Relieve anxiety through breathing--from CalmClinic.com

[phix95]

I get their emails weekly. I thought this may help people with panic attacks or who feel themselves getting anxious:

"   Today I want to show you how you can
neutralize most of your anxiety physical
symptoms.
 
   Not the small, minuscule, petite and petty
symptoms that you could easily live with...
 
   No.
   
   Today you're going to discover a wickedly
effective way to neutralize most of the
devastating and nasty symptoms of your anxiety.
 
   Physical symptoms that just scare us to
death.
 
   Symptoms like...
 
   Heart palpitations, racing heart, heartburn, or
chest pain ... Numbness or tingling of the
mouth, hands, or feet ... Dizziness, faintness,
light-headedness, poor concentration, blurred
vision, or a sense of separateness from the
body (depersonalization) ... Shortness of
breath or a choking sensation ... Difficulty
swallowing, lump in the throat, stomach pain,
or nausea ... Tension, muscle pains, shaking, or
muscle spasms; Sweating, fatigue, or weakness.
 
   All in all, I dare say this will be the most
interesting and exciting letter you will ever
read on this subject.
 
   And the best part is that you can make your
symptoms pack up and leave for good faster than
you ever dreamed possible.
 
   So, let's see if I can live up to that
boast.
   
   Listen to this:
   
   Few years ago I was talking with my father,
who has been a professional trumpet player for
more than 40 years now, and he told me this
story about one of his students.
 
   His student had been playing trumpet for eight
years and out of the blue he hit the wall - no
matter how hard he tried he couldn't play in the
higher range.
 
   So one day he comes to my Pa, explains his
problem, shows him what he's been doing and how
he's been trying to hit those higher notes.
 
   Being a wise man that he is, my Pop puts his
trumpet down, lays his hand on the student's
chest and simply asks him to breathe for a
couple of minutes. Then hands his trumpet back
and asks him to hit those high notes once
again.
 
   Magically, he could hit every high note with
pinpoint accuracy.
 
   Now, my Pa is no miracle worker. All he does
is applies the forgotten tactics that reap
incredible results.
 
   But what all this has to do with you and
anxiety?
   
   Well, as it turns out, I was able to apply
the very same technique to neutralize most of
my monster-sized anxiety physical symptoms.
 
   And what's even better it produces amazing
results for almost anyone who is willing to try
and apply it.
 
   You see, the reason my Pops put his hand on
student's chest was to find out if he was
breathing with his upper-chest or his belly.
 
   In fact you can do this very same exercise
right now:
 
   Place one hand on your chest and one hand on
your stomach. Take a slightly deeper breath
than you normally do and see which hand moves
the most.
 
   If most of the motion is in the hand on your
chest, you are an upper-chest breather.
   
   If most of the motion is in the hand on your
stomach, you are using diaphragmatic breathing.
 
   Now, trumpet players use this exercise to
help them play in a higher range, while we can
use the very same thing to neutralize most of
our anxiety symtpoms.
   
   And let me explain you how we can do this...
   
   You see, we all have two basic breathing
patterns: Upper-chest breathing (thoracic) and
diaphragmatic breathing.
   
   In upper-chest breathing our chests lift
upward and outwards, and breathing tends to be
shallow and rapid. This type of breathing is
used during strenuous exercise to provide the
large amounts of oxygen your body needs.
   
   In diaphragmatic breathing, the inhalation
tends to be deeper and slower. When the lower
lungs fill with air, they push down on the
diaphragm and cause the abdominal region to
protrude, making your belly appear to be
expanding and contracting with each breath.
 
   This kind of breathing is your body's normal
breathing pattern when physical activity and
the corresponding need of oxygen are low.
 
   A healthy breathing pattern during moderate,
everyday activities usually involves movement
in both the upper chest and diaphragm.
   
   But here comes the interesting part...
   
   When you breathe with your upper chest,
instead of with your diaphragm, your body is
flushed with oxygen and the levels of carbon
dioxide in your bloodstream drops dramatically.
 
   In fact, this type of breathing can reduce
the carbon dioxide level in the blood by 50% in
as little as 30 SECONDS.
 
   Most people think this is good, since we
were taught in school that carbon dioxide is
harmful to you and your body.
 
   However, carbon dioxide is crucial in
maintaining a proper acid-base or pH level in
the blood and is the chemical used by the body
to regulate breathing.
 
   "Overbreathing" raises the pH level in your
nerve cells, making them more excitable, and thus
creating those dreaded physical symtpoms.
   
   This sets off a chain reaction of activity
in your body that can produce any of the
physical symptoms that I listed at the
beginning of this letter.
 
   In fact, most of these physical symptoms can
develop in LESS THAN A MINUTE.
 
