#anxiety attack trigger

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I started having an anxiety attack and was just sobbing uncontrollably and my cat went "nope" and literally laid on my face (to where I couldn't even breathe) and starting purring as loud as he can. I have the best cat.

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Check out new https://anpene.com/blog/the-5-breath-anxiety-tamer/

The 5-Breath Anxiety Tamer

This is probably the most hands-on technique you’ll come across for dealing with social anxiety on the spot. And you’ll use it most often, too.

It is a way for you to steer yourself towards mindfulness and peace of mind whenever and wherever you want to. It’s called an anxiety tamer because your anxiety attack is the precise trigger you’ll learn to associate with this technique.

The physical trigger

You know how it feels, when the anxiety starts building up, when you haven’t yet verbalized with your thoughts what it is you’re so afraid of, you haven’t even begun to wonder about what the consequences of the whole event are going to be but you already feel it in your body.

You feel the slight dizziness, your stomach tightening up, you’re starting to feel hot, your hands are beginning to shake, your legs are getting weaker and you’re struggling to catch a breath.

The symptoms can go on and on – you know that already. And you of all people know best how your anxiety attack feels and when it starts.

So pick the physical symptom that your anxiety starts with, and write it down on a piece of paper. You could make a note on your smartphone or your computer but I’d rather you use paper. Whenever you’ll reach into your pocket the paper is going to be there and reminding yourself of it won’t require you to take any more action than to pick it up and look at it.

Now, when you got that covered, let’s work on the actual technique you’ll use after you recognize the symptom of your anxiety attack.

Your most sensitive breathing spot

Start with one deep breath, deep into your diaphragm. To make sure that you’re breathing diaphragmatically do this simple exercise:

Lay down on your back and breathe in slowly, put one arm on your abdomen and the other on your chest. Which hand is moving more? If it’s the one on your abdomen then you’re breathing into your diaphragm.

Inhale slowly, be in control of your breath constantly, pause for a little while after you breathe in fully and exhale in a similar manner – slowly and controllably.

Try to establish where in your body you feel the experience of breathing most strongly. When you breathe deeply, and the breath is all that’s on your mind – how does it present itself on your body? Do you feel it inside your nose? Around your throat, or in your chest as it expands? Maybe you feel it on the nostrils or the diaphragm?

Establish what that spot is, what is your most sensitive breathing spot. You already know this – you might not have given it as much attention as you’re giving it now, but at some level you are aware that that’s how breathing feels like.

Alright. You got your breathing spot. Now take another slow, controllable breath into your diaphragm – this time bringing your full attention to your breathing spot. Try to focus on it completely. I know it only lasts a few seconds, but isn’t it a bit tricky to be so entirely focused on only one thing?

Your thoughts might be trying to wander, you may be asking yourself some questions, thinking about doing things the right way but all you have to do is focus on that one spot while breathing.

That’s it, really. Breathing seems to do pretty well on its own most of the time, so there’s one thing left for you to do – focus on that particular breathing spot.

Try another breath, and see how your mind doesn’t want to allow you to give up on thinking. Your inner voice has no intention to shut up, and all you want to do is feel.

This requires practice. If you couldn’t focus on your breathing spot entirely throughout the whole breath – that’s alright. It happens to all of us – it happens to me, and I’ve been doing it everyday for the last 4 years. But perfection is not what we’re striving for in this exercise.

We’re striving for attention

This is the attention that social anxiety so desperately wants to take away from you. Every time your inner voice tries to talk you into falling for your anxiety, giving up to your fears, when it pushes you to be blocked out from all the things you desire from life – it takes your attention away.

By trying this exercise, you will learn how to manipulate your focus and attention a bit better. How, even for a little while, not to let it all to be governed by your social anxiety.

But we started from the 5 Breath Anxiety Tamer, and we spoke about triggers.

Where are the other breaths, and what were the triggers for?

You already know how to practice focusing on your breathing spot for one breath. You can stretch it to two, and you’ll surely have no difficulties practicing it for 5 breaths in a row.

With these deep, diaphragmatic breaths it takes on average 25 seconds to perform all five. And this allows the practice to be performed wherever and whenever you wish.

The physical trigger you established, the one that seems to start your whole anxiety attack and the avalanche of thoughts, feelings and events resulting from it will now be something you connect to the breathing exercise.

Remember how the breathing allowed you to take the attention away from your inner voice, from your social anxiety trying to take charge?

Now, when you feel that physical trigger – hands shaking, legs weakening, breath getting shallow – whatever you established as yours, get yourself to perform the 5 breaths while focusing on your breathing spot.

Take the attention away from the anxiety. Imagine taking it away from the body part in which a sensation triggered the anxiety, and directing it to your most sensitive breathing spot. You may close your eyes if you wish to, but this isn’t necessary.

Work on the connection, the association between the physical trigger (the beginning of your anxiety attack) and the 5-Breath Anxiety Tamer (your way for dealing with the attack).

And that’s it – 5 breaths, 25 seconds and a whole lot of opportunities to practice!

I hope this technique will help you realize how close you really are to being guiding your focus and attention instead of letting the SA take charge. I hope that it will help you on your way towards overcoming social anxiety.

Have a great day!

And by the way, if you haven’t noticed already I just wanted to remind you that the whole SA Tips of The Day series is now accessible from the sidebar on the top of this blog.

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