Using your Breath to Soothe Feelings of Fear and Panic

In moments of fear and panic, you may not know what to do. Your mind is racing, your heart is beating rapidly, and you may start to sweat in response to the intense emotions. You may not realize it, but you have a tool handy at all times to reduce these powerful—and at times, overwhelming—emotions. You don’t need to pack it with you, because it automatically goes wherever you go. What is this tool, this key to soothing fear and panic? It’s your breath. Your breath is your lifeline. It sustains you without you even thinking about it, and it can help you in times of crisis too. Your breath can help regulate your body physically, mentally, and emotionally. All you have to do is be mindful of it. Here’s how it works… 

You can better manage your response to intense emotions through breathwork. Breathwork is the awareness and control of your breath to change your physical, mental, and emotional state—essentially, it means that you’re mindfully practicing a breathing technique. For example, when you purposely take long inhales and exhales, you are practicing breathwork. And by slowing down your breath, you are activating the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and regulating how the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system respond. To put it simply, you’re reducing the amount of stress signals and hormones being released via these nervous systems, which will make you feel calmer as a result.

Just as speeding up your breath makes you feel more anxious and alert, slowing your breath down can make you feel calmer and focused on the present moment. And as you’re mindfully breathing, you can move through physical and emotional energy. Just imagine yourself breathing out those heavy emotions and breathing in a sense of peace. Implementing breathwork on a regular basis can help you to cope with your emotions mindfully, without as much emotional suffering, which can improve the way you think about certain situations and yourself.

Breathwork can help you move past emotions like fear by focusing on your breath instead of fearful thoughts. You direct your attention away from what troubles you and towards what will soothe you. As you’re practicing breathwork, remind yourself that you are okay and the situation is okay. Take in your surroundings, observe the facts of the situation, and as you slow down your breath, you’ll come to realize that things are not as disastrous as they first appeared to be. And once you make that realization, you’ll feel more in-control and connected to yourself. Breathing through difficult emotions makes you feel more capable of handling them. That makes it a great way to develop your trust and appreciation for yourself. 

Breathwork does not come naturally. In moments of crisis, our natural instinct is to ramp up our emotions. But by acknowledging intense feelings as they arise and practicing breathwork, you can reduce emotional suffering. You can calm yourself down gradually and think through a moment of crisis more levelheadedly. With practice and time, you will gain increased control of your breath—and in turn, you will better be able to soothe yourself. The self-healing benefits will compound over time. Breathwork can be simple. By simply focusing on your inhales and exhales, and making sure they are equal in length, you can begin to redirect feelings of fear and better cope with the most emotionally challenging situations.