Breathing Techniques for Anxiety Disorders

When you are experiencing a panic attack, you feel like the world is caving in on you and you have no escape. Furthermore, you fear that you have no control and that you can’t make it stop. Alas, one of the most important things that you must attempt to do is to control your breathing. Although it is difficult and may not strike your mind at first to do so, it is extremely helpful in calming down your body as well as your emotions. All those who suffer from panic attacks will suffer from an increase of oxygen flow into their blood and thus making their heart work harder than normal. In such a case, it is important to learn how to breathe into your stomach.
Slow breathing into the stomach has shown good results in helping people halt panic attacks and prevent them from recurring. Although it is a good technique for easing anxiety and panic, it can be quite difficult for a beginner to learn. People with malady like panic or anxiety always breathe into their chests. In addition, telling such people during a panic situation to try to breathe into their stomach could fuel the already tense situation. Instead, one must tell them to practice breathing into the stomach once they are back to a normal temper. The learning and practicing part is important so that whenever you have the next panic attack you can straightaway start breathing into your stomach.
The following are some tips that you might find useful in learning and application of breathing into your stomach and bringing forth a state of relaxation when you are in a state of panic.
* Lie down on the bed with your chest facing upwards. Now place one of your hands firmly onto your stomach and the other one lightly onto your stomach. Inhale heavily and try to concentrate only on allowing your stomach to fill with air and not your chest. The idea here is to make sure that maximum amount of air that you inhale goes into your stomach and minimum to the chest. The aim should be to breathe only six-eight times per minute. During the entire process, try to maintain a very relaxed state of mind and body, so that you do not feel anxious.
* In case you still cannot do this try to use a weight a weight on your stomach. Use a book or anything between 4-6 pounds and repeat the process as stated above. Concentrate on allowing the weight rise when you take in air.
* Another option is to get on all fours on the floor. When you are in this position, the chest is forcibly shut in one place and forces the stomach to suck in the air you breathe in.
* After you master all of the techniques you should try to do this different situations like while sitting in your office or in your car etc. Such exercises will help you in coping much better in certain similar environments and that is a good place to start.