Your body wants you to stop panicking. When you push the panic button, you also push the adrenaline (and other stress hormones) button. Your sympathetic nervous system is activated, which is what surges your body into fight-or-flight mode. If you are continually feeling fear and panic, you are continually running your sympathetic nervous system, which I compare to running the heat in your home on hot summer days. Not only does your electric bill go up, but you suffer discomfort. Your body is not comfortable continually using the sympathetic nervous system, and it will let you know via increased pain. You won’t feel well, and you won’t heal. You will be expending useless energy (electric bill up) that could be focused toward healing.
The parasympathetic nervous system is in charge of your relaxation and is the part of the autonomic nervous system you want to access. The more you can power down from your fear and panic state into a calm, restful state, the more you can access your body’s own ability to heal. This is the second reason to take those ten minute breaks to focus your breath and invite it deeper into your body. The breathing technique creates a relaxation response in your body by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and immediately pulling you out of your fight-or-flight overdrive. Moving into this healing state and evoking the relaxation response several times a day will only help both your emotional state and your physiological healing.
Do you see the genius of your body/emotion connection? Your emotions serve beautifully as messages to you – little reminders to pay attention. Fear and panic are your internal sticky-notes reminding you to return to a relaxation response. The more you listen to these emotions rather than focusing on them and return to your healing state, the better you will feel emotionally and physically. Soon, you will be spending more time in a healing state than in a fight-or-flight response. This will feel about ten million times better to you, even with your symptoms still present. Your symptoms will not be as strong, and your emotions will not be as intense. Ah, sweet relief.
Abigail Steidley is a Mind-Body Coach and mind-body-spirit healing expert. She works with clients throughout the US and Europe, teaching mind-body tools to create health and spiritual connection. She is the founder and owner of The Healthy Life, LLC and author of the audio course The Healthy Mind Toolbox: Essential Tools for Creating Your Healthy Life. Her current coaching practice also includes training mind-body coaches in the specific mind-body tools that help clients lose weight, de-stress, relieve pain, and create a deep, lasting connection between mind, body, and spirit. She works with and teaches a variety of healers, applying mind-body-spirit connection techniques, to help them stay healthy, sane, and productive in their own lives and enabling them to effectively serve others and prosper. She can be reached at http://www.thehealthylifecoach.com