Why Deep Breathing Doesn’t Help Anxiety

Imagine this…

Your eyes are closed. You can hear the hum of a crowd around you. Your face is flushed from the heat of the lights bearing down on you. You forcefully exhale the breath you didn’t realize you’ve been holding and open your eyes. You are on stage looking out at the crowd in front of you waiting for you to begin your performance. There’s only one problem… you never practiced. Well shit. That’s not good.

Sounds like a nightmare right? Most people would never try to perform something, whether it’s a musical act, a sport, or a comedy routine, without first practicing the heck out of it. So why do you do it when you try to cope with your anxiety symptoms?

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April 21, 2019 0

You Aren’t Dying. It’s Just Anxiety.

Picture this…

You are lying down to go to sleep. Things are progressing well. You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. You try to think of happy things instead of the stressful things that you need to take care of tomorrow. After a few minutes, you’re just about to slip off into happytime dreamland and BAM. Suddenly your whole body jolts for no reason. Well that was weird. Why did that happen? You start scanning your body for signs of trouble, because that’s too weird to ignore. Sure enough, there’s some weird shit going on. You notice your heart feels like it’s beating faster and faster. Uh oh. But wait, now it skipped a beat. Oh god… Now your breathing is starting to catch up with your heart, but no matter how hard your breathe, you can’t seem to get enough oxygen. Your fingers and toes feel tingly and you are getting weird random pains. Putting two and two together you think that it has got to be a heart attack, right? Hurry, take an aspirin and call 911! Whoa whoa whoa… slow down. You aren’t dying. You also aren’t the only one who has gone through this sort of progression before.

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April 16, 2018 2

What Is Anxiety?

In recent years, the stigma behind discussing anxiety and other mental illnesses has lifted quite a bit. Sure there is room for improvement, but I can’t tell you how much I see anxiety being talked about on social media and in “real life” exchanges. However, I have also noticed that, despite the increase in discussion around anxiety as an issue, there is still a lot of confusion about what anxiety actually means.

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January 6, 2018 0

Episode 89: A Guided Relaxation for the Holidays

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I know I already did a holiday themed episode, but I figured you guys could use a little more love as you continue through the holiday season. Rather than answering your questions today, I’m going to lead you through a guided relaxation designed to help you de-stress and relieve some of the stress that often accompanies the holidays. Give yourself the gift of relaxation. Put in some headphones. Chill with me. I got you.

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December 21, 2017 0

Episode 60: All About Breathing

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For this episode, I was feeling a little too overwhelmed by the week to do a Q&A so instead I decided to talk to you all about breathing. We talk about different breathing exercises and how to practice them so that they are useful to you in moments of stress or anxiety. We cover the physiological mechanism behind relaxation breathing. Finally, we briefly cover mindfulness and meditative breathing.

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May 10, 2017 0