How To Cope With Fear, Panic, & Anxiety In Breathwork
Discover how to Cope if Anxiety, Fear, or Panic Arise in Breathwork and What to Do if You Struggle with them Repeatedly for Several Sessions
It may not feel fun or easy, but anxiety and fear are common emotions that are felt during breathwork. And occasionally, these heavy emotions will present themselves for several sessions in a row. If you experience anxiety, fear, or panic, it’s important to understand they’re not a bad thing – they’re there to help usher you on your journey toward healing and wholeness. Below we will explore how to process these emotions and explore what to do if they keep happening session after session.
Breathwork and Anxiety, Panic, or Fear: How to Cope
- Embrace the Feelings
If anxiety, panic, or fear arise during a breathwork session the ego mind may resist because it knows new things are coming, new possibilities are opening up, old patterns are being released. If you feel any of these emotions, ignore the ego’s resistance. There is almost ALWAYS a “nugget of gold” and a tremendous learning opportunity that awaits you on the other side of it.
Give yourself permission to fully feel whatever is coming up for you, in your body. Work with the feeling, embrace it, and welcome it fully. It is already there and running your life under the surface! And now, it is finally feeling safe to come out. By feeling it fully, your body will be able to process and release it. This experience will not only be healing but it will also increase your resiliency and your sense of being able to handle anything life throws your way.
- Know that You Are Equipped to Process Anything that Breathwork Brings Up
Any experience or emotion that arises in your session, is a result of your inner guiding intelligence (IGI) bringing it forth for you to process. Your IGI would not bring it to the surface if you weren’t ready, so lean into courage and allow the experience to play out. Although this process may not feel pleasant or “fun,” the fun experiences in life are not the ones that bring you the most profound realizations and personal growth. - How to Handle Fear Specifically
When you feel fear in breathwork, it is always a doorway – a door you need to go through in order to grow. So really allow yourself to fully experience and explore the fear. Express it verbally, scream, yell, cry, or do whatever feels right in your body. Let it fill your being. Welcome it and embrace it. This is a gift!
What to Do If You Experience Anxiety or Other Heavy Emotions Repeatedly in Your Sessions
Sometimes anxiety, fear, or other ‘negative’ emotions arise repeatedly for several breathwork sessions in a row. This can feel frustrating and leave you wondering if the feeling will ever subside. The answer to that question is yes, but also no.
“Yes”, there is an end to a given release that you are having, whether it is around despair, fear, or anxiety, or whatever it is. The fastest way to get to that end is to let it process through as deeply as possible. It needs to follow its course and release. If you suppress it, it will take a long time. It will release in little pieces and get pushed back in. The more you can surrender to the process, the faster it will process through.
Also “No” in the sense that once the release does happen and it completes itself, something else will come up. The process of releasing and opening up and letting go never ends. But a given experience does end.
As mentioned above, the best way to speed it up is to surrender and feel it as deeply as possible. In the moment, this can be a very difficult experience emotionally and can even feel scary. However, when you look at it from a higher perspective, you will realize it is an incredibly healthy process. That feeling is there, trapped in your body and ultimately it will create health problems if you do not do some release work around it. So the temporary struggle is worth the long-term benefits!
Closing Thoughts About Breathwork and Anxiety, Fear, or Panic
It can take tremendous courage to process through some of the heavier things that your inner guidance brings up and we encourage you to stick with the feelings and the experience. However, we also encourage you to listen to your inner guiding intelligence first and foremost, and if it is telling you that this is too much, you can always return to a normal breathing pattern. Also, know that we are always there to support you during your breathwork via chat if you need us. So if any emotion or experience becomes overwhelming for you during the session, please reach out.
Process & Release Deeply Held Emotions with a FREE Month of Neurodynamic Breathwork Online
We offer 2-hour online breathwork workshops several times throughout the week so that people can take a deep dive into their inner healing with a consistent practice. If you would like to join one of our transformational sessions, and partake in faster, deeper breathing to connect to your “Inner Guidance” and process and release emotions that are no longer serving you, we invite you to register for free!
After your first free session, you will receive an email with access to a whole month of free online facilitated breathwork, up to 24 live sessions, which will allow you to continue your journey with the breath and sow the seeds for incredible and lasting change.