   To tell the truth, you don't have to breathe
with your upper chest to flush your body with
oxygen. It might also occur when you breathe
through your mouth either from habit or because
of physical or medical problems; or when you
sigh or yawn because you have been holding your
breath.
 
   In my own personal experience, mostly all
people (including myself) with anxiety-related
problems use upper-chest breathing as their
primary breathing pattern.
 
   Many others find they quickly convert to
upper-chest breathing whenever they become
anxious.
 
   "But why then do some people breathe with
their bellies while others with their chests?"
 
   Well, in my own case - I "TAUGHT" myself to
breathe with my chest.
 
   I can still remember tucking in my tummy as
a child to look "thinner" (I was a little
butterball back then.)
 
   And since it's impossible to use
diaphragmatic breathing when your abs are
tensed, my body began to use upper-chest
breathing as its primary breathing pattern.
   
   Others might develop upper-chest breathing
when they start breathing through their mouth
or have a habit to hold their breath when they
get anxious.
     
   In fact, people who tend to hold their
breath when anxious often find themselves
yawning or sighing.
 
   Any deep yawn or sigh will cause the carbon
dioxide level to drop markedly (Can you say
"Early morning anxiety"?)
 
   OK, enough with that science stuff!
   
   Let's see what we can do to neutralize those
monster-size physical symptoms, already!
 
   FIRST OFF ALL, if you haven't done it
already, do the "Hand-on-the-Chest" exercise I
told you about earlier.
 
   SECOND, count your breathing rate.
   
   You can do this yourself or EVEN BETTER ask
someone else to do it for you, at a time when
you are UNAWARE it is being counted.
 
   A normal breathing rate at rest is eight to
sixteen breaths per minute.
 
   One study of women with anxiety-related
problems found an average resting breathing
rate of TWENTY-EIGHT breaths per minute.
   
   THIRD, if you are an over-achiever,
deliberately hyperventilate in order to
consciously experience its effects.
   
   Breathe sixty times a minute (once every
second) for one to three minutes.
   
   If you will attempt this test you will notice
feelings of dry mouth and throat. Many people
will feel some light-headedness, slight changes
in vision, numbness, and tingling sensation.
   
   If you start to experience feelings you
associate with anxiety or panic, there is very
good chance that your breathing pattern plays a
major role in your anxiety symptoms.
   
   AND HERE COMES THE KICKER!
   
   Once my Pop taught his student how to hit
those high notes, he also showed him a technique
called "Fill The Gap."
 
   I ethically "embezzled" this technique from
him and adapted it for my own usage. And I know
he doesn't mind at all, since "Fill the Gap"
technique was the missing link for so many
people.
 
   So without further ado, I give you the "Fill
The Gap" breathing technique.
 
   What you should do is breathe in this ratio:
inhale one count, hold four counts, exhale two
counts.
   
   If you inhaled for four seconds, you would
hold for sixteen and exhale for eight.
     
   When you breathe, you should start from deep
in your abdomen, like a vacuum cleaner that's
getting rid of all toxins in the blood system.
 
   So here's the first key to eliminate your
anxiety physical symptoms. Stop and take ten
deep breaths, in the above ratio, at least
three times a day.
   
   Once again the ration is: One count inhale,
four counts hold, two counts exhale.
   
   For example, starting in the abdomen, take a
deep breath through your nose while counting to
seven (or pick a larger or smaller number based
upon your ability). Hold your breath for a
count four times that of your inhalation, or
twenty eight. Then exhale slowly through your
mouth for a count two times the length of your
inhalation, or fourteen.
   
   You should never strain yourself.
   
   Take ten of these deep breaths three times a
day, and you'll experience a dramatic improvement.
   
   There is no food or vitamin pill in the
world that can do for you what excellent
breathing pattern can do."

~Rachel Ramos, calmclinic.com

[floridaguy65]

Awesome post!!!!:) I have written (as have many others) many times about how deep, diaphragmatic breathing helped moved my down my healing path. I had my first, full blown, panic attack over 26 years ago. I use breathing techniques every single day of my life, STILL. They have become almost automatic in their presence and they are so very natural feeling to me:) It might be quite tough in embracing deep breathing techniques, to start, as we are probably struggling with some pretty amped up anxiety / panic levels. But, IMHO, we really do need to find our way to, fully, understanding how much proper breathing can truly hep us with panic attacks (and overall anxiety, too). Keep pushing through the uncomfortable feelings and the fears and keep on practicing these techniques...they can be invaluable in our finding some, well-deserved, peace and relief:)

Peace and Feel Well:)

[LindaRK]

It's all about calming down AND getting rid of the stress.