When Obstacles Limit Freedom | Breathe | Memoir | Healing

Hello friends. Thank you for joining me. Before we get deep into my story with anxiety and panic attacks, I think it's vital that we take a moment to breathe. We hear this every day, I know, but it's for great reason--it can alter our neurochemistry in an instant. We just have to learn how to hijack it when it automatically switches to "fight-or-flight."

In this quick clip, I will give you a very popular breathing method that can help to bring you to calm even in the thick of distress.

So, I ask you...breathe, just breathe.

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Excerpt from 'When Obstacles Limit Freedom'
Copyright © 2024 by AJK Publishing/Alexander James Kirkland

Photo by Sara Black/Unsplash

Transcript

Breathe.

Just breathe.

Easy to say,

I know,

But this is step one,

No matter what.

When I'm in a stressful situation or feeling my anxiety peak,

I often forget to focus on my breath.

Try to take that advice passed down over thousands of years of human evolution,

But as I'm sure some of you may know,

It's quite impossible to focus on controlled breathing while deep in the grasp of fight or flight.

Our minds turn into scrambled eggs.

I mean,

We're only human.

As Impact Theory's Tom Bilyeu states,

Breathing is a physiological hook.

It's what many grounding techniques to bring us back to a calm baseline,

But it's the most important.

Our autonomic nervous system is a fantastic thing.

It's why our heart beats by itself and our diaphragm moves up and down.

It's what controls our blood pressure,

Digestion,

And blinking,

But we can hijack it.

However,

Before we go too deep into the inner workings and neurology of anxiety,

Let's take a step back and breathe again,

In which there are many different methods.

Wim Hof's,

Box breathing,

Alternate nostril breathing,

Just to name a couple.

Let's focus on a fundamental version,

Diaphragmatic breathing.

With this method,

We focus deep on breathing through our belly rather than high in our chest,

Making sure our exhales are longer than our inhales.

The latter is incredibly important in regard to calming the body as it tells the brain that there's no reason to panic,

Physiological hook.

Go ahead and practice it now.

Take 10 long inhales out of your belly followed by an even longer exhale.

I'll wait.

Now,

If at any point in this book you get triggered and or are on the verge of panic,

Step away.

Breathe slowly through your diaphragm for 5 or 10 minutes or however long it takes you to calm and then return to reading.

Your breath is our biggest friend in these scenarios,

So here we go.

The beginning of it all,

The hardship,

The suffering,

The trauma.

Just breathe in and out.

Dive in.

Take it step by step,

But remember,

Exposure to these feelings is key.

The obstacle is the way.