Breathing Exercises

[jo-jo]

I've been practicing breathing from my tummy, focussing on extending my out breath, but it doesn't seem to do much for the nauseous feeling I get when anxious - in fact it tends to make me even more aware of stomach and how bad it feels!

Will more practice help[?] Am I doing something wrong[?] Any advice or tips greatfully received

Hope everyone is feeling OK today, all the best for a lovely weekend.

Jo xx

[nomorepanic]

Jo

This is from the website - not sure if you read it or not ....

Abdominal Breathing

One of the most important things that will help you during a Panic Attack is to control your breathing. Although it is the last thing on your mind, and very hard to control, it is very important as it will calm you down. Panic Attack sufferers will almost inevitably suffer from hyperventilation and must learn abdominal breathing.

Slow, abdominal breathing alone has been shown to abort panic attacks and prevent them. But for a person with panic disorder, learning slow abdominal breathing can be quite difficult. People with panic disorder are almost always chest breathers. The worst thing you can tell a person during a panic attack is to breathe deeply. It takes a lot of practice to breathe with the diaphragm without a great deal of training, but if you can learn to breathe slowly with your diaphragm, you will not panic!

You must practice abdominal breathing so that when you have a Panic Attack you can put it into action.

Here are some tips on learning diaphragmatic breathing. Start while lying on your back. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly (between navel and ribs). Focus on allowing the belly to rise easily when inhaling and fall when exhaling. HOLD THE CHEST STILL with your hand on your chest. The objective is to breathe all the time with the belly (diaphragm) and not the chest. You are aiming at about 6 breaths per minute. This is a slow relaxed process. There should be no sense of effort.

If the belly won't move and the chest continues to move, put a weight on the belly between the navel and ribs (where the hand was). A heavy book will do, but something that is not painful and weighs 3 - 5 pounds is best. Focus on allowing the weight to rise on inhale and sink on exhale. Again - no effort!

If still no success, kneel on all fours, i.e., assume a position of a four-legged animal. In this position, the chest tends to be locked in place, forcing the diaphragm to take over the breathing task. Slow and easy, no effort. Once you learn to breathe with your belly, you must practice, practice, practice.

The first week, you should practice for only a few breaths at a time while lying on your back. Then gradually extend the practice time to 15 minutes. When this can be done comfortably, you should start to practice while sitting. Then standing. Then walking.

After you can breathe with the belly in all positions, you should practice in different situations. Start with easy situations like sitting in a car. Then sitting in a restaurant. Progress until you can breathe with the belly in situations that previously felt un-natural and uncomfortable.

IMPORTANT: If at any time during the breathing training, you feel dizzy or light-headed, then stop the exercise, rest, and try again in a few minutes. The breathing training is not about being tough or facing your fear. It is about learning to breathe to normalize the bodily functions.

You may find it helpful to have someone doing this breathing exercise with you as they 'take control' and get you to breathe on their command.

Ok, so these techniques may not be very sophisticated but they work and may help you:



Nicola

[jo-jo]

Hi Nicola

Thanks for the tips - I guess I'm just being a bit impatient and have yet to master a good technique!

I seemed to do really well on Tuesday when I started getting anxious whilst out shopping (which is so annoying becasue I really am a shopoholic)and the breathing seemed to work for a while, but it felt like there was a panic attack rising and no matter how long I held it down it was going to come out at some point and sure enough, it did after a couple of hours. This is probably a really silly question [:I] but is this something other people get too?

Love Jo xx

[diana]

Jo,

I can confirm that what you were feeling is quite "NORMAL".

We have all felt that at sometime or another.

Nic sent you some good info. read it and practice, practice, practice.

It will get easier dear, it truly will.

Just take one day at a time.

Keep us posted on how you are getting on with things.

Take care,

Diana xxx