Anxiety & Breathing Well

“If you suffer from anxiety, then bring your awareness to your chest. When you do, you will probably find that your breath is a little bit shallow, maybe you have restricted movement and that there is some tension in your chest?”

After working with many many clients who suffer from anxiety, I noticed that there are certain similarities in terms of

• thinking,
• triggers,
• breathing patterns,
• where tension is stored in their bodies

What you may not know – is that whenever someone comes into an office like mine and they are in a lot of pain they have shallow breathing. When someone leaves the office in a free state, more relaxed, more open and happy, they will be taking deeper, longer and more even breaths. Breathing is so important and I am not just talking about the obvious – if we don’t breathe, we will die. I am particularly talking about how the way we breathe effects our health and well-being and our mindset and day to day state (the way we feel).

In our everyday lives we store tension in our bodies from life’s stresses and traumas. BUT we only have the capacity to store so much before we start developing symptoms, often this is when the symptoms of anxiety begin to manifest.

The more tension you are storing in your chest, the more it will effect your breathing and trigger the feelings of anxiety.

Your body affects your mind and thinking. and so, holding tension in the structure of your body affects your emotional and mental state. Too much storing of stress in your body, can be very destructive and lead to someones anxiety getting worse AND this tension is often not noticed.

BUT what I have also seen in my clinic is that the amount of people who try breathing techniques for anxiety, not only does this not always work as a long term solution, but it can actually cause the person to be more anxious. Because now they are always aware and conscious on how they “should” be breathing.

Let me give you an example –

Have you ever heard someone suggest, if you’re having a panic attack, to take deep breaths?

Well if you store tension in your chest, and then you take a deep breath – you may notice that there is an uncomfortable feeling (normally outside our day to day awareness) but in this heightened state, this can act like a catalyst for amplifying the anxiety.

Ahhhh – so what is one person to do?

How we help clients with anxiety is oddly not directly with trying to control ones breath. I mean if it was that easy to solve – my clients would not need my help.

I first teach my clients to find safety in their nervous systems (remember anxiety is a nervous system response). Part of this is learning how to let go of the tension that they are holding onto in their bodies often in the chest and shoulders. When they do this, and we calm down their nervous system they feel so much better and not only does their anxiety disappear thier quality of life improves.

The work we do is not focused on a management strategy – but our focus is to give our clients the tools and new mindset for this change to become sustainable.

If you’re suffering from anxiety and and you want help to learn how to live anxiety free, then you might be interested in our 12-week course, called Hit Refresh, where we are getting amazing life changing results every day in our Auckland City based wellness clinic.

If you want to end your anxiety and start enjoying life a LOT more and interested in learning more about our program. Feel free to schedule a Discover Phone call with Dov – Owner of Inspiring Wellness. You can learn more about how we can help you. 

Have a quick read of some testimonials of how I helped people transform their lives, and book a discovery wellness session today

Thank you for reading. Have a lovely day and if you know someone who needs to read this. Please share, you never know the positive impact this could make on someones life.

I first met Dov when I was too scared to contemplate the future and was continually looking over my shoulder at the past. I was trapped in fear. Before meeting Dov I had tried many other approaches to work through the anxiety, most of which suppressed it just increasing the fear. Meeting with Dov was different. His connectedness, optimism, understanding, belief in me and non judgmental approach – combined with regular NSA and many practical strategies assisted me greatly in shifting the beliefs and thought patterns that had taken over my life.

If you have the opportunity to cross paths with this inspiring man, be prepared because your life will never be the same again.(*)