FireSprite

Got any favorites you want to share?

Breathing techniques are awesome to help gain a little internal control when we feel like freaking out. Personally, I've used deep breathing/chakra centered breathing with great success.

One of my favorites was taught to me by my awesome yoga instructor & it basically involves breathing while working your way through points in your body from the toes to your crown. We ended every yoga class with this technique, spending at least 15 mins (of the 90 min class) mentally working through this while lying on our mats in corpse pose. I've used it at home during those times when I was really, really freaking out & needed something kinda heavy-duty in terms of gaining my mental balance. (Like waking in the middle of the night with panic attacks)

If you do it right (It takes some practice to get to that peace-point where you kind of float between your body & your spirit) then you achieve this almost dissociated feeling from everything external. It helps you to detach from your senses, including everything going on with others that is out of your control. I've even fallen asleep on my mat in this pose so I've learned to modify so that I start in supported corpse/reclining poses instead.

I never knew there was a NAME for this technique until I got a link in my email yesterday from Yoga Journal about this very thing.

Breathing Techniques

Train Your Focus, Part I: Pratyahara | Yoga Journal

Train Your Focus, Part II: Drishti | Yoga Journal

Train Your Focus, Part III: Mantra | Yoga Journal

dandylion

I know that it sounds so simple....but controlled breathing works wonders for anxiety!!!!

I, also, recommend it for anyone who hasn't tried it.

dandylion

biminiblue

Absolutely some of the very best techniques for anxiety. There is a whole physiological reason why it works, too.

Meditation also employs breathing exercises. It works.

TerpGal

I have been doing yoga for a while and just yesterday took a restorative yoga class. In that class, we did a lot of breathing and smaller therapeutic movements mostly laying down. We did a similar body scanning technique while in shavasana last night. By the time I walked out of there I felt like I was floating. I feel more connected to my body though, which is a good thing as I frequently dissociate as a result of my PTSD. I walked in there so anxious it was verging on panic attack. My body was reverberating with it. Felt totally different walking out. I love yoga. There is no place in the world I feel safer than in that studio on the mat.

KidsR#1

I use a similar breathing technique to help me fall asleep at night when I can't seem to settle my mind.

53500

I was taught deep breathing, too, by a therapist. Breath in and out extremely slowly. He said you physically cannot feel anxious when you breath this way. Can't say I've mastered it but it does help, even in my un-mastered way.

FireSprite

Yep, I LOVE that feeling!!!!! Floating & grounded at the same time.


I never thought about it like that, but I think I feel similar. I always said that it was my safe place & the only place where my mind, body & spirit all come together at the same time.

SabrinaQ

Thanks for these links,

I also like the alternate-nostril breath from yoga.


AAAAAAAHHHHHH

FireSprite

Just read this one in my local Natural Awakenings magazine last night:


"After several breaths, the brain will start to shift from reactive emotional thinking to rational problem solving."


(from Al Lee, coauthor of Perfect Breathing: Transform Your Life One breath at a Time)

4 - 2 - 10 Breathing

Inhale through the nose for 4 seconds
Hold for 2
Slowly release the breath for up to 10 seconds



It sounds like something that could be very helpful during those panic attack-freak outs we all experience sometimes.

Butterfly

Thank you for this