Imagine your thoughts, feelings, and sensations if a masked intruder broke into your house in the middle of the night. You wake from a deep slumber because of the noise caused by the burglar. Suddenly, the intruder is facing you, holding a loaded gun to your head. At this time, your brain would immediately enter into “fight-or-flight” mode, and your only focus at that moment would be to keep yourself and your family alive. Your heart would begin pounding to prepare your physical being for a showdown with the intruder, or to literally run for your life, if your instincts told you. Your brain would now be operating at its most rudimentary level, pushing aside all thoughts except how to survive this attack.
Now, imagine these same sensations occurring without the immediate threat of an intruder. You are in broad daylight, safely driving down the highway with your family, when your body is thrown into “fight-or-flight” mode. You have no real threat on your life, yet your brain is telling you otherwise. You are experiencing a true panic attack, and it is absolutely terrifying.
Numerous remedies exist for overcoming anxiety and panic attacks and are quite effective. Many people who experience extreme anxiety and regular panic attacks find medication, in addition to talk therapy, to be very helpful. Finding the roots of one’s anxiety is instrumental to reducing and, ultimately, eliminating the experience of panic attacks. Regular psychotherapy has been shown to be very, very beneficial in conquering anxiety, even leading to medication-free management of this condition.
Exercise, yoga, and meditation all have positive effects on overcoming anxiety. By engaging the body in regular physical activity, excess adrenaline is used productively, thereby calming the mind and body. Yoga and meditation are particularly effective practices in relieving anxiety, since both methods force the mind to engage harmoniously with bodily sensations.
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