The Don't Panic Self-Help Kit, Section R: Practice Breathing Skills Tape 2A: Practicing the Breathing Skills Don't Panic, Chapter 10. The Calming Response Chapter 11. The Breath of Life

During an emergency, our breathing rate and pattern change. Instead of breathing slowly from our lower lungs, we begin to breathe rapidly and shallowly from our upper lungs. If during this time we are not physically exerting ourselves, then it can produce a phenomenon called "hyperventilation." This in turn can explain many of the uncomfortable symptoms during panic:

• dizziness
• shortness of breath
• a lump in the throat
• tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
• nausea
• confusion.

The good news is that by changing your breathing you can reverse these symptoms.

By shifting your breathing rate and pattern, you can stimulate the body's parasympathetic response. This is the body's equally powerful and opposite system to the Emergency Response and is often called the relaxation response. For our purposes I will call it the Calming Response.

The table below lists the physical changes that take place in the Calming Response. As you can see, all of the primary changes of the Emergency Response are reversed in this process. One of the differences in these two physical responses is that of time. The Emergency Response takes place instantly in what is called a mass action: all the changes occur together. Once we flip on that emergency switch, it takes awhile for the body to respond to our calming skills. For this reason it is important for you to know what specific skills will reverse this emergency response and will help calm your body and clear your mind.

You will now be introduced to three breathing skills. In later steps you will learn how to change your fearful thinking and your negative imagery, because each time you frighten yourself with catastrophic thoughts or images, you re-stimulate your body's emergency response. To begin with, however, you need a solid foundation in proper breathing.

Calming Your Breath

People who are anxious tend to breathe in their upper lungs (upper chest) with shallow, rapid breaths, instead of breathing into their lower lungs (lower chest). This is one contribution to hyperventilation: shallow, upper lung breathing.

The three breathing skills that I will describe next start with inhaling into your lower lungs. This is a deeper, slower breath. Below the lungs is a sheet-like muscle, the diaphragm, which separates the chest form the abdomen. When you fill your lower lungs with air, the lungs push down on the diaphragm and cause your abdominal region to protrude. Your stomach looks as though it is expanding and contracting with each diaphragmatic breath.

Two kinds of breathing, upper chest (thoracic) above, and lower chest (diaphragmatic) below.