Yoga Poses to Reduce Panic Attacks

What yoga poses and eating regimens would be good to pursue to lessen the severity of panic attacks or get rid of them altogether?

By John Friend

—Cate Polacek, Columbia, Maryland

John Friend's reply:

In order to best help you, the first thing I would attempt to understand is the source of the panic attacks. Without knowing this key piece of information, I can make the following general recommendations:

Cultivate balanced breathing—both on and off your sticky mat. Throughout your day, focus on balancing your inhalation and exhalation. Breathe slowly and smoothly through your nose, allowing the beginning of each phase of the breath to be as even and smooth as the end of each phase. In general, the beginning of both the inhalation and exhalation moves more easily and quickly than the end. So in order to bring more balance to the breath, allow the beginning of both inhalation and exhalation to be a little slower, while making the last part of each breath stronger and more full.

During the onset of a panic attack, focus on your exhalation. Allow your exhalation to be slower and fuller than your inhalation. This helps the parasympathetic nervous system slow down the heartbeat and blood pressure, which will help calm you.

Do a regular asana practice that incorporates a good blend of up-tempo activity and resting poses. Instead of practicing just restorative poses, include challenging asanas like standing poses, backbends, arm balances, and inversions. Incorporate these challenging poses into your practice, performing them at a brisk pace in order to smoothly elevate your heart rate, and then follow with a few minutes of quiet, slow, and easy poses to calm the heart. Alternate a few minutes of more vigorous work with resting poses two or three times during a full practice. This will help to clear some deep-seated tensions and restore the natural, balanced internal rhythms of the heart and nervous system.

While performing your asanas, it is important to keep your muscles firm and engaged, hugging the muscles to the bones. This type of muscular action has several benefits including creating an insulating and calming influence on the nervous system.

Within your regular asana practice, emphasize grounding poses like standing poses and hip-openers, which will help you feel a lot more secure. In all poses, move the thigh bones toward the backs of the legs (the hamstrings). Also, while keeping the pelvic floor wide and expanded, lengthen the tailbone so that the legs and pelvis feel rooted into the earth. This will induce a sense of security and greatly reduce fear.

Cultivate regular sleep habits. Attempt to go to sleep before 10 p.m. and awake at a regular hour after at least 7 hours of sleep. Spend some quiet time reading some inspirational writings before going to sleep.

May these practices help to fill you with peace and contentment!

John Friend, is the founder of Anusara Yoga, which combines the celebration of the heart, the art of inner body awareness, and the science of universal principles of alignment. For more information, please visit www.Anusara.com.

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