why breathwork works during panic attacks

one of the scarier moments of a panic attack is the faux heart attack

almost everyone that I have spoken with who has experienced severe panic attacks share the same experience I have had…

tight chest, chest pains and a heart that feels like it’s had 72 red bulls

not at a lot of fun

it's in these moments that our self-directed calm toolkit comes into action

when we talk about breathwork, it is not necessarily the life raft when you feel you are drowning

it is the confidence that actually you can swim, you just forgot how to.

training breathwork in the quiet times, enables us to confidently kick into action and override the bad signals taking us down worrisome paths.

an elongated out-breath, compared to the in-breath is a physiological sign for the nervous system to slow down. we literally steal its fuel source.

the way this happens is through the interaction between the diaphragm and the heart - and how much space the heart has to fill.

if not much, less volume means more pumps

if a lot, more volume means less pumps

so if we spend more time in less pump times, our body starts returning to calm and we quite literally become the agent of our own rescue

taking away the fear of a panic attack, goes a long way to prevent them from happening in the first place

we will be doing a whole bunch of breathwork at the upcoming ‘the other side of anxiety’ retreat starting September 14. details in the usual place.

To your healing 💙,

Jas