When this happens the tense stomach muscle pulls in and as it does it pushes the diaphragm (a muscle sitting just below the lungs) upward, creating a crowded situation in your lungs. You may notice in your symptoms of anxiety that your breathing becomes short and shallow and this is why, because there is much less room in the lungs for getting oxygen in. An extreme example of this is hyperventilation, in which you breathe rapidly in very short and shallow breaths.
A remedy to help bring your symptoms of anxiety down is to focus on slow abdominal breathing, which requires you to relax the tummy muscle causing your lower abdomen to protrude a little. As you do that the diaphragm muscle lowers and this creates a release of the pressure up under the lungs. This can help bring fresh oxygen down and into the lower third of the lungs, which helps to refresh and relax the body.
For these reasons, focusing on slow abdominal breathing has become one of the fastest and most effective ways to lower your symptoms of anxiety in the moment, and particularly when it feels that your symptoms are escalating, such as during a panic attack.
Practicing your breathing techniques during times of no stress, for instance when you are at home and relaxed or meditating, can help you be ready and knowledgeable about what to do when under stress in a more difficult situation.
Remember as well that the fight or flight response is triggered when there is real or perceived danger, so if you are not in real danger, then checking your beliefs is also important as just the belief that there is danger will create the same situation and the same shallow breathing.
So do your reality check, and then slow the breathing with well-practiced abdominal breathing. To expand your knowledge about abdominal breathing, you can find my prior blog entry-- Abdominal Breathing-- here
"Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor." ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Thanks to Y Lamar Yancy for the great photo, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
