Anxiety, Fear and Breathing
"The complex has its roots in the simple." Lau-Tzu
It is one thing to be alerted to a threat but altogether another to over react with a fight, feel excessive fear, flee, freeze, fake it, fumble, or mumble.
There are many causes of anxiety. Food additives, sugar, adrenal dysfunction and other internally consumed substances. Situations in life that are threatening or seem so will cause anxiety. The idea you do not have enough time is a huge cause of anxiety. Taking on too many projects or responsibilities invites anxiety and we too often forget we chose and often can un-choose. Spending too much money, getting into debt and worrying about that will cause anxiety. Eventually a certain level anxiety becomes an every day occurrence that we sort of get used to. How sad.
Modern stressful living as well as past traumas have resulted in vast numbers of people over reacting and even imagining things that do not really exist as threats or stresses or exist at all. When the breathing is not allowed to stay in balance every reaction to life becomes distorted or negatively magnified. This breathing based distortion is what we call UDB.
Generally the first line of defense if to remove a negative stimulus. The caffeine you ingested is driving you up the wall? Stop drinking caffeinated beverages. If there is snake in the area, remove the snake or leave the area. If this is impractical, (your boss is the "snake" or he/she is just so exciting you just cannot sit still), you take life saving prescription drugs that make you nervous, you can try to reduce your anxious reaction(s) by the way you are breathing. You can consciously slow your breathing down and reduce the anxiety level; at will.
This can be quite helpful but is often a temporary approach and your body may need more oxygen in the first place so slowing the breathing down may not be a good idea albeit a momentary quick fix and even life saving. The long term best approach is to manage the immediate anxiety and then change/develop your breathing so that it automatically adjusts and you stay calm and do not get anxious in the first place. "Courage under fire" might be one way of looking at it but it is really more about relaxing, feeling safe inside and the way you breathe.
Your mind interprets something that is negative and your breathing over-reacts in an unbalanced way and that makes your nervousness get worse even up to full blown panic, high blood pressure, migraine, hot flash, ulcer, constipation, heart attack or stroke.
When your breathing overreacts in an unbalanced way your body often tightens in several areas. Or you hold your breath or breathe shallowly to try to stay in control which only worsens the situation by creating oxygen deprivation and more tension which heightens the stress response and then the tension sets in to stay. This further restricts respiration and produces shallow, rapid distorted breathing. Shallow breathing numbs our feelings and traps the anxiety inside, blocking smooth energy flow, which in turn triggers more physiological or psychological arousal, sending us up the anxiety and confusion escalator and then possibly down into depression, malaise and confusion. I see what is often called psychosomatic illness greatly stemming from this.
One of the best ways to handle any episode of emotional stress is simply to feel the feelings but make sure you keep breathing in a certain way. Breathing naturally and well grounded (though many do not know what that really feels or looks like) allows us to feel our feelings and address the anxiety more rationally.
The entire autonomic nervous system (and through it, our internal organs and glands) is largely driven by our breathing patterns. By changing our breathing we can influence millions of biochemical reactions in our body, producing more relaxing substances such as endorphins and fewer anxiety-producing ones like adrenaline and higher blood acidity. Mindfulness of the breath is so effective that it is common to all meditative and prayer traditions. But changing it fast enough so as not to require a long term stay in an institution, ashram or retreat center may be more practical for many.
Slow the breathing down naturally and if it is properly balanced you will feel less fearful of almost everything. Slow it down by holding it back and you may feel a little less anxious initially but if continued set up a UDB and may continue to distort your nervous system responses in ways that only time and circumstance will present.
The way we breathe either improves or worsens every aspect of life. Breath really is life in more ways most of us ever imagine. The following breathing exercise is particularly good for reducing anxiety, and lifting depression. It is temporary but it can help a lot and give one hope and direction for greatly improved success. I call it: The Squeeze and Breathe
