Anxiety. You never know when you glance around a train carriage who is comfortably reading their book and who is actually near to passing out with fear and panic. Nowadays anxiety is becoming more and more common, in the extreme some people can’t even complete a journey to work because their fearful feelings are so intense.
Panic attacks often signify the beginning of all kinds of weird rituals. From changing carriages on a train, getting on and off at different stops, through to a cycle of altering journeys times, changing modes of transport, leaving jobs and even relationships, in an effort to quell the anxiety and feel better.
Having panic attacks can be both paralysing and draining, leaving you feeling physically weak and exhausted.
What makes it worse, is that it’s all happening on the inside and nobody else can see what they’re really going through, so there is little sympathy and understanding.
The reason for one persons panic attacks will differ from the next and that is why there is no ‘one’ cure for them. You can be sure though that there is an underlying reason for this level of anxiety.
For many who suffer from this paralysing condition, it is usually coupled with frustration. It’s annoying to be unable to understand why they are happening. “Why now and why me” is a question I’m often asked by clients and students.
When people feel angry because they are unable to understand why the panic attacks happen, they will often blame it onto something else. For example if the first time you experience anxiety or a panic attack is on the bus, it’s understandable that you might associate a bus journey with them. Unfortunately it isn’t that simple.
I’ve known people whose reason for a panic attack turned out to be a ‘nudge’ from their inner self to retrain in a totally different field, because they had been unhappy in their work for a long time.
People who decide to get to the bottom of the anxiety discover that working through old wounds, such as bullying episodes at school, provided the relief from their unpleasant symptoms.
Others have discovered that emotions from past losses or bereavements have been the underlying cause of their anxiety.
Traumatic events, can remain buried in the unconscious mind and also stored somatically in our physiology. We feel panic and anxiety, usually from the chin downwards somewhere in a body part such as chest, throat, hands, stomach. The Clean Language Grovian Metaphor approach that I have been using with clients since 1991 is a fantastic technique for reprogramming the mind and body. It’s a joy to see people relax and feel inner peace as they realise these feelings have cleared.
In my opinion anxiety and panic attacks aren’t normal and they can be addressed. Here are some tips:
The quicker you get help the better.
Regular meditation can help some people feel calmer.
Listening to hypnosis programs like Stress Free With Confidence and short meditation programs like Seven Minutes of Zen the Autogenic Relaxation Response can be really helpful resources. Have you signed up to receive your free program The Five Minute Powernap? These programs help and at the very least allow you feel like you are taking some control the situation.
Find someone you trust and tell them what you are going through.
Physiologically, we forget to breathe properly when we’re feeling anxious and fearful.
Believe it or not it can help if you hum a tune. Try humming Happy Birthday to yourself quietly. The sound is actually an exhalation at the end of which, you will have to breathe in again. Each time you breathe in, you’ll notice that you’re breathing in a little longer and deeper then work on making your humming the out breath, a little longer.
Happy Humming.
