Tips -- Reducing Panic Responses

-- Sheldon Hendler, MD, Ph.D.
The Oxygen Breakthrough

Panic is often caused by poor breathing balance. If the following exercise helps you even just a little I highly recommend you get our Recommended Product.

The way we breathe either lessens or worsens the emotional/fear response. Extreme forms of poor breathing are often immobilizing, limiting and dangerous to one's health and well being. Some are deadly. Panic can be one of the deadly ones.

Try the following breathing exercise to reduce or eliminate fear, and/or panic responses.

"Certainly in the midline and to the left, the heart and pericardium fill the space and the pleura and lung are more lateral. Posterior the lungs extend nearly to the midline. With lung expansion, the space of the pericardium and heart is well-maintained with expansion posterior, laterally and inferiorly."

-- Dr. Eddie Erlandson
Thoraccic Surgeon and core faculty member
Center for Professional Breathing and Movement

For Breathing That Is Quieting, Calming, Centering AND Energizing

Supported by a small round pillow as above or a Nada-Chair from Relax the Back stores nationwide, sit out near the edge of a fairly hard-surfaced chair, stool or arm of a couch with feet flat on the floor, or stand. Both of these positions need an erect but not stiff posture. Be "tallest" with your chin slightly above the horizon. If you stand, bend your knees slightly so as to unlock them.

Let your tongue lightly touch the roof or your mouth and your jaw relax. Relax your belly. Let it hang down. Let go of any fear of having a "pot belly" or not having "washboard abs."

1. Place your thumbs over your kidneys (below your back ribs and above your pelvis). Wrap your fingers around your sides, towards your belly button.

2. Squeeze gently as you nose breathe long slow deep breaths into your squeezed fingers, forcing them apart with your in-breath in your belly back and sides against their will. Simultaneously take four deep in-and-out breaths while trying to match the breathing cycle of the animated logo for a timing reference. Make sure the exhale is twice as long as the inhale. It may work better for you to use silent number counting (one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.) to gauge that. Again, just make sure the exhale is twice as long or even more than twice as long as the inhale.
   Breathing Rate #1:
   1. How did that feel? Relaxing. Energizing? Good? If it did, then do it five more times in a row.

      Dizziness, spaceyness or otherwise confusion means you should stop and continue your day or stop and recommence in a minute or two after the energy has subsided or integrated within you.

   2. A little anxiety (or a lot)?

      If you felt anxious, it was probably too fast for you, or you did not squeeze in the right place or strongly enough and then breathe into the squeezed thumb and fingers to separate them against their will.

Try it again. This time following this breathing pattern:

1. Place your thumbs over your kidneys (below your back ribs and above your pelvis). Wrap your fingers around your sides, towards your belly button.

2. Squeeze gently as you nose breathe long slow deep breaths into your squeezed fingers, forcing them apart with your in-breath in your belly back and sides against their will. Simultaneously take four deep in-and-out breaths while trying to match the breathing cycle of the animated logo for a timing reference. Make sure the exhale is twice as long as the inhale. It may work better for you to use silent number counting (one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.) to gauge that. Again, just make sure the exhale is twice as long or even more than twice as long as the inhale.
   Breathing Rate #2:

3. Now look at your thoughts, feelings, emotions and body sensations that are passing by as you would observe clouds in the sky. Just observe what is happening. Meanwhile you are breathing deeply and slowly.

   Feel better? Calmer? Energized? Calm and energized at the same time?

In any event, try the next one remembering to coordinate it with the squeezing. Squeeze gently and breathe in through the nose, long slow deep breaths, breathing into your squeezed fingers and thumbs, widening them with your breath slightly against their will. If it feels good, then do it five times more.

If that is not the right feel or timing, then go on to the next one.

1. Place your thumbs over your kidneys (below your back ribs and above your pelvis). Wrap your fingers around your sides, towards your belly button.

2. Squeeze gently as you nose breathe long slow deep breaths into your squeezed fingers, forcing them apart with your in-breath in your belly back and sides against their will. Simultaneously take four deep in-and-out breaths while trying to match the breathing cycle of the animated logo for a timing reference. Make sure the exhale is twice as long as the inhale. It may work better for you to use silent number counting (one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.) to gauge that. Again, just make sure the exhale is twice as long or even more than twice as long as the inhale.
   Breathing Rate #3:

3. Now look at your thoughts, feelings, emotions and body sensations that are passing by as you would observe clouds in the sky. Just observe what is happening. Meanwhile you are breathing deeply and slowly.

If the above helped you get or stay calm even just a little bit, there are even better ways of addressing fear or panic. They are included in our video/audio Recommended Product.

Long story short approximately 10 years ago described these symptoms to my doctor, adrenal surges, not being about to catch my breath, waking up at night many times gasping for air and feeling like I am suffocating. Was put on Zoloft or Paxil off and on for about 10 years. I would tell the doctors that I didn't feel depressed and really had no idea why these physical symptoms would happen to me and be so debilitating, but they just treat symptoms with meds. People would tell me, well just take a deep breath. OK, "I'll do that," I would say, but I could not seem to get a handle on being able to get a real breath when I'm suffering this panic and anxiety.

One fine day last October it finally dawned on me, I do not know really HOW to breathe! With all of the Yoga, meditation, bodywork, no one has been able to really teach me "HOW TO BREATHE." So I got on the WWW and said help!!! Punched in "breathing" and Wa La came "breathing.com" and Michael. Got Michael's tapes in his #210 Optimal Natural Breathing Kit.

#120 Better Breathing Exercise #1 was such a shock for me. What I mean is I had no idea there was a reflex action at the bottom of the exhale breath that actually "breathed your body." The shallow breathing that I was in the habit of doing had never allowed the development of that reflex action. So naturally, I'm waking up at night breath holding, panic stricken and clueless why this is happening. My body has been oxygen-starved and getting worse as I get older. EVEN THOUGH ALL OF THE CHILDHOOD ISSUES ARE WORKED OUT, GONE, DONE WITH, the old breathing habits had remained. I was not aware of something better.

#130 Better Breathing Exercise #2 was even more fantastic! The exercise uses what you have learned in tape #1 and gives you the tremendous tools and power over the physical disablement of being oxygen-starved and emotionally stressed.

Very soon after starting the tapes, I visited Michael for 6 days in North Carolina to get private instruction. I can only tell you all that it was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. I am now, of course, still practicing proper breathing (50 years of bad habits), off meds and have not awaked at night even once since starting the tapes and getting private instruction from Michael.

Again Michael, thank you a million times over for actually dedicating your life to helping people understand the importance of the breath and actually in detail showing how to really practice it.

-- Phyllis Ross