You CAN Breathe: How To Have A Panic Attack

I have a client that had a super amazing first session with me. She has a LOT going on, and it’s big stuff. All at the same time. And there’s a lot from her past as well. And as I’ll write about sometime in the future, the present heals the past. So things come up now that remind us of past things that need more healing, whether we’re aware of it or not. And those energies want to leave, but the feeling gets really amplified and is sometimes overwhelming. Never forget Chapter 11 of The Untethered Soul 🙂

So she came in and had been feeling “hopeless and overwhelmed,” to the point that she often had trouble catching her breath, maybe for a month or so prior to coming in? Panic attacks. Not fun. But they’re not a very big deal now! And after just the first session. Why? Because she got the education she’s needed the whole time, the education we’ve all needed this whole time. Panic attacks are not rocket science, but nobody explains them to us. So we freak out, which is a perfectly normal reaction for someone that hasn’t been educated about them! But she got the education and then got several chances to practice, all in that first session. So now she had some experiences to go with the education. Awesome.

So we were talking about her situation, and at one point her breath started to get shallow. This was the beginning of a panic attack. I love when people have them in my office, because again, it ends up being such a profound experience for them. And they’ll never be afraid of a panic attack again. They might not like them, but they won’t be ruled by them. So her breath got short and she began to panic a bit. And I had her relax and simply find her breath. I reminded her that she CAN breathe. Her racing mind wanted to tell a story of “I can’t breathe.” And of course we’re feeling our thinking, and that doesn’t feel good! So the whole thing spirals and gets worse. But it’s not true. At no point could she not breathe. So I reminded her that she’s absolutely fine. Stay calm, don’t think or analyze, and simply relax into your breath, even if it’s shallow. Open the chest. Feel those energies and put the breath there, wherever you feel them. And then after a minute or so, her breath opened up. It deepened. And she started to feel better. All that energy moved out of her system, gone forever. Wow.

She doesn’t have an anxiety disorder or anything like that. Rather, she has a very powerful mind (and so do you, because there’s actually only one level of power – max!). And her body is always responding to what’s going on in the mind (as is yours and mine, right here and right now – we’re always feeling our thinking). So she had panicky thoughts, whether conscious or not, and this created panicky feelings in her body. But remember Chapter 11! These are energies – albeit really strong ones – that are trying to leave. They want to leave. They have to leave. So relax, get out of the way, and let them. But whatever you do, don’t try to think your way out of it. That’s what we instinctively do, and it mucks everything up. So in my office that day, she experienced how to relax into and surrender to a panic attack. And it only took a few minutes. Bam!

Can you see how cool this is? All that we talked about – that we’re feeling our thinking, we have a good source of thinking built in, and feelings are neutral energies that want to leave – was lived by her in that super comfortable chair in my office. It was an experience now, and not concepts. And it happened several times. I was so psyched! I could tell that it was very life changing.

She came in a week later and felt way different. No problems breathing. Woohoo! I can’t tell you how much this stuff pumps me up. All she needed was some education, and she went from constantly being short of breath to… no problem. Now, the situations in her life were still there, since they’re all in the process of unfolding, but it felt more spacious in her body. And she’s still dealing with some tough stuff, but her body isn’t carrying all of it, all the time. She’s learning how to attach, deal, and detach. One thing at a time. And her body feels different. After only one session. So cool! So there we go, please share this with any panic attack folks you know! Because there is hope, and lots of it. They just need education and then life will give them practice, right on time. And I’m always here if I can help.