t breath correctly. Most breath using their top part of their lungs only and not their diaphragm at all. That means that when you breath you are holding your stomach in and there for not releasing all the co2 or getting enough oxygen. When we don’t breath correctly our body (organs and glands) react in fight or flight. Our body gets the single that it has to work harder to get the oxygen it needs to function. But if you are breathing incorrctly and having thoughts or experiences that are anxiety producing, the body starts to over work. The heart rate goes up or the body tempiture goes up, we break out into an hot or cold sweat and all this physical feelings then reinforce the emotional or negative thought patterns. What you end up with is feeling anxious with a panic attack. You feel trapped.
So what to do? Stop. . . Breath . . . Invite your mind to follow the pattern of your breathe and then slowly slow your breath down. Focus on pulling your naval/belly button into the back of your spine on the exhale and open your diaphram and lungs when inhaling. This process helps with nutralizing your thoughts and experience. It is like distracting your self with something that helps rather then something that hurts you (like addictive things or destructive things). For prevention try sitting daily for at least 3 min. and breath long and deep focusing your mind on the rythem of your breath. Allow your breath to teach you the process of trust. Try it today!
(I am not a doctor and have learned this information in the years of teaching and studying yoga for most of my life. I have listened to many health professionals and have read about the use of our body and how it functions. To learn more about breath work and how it can heal anxiety, panic attacks, depression and more check our articles and books by Dr. Andrew Weil (www.drweil.com) or talk with your personal doctor. For a more Eastern/Yogic approach check out (www.kriteachings.org). This is not for medical treatment but for a tool to support and heal your anxiety and panic attacks)