Or even just one minute if 5 feels too difficult. You can always work up.

I can't do it lol

It took some work for me to get good at it. It's hard to hold a busy mind still.

How embarrassing 🙈

I hear it's bad form to call out the mistakes of the other owner of the brain when it's my day to hold it. 😂

Lol with the amount of typos I make I have no business correcting anyone elses 🤣. Karma is a bitch.

CrvenMoordik always ribs me about mine! LOL

Meditation how bout a quick prayer

Not saying that isn't a good idea.

Meditation actually helps to rewire your brain. For people with panic and anxiety the ability to control emotions or the fear response is weak. Something that wouldn't be a worry for one, causes all out panic for another. Meditation actually alters the brain. New neuropathways can actually be created. The stress response can also be reduced along with stress hormones and various medical ailments. With a regular practice a person who suffers with any type of anxiety, panic, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer to name a few, can see reduction and possibly elimination of said ailment.

Actually I just also don't let things bother me. I like to watch a funny video, or watch a baseball game

To be fair, anxiety and panic are not that simple for a person who lives with these issues. Your statement here leads me to believe you do not have generalized anxiety and panic . Some of us can be sitting there without a care in the world and out of no where for no identifiable reason suddenly have rapid breathing, a racing heart rate, extremely dry mouth, the "doom" feelings that have us actually thinking we are about to die where we sit, shaking, loss of certain motor functions such being able to pick up a glass of water. Or anxiety that lasts sometimes all day for no apparent reason.

It is one thing to panic for a reason. Such as you just found a lump on your body that you fear could be cancer, or have anxiety about something like you don't have money in the bank to cover your rent and risk getting evicted. It is another to have anxiety and panic for no obvious reason. If that makes sense.

I agree some people need it

It took me years to get to where I am now. I do not have panic attacks as often, and my anxiety is considerably less. I can often stop panic attacks when I feel them coming on abut 90% of the time. It took a lot of work to get to this point.

Well improvise adapt and overcome

I like to think that I have. Though I have some rough days from time to time. Odds are if you don't see me around, I'm either depressed or battling this problem.

Good to know

That's awesome! I love hearing about folks who are successful with these techniques! Do you use any of the apps?

No, I haven't used apps of any kind. Unless you can count you tube videos. There are a massive amount of really good ones over there.

There are lots of apps as well. Insight Timer and Headspace are popular ones and have free and premium meditations. Though to be honest, sometimes I just put on some classical music and let it take me wherever. I also like Those Relaxing Sounds of Waves, by LoungeV films, on youtube. Whatever works for you is the best. Sometimes what works for me personally doesn't work for my clients. It's alll unique to the individual.

I am very partial to nature sounds. Water to be more specific. Beach waves, rain, babbling brooks.

I get visuals going too. I imagine lying on the beach with my feet toward the water, and each time I inhale the waves come to my feet, each time I exhale they go out again. It really is relaxing.

I've a got in two minutes. LoungeV has video very realistic. Gotta go!

In my work, we call these distraction techniques. They are used to ride out the emotional distress until we've returned to baseline. For some folks, panic and anxiety rise to a high level very quickly, and distraction techniques are less effective. Some people use grounding and advanced distraction (which is kind of a paradoxical term) to return to baseline. Again, it takes practice.

This is all true, not that nixie would make stuff up. One of the many things I do as a therapist is teach DBT, mindfulness and meditation. Every time you learn something new, especially something challenging, you are creating a new neural network. The trick is, these are skills. The more you practice, the more powerful they become. That's why some folks say "it doesn't work" -- they're expecting instant relief.

Thank you for your comments on this! You mentioned riding it out until a person can get back to normal. Man... that was the hardest part. It really did take some serious work. Because first thing you have to do is REMEMBER to try when the panic hits. I found that setting little things to remind me in plain view was helpful. I had a book called "calming your anxious mind" also I had meditation beads. These little things would help me remember to try and reel it in when I saw them.

That's a nice line of work to be in. You really are doing a lot of good for others when you help them gain any amount of control, because nothing feels more out of control than panic.

Heard this decades ago, and loved it. When the panic hits, remembering what to do - or that there is something you can do - can be really difficult. Your brain is in F.E.A.R. mode - F**k Everything And Run. (A former client told me that!) It's part of our survival instinct, which is at a primal level of our brains. Thought occurs at a much higher level, and we have to train ourselves to access those higher brain functions in those moments.

Some people use timers on their phone to remind them to breath (Mindfulness Bell is free), but I like the idea of having reminders in plain sight. We use visual cues for staff, so it would make sense for the clients as well.

Because I have been known to literally run in my panic. Run out side... check pulse... run inside, try to drink water... run to the bed room... run to the living room.. try t sit... hell no.. get up and run back out side... check pulse again... run to the bathroom... look in the mirror to check if I am turning blue... run, run, run! People around me looking on in utter confusion. LOL