I Think I'm Having a Panic Attack — Guided Help to Stop It Now

I think I'm having a panic attack. If that thought is in your head right now, you're in exactly the right place. Your heart is doing something uncomfortable. Your chest feels wrong.

Your brain is firing warnings you can't switch off. Stay with me. In the next 10 minutes, I'm going to walk you through exactly what is happening inside your body. And more importantly, exactly how to stop it.

This is panic attack help and it works. Welcome to calming anxiety. I'm Martin Hewlett. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and before this I was a frontline paramedic.

I'm here every single day, 10 minutes completely free. Before we begin, a quick and heartfelt thank you. The go fund me to bring Ankit to iOS is still open and every single person who donates gets free lifetime premium access as my way of saying thank you. Just send your receipt to Hello@carminganxiety.org and I'll sort it out.

It means the world. Right. Do subscribe if you haven't and then let's get into the calm. Find somewhere comfy now to sit or lie down wherever your body is asking for right now.

Let your hands fall open. Let your jaw and clench. Drop your shoulders and if it feels safe, close your eye. There is the first thing I want you to understand.

What you're feeling right now is not dangerous. It's just chemistry. Adrenaline released by a nervous system that received a signal and responded perfectly. It's trying to protect you.

Your job right now is to simply send it a different signal. In the fastest way, the one tool you have, your breath. We'll use a pattern that activates the vagus nerve, the brake cable to your nervous system. It physically slows the system down.

In through the nose for four counts, holding at the top always for two. Then out through the mouth for six. Ready with me? In two three four, hold two.

Release two three four five, six.

In two three four, pause two.

Exhale two three four five, six.

And one more with me.

Ready? In two three four, hold two. Release two three four five, six. You're breathing now, settle back to its own natural rhythm.

You don't need to control it anymore. I'd like you to imagine that you're standing outside, somewhere open. It doesn't have to be a real place, just somewhere wide and quiet. Above you is the sky.

And right now, the sky has clouds in it, dark ones, moving fast. That is the panic. That is what it looks like from outside. But here is what I need you to notice.

The sky itself is not the clouds. Behind them, above them, the sky is clear. It's still pale blue and enormous and it's always been there. You are not the storm.

You are the sky that holds it. The clouds are passing through. They always do. They cannot stay.

Watch them move now. Watch the edges of them soften and thin. You don't have to chase them away. You don't have to fight them.

You are simply too vast for them to fill. From my years as a paramedic, I can tell you, panic always has a timeline, a chemical clock, and it is already counting down. Your body is already reabsorbing little adrenaline. Tied is already turning, even if it doesn't feel like it just yet.

Take one slow breath in and as you exhale, feel your feet on the ground beneath you. Feel the weight of you, solid, present and here.

Now open your mind, visualize these words and allow them to settle. I am not in danger. I am in chemistry and chemistry passes. My body is not my enemy.

It is doing its best to protect me. This feeling has a peak and I am already moving through it.

I choose to breathe rather than flee and that choice is enough.

I am calm. I am steady. I am held. Deep enough, let those words move into the quieter layers of your mind, into the parts that run the automatic programs, the parts that learned panic once and can learn something new.

Each breath takes you further from the alarm. Each breath writes a new memory, a memory of you choosing calm.

I am not in danger. I am in chemistry and chemistry passes.

My body is not my enemy. It is doing its best to protect me. This feeling has a peak and I am already moving through it.

I choose to breathe rather than flee and that choice is enough.

I am calm. I am steady. I am held. Good.

Let the words rest now. I don't need to remember them. Here are your three daily caring tips. Label it out loud.

The next time panic rises, say the words out loud if you can. This is a panic attack. I know what this is. It will pass.

2. Take it 5 minutes, not forever. When a panic attack arrives, the brain catastrophes the timeline. It really feels like it will last forever.

But it won't and it never has. The peak of a panic attack is typically 2 to 5 minutes. So instead of asking yourself, how do I make this stop? Ask.

Can I stay with this for 5 minutes? 3. Move something small. After a panic attack, residual adrenaline stays in the body.

5 minute walk for gentle shoulder rolls, even pressing your feet firmly into the floor. These help metabolize the chemistry faster and sitting still. Your body wants to complete the stress cycle. Give it a tiny way out.

Now, begin to come back. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Take one deep breath in and as you exhale, stretch out the arms, then open your eye. You did something important today.

You didn't run. You didn't fight. You stayed. And you breathed.

And you let the storm pass through. That is exactly how we change the brain's relationship with panic, one episode at a time. If you want to go deeper, the anxiety circuit break at course is 5 full clinical hypnotherapy sessions built to rewire the panic response at its root. You'll find it at calminganxiety.fm for just $67.

Or by me or for you. Smile often, my friend. Positive thoughts whenever you can. And then, to your beautiful self.

Be kind.