Specific Coping Techniques

It seems like this forum has been quite active lately. We have a nice mix of newbies, veterans, and even a few returning veterans. We all do such a great job of supporting and encouraging each other. As part of that we often remind each other to do breathing and calming exercises. I thought it might be helpful (for all of us) to go through a few of them. There are so many different exercises and techniques out there and I know that we're not all using the same ones. What works for one person may not work for another. But at the same time, what doesn't work well for you might be a lifesaver for someone else.

So what do YOU do to keep calm? Would you be willing to describe in specific and concrete terms the steps you take with your calming exercises?

I know Kitt has mentioned holding your breath for a few seconds at the top of a breath and that SC has described a breathing in thirds technique. What works for you? What would you recommend for the rest of us?

I practice different techniques every day to stay calm and be prepared if/when I need them the most. Here's one thing I do on a daily basis:

1. Sit in a comfortable place in a relaxed stretched out position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth (slowly).
4. After about two minutes I start repeating the word "loosen" with each exhale. While doing that I focus on relaxing and loosening up all of the tension in my body. I imagine my muscles loosening up.
5. Continue to breath slowly and repeat the word loosen.
6. Starting with your head slowly work your way down your body focusing on loosening the different parts of your body. Spend a little time loosening your forehead, your face, ears, neck, shoulders, chest and back, etc. until you get to your toes.
7. Wrap things up with another minute or two of just focusing on the breathing (as in step #3).
8. open your eyes.

The whole thing takes me on average about 10-15 minutes at most to do. Hope it can help someone else... and I look forward to hearing what works for others.

Here is the breathing in three parts that you referred to. It is helped me out in many a panicky situation. Also if I'm feeling unwell in general, this helps me as I must hyperventilate without realizing it. The general malaise is often remedied by proper breathing and O2 levels!

The Divided Breath:

Visualize your lungs as having three parts; the bottom, middle and upper third.
On the inhale, using one divided breath, imagine filling the bottom third, then the middle third and finally the top third-pausing briefly between sections. The trick is to do this with one inhale-just divided into thirds.

If possible hold for a second or two.

Exhale in the same manner. One exhale, but divided. First exhale the top third, then the middle and finally the bottom third.

Repeat and practice daily. When I first attempted this, my breathing was so out of control, I couldn't do it. My thoratic muscles were too tight, and I was frightened of not being aable to get enough air. (of course, I was making things worse by the panting/shallow breathing that I was unconsciously doing) With practice I got better and longer intervals between breaths, and have found this to be my favorite technique-give it a try!:)
S.C.

Great idea,

I learned from this forum and from my therapist that "stinkin thinkin" gets me into trouble and my anxiety rises.

For those of you that have not  read one of my stories, Stinkin' Thinkin', otherwise known as thinking negative thoughts, is a common but unhelpful pastime. and is sure to raise my anxiety.

Overgeneralization ~ I will let a single event color  the rest of my day or week. For instance, I will think to myself, "I ate half a packet of Oreos! I'm supposed to be on a diet. I'll never lose any weight. I'll be fat all my life." Gee, I could go on so easily, but you get my drift! Now I work hard at not letting this kind of thinking from ruining my day.  I ate the cookies,  I will get right back on my healthy eating schedule.  It is not the end of the world. 

Catastrophizing ~ is all about blowing things up out of proportion, or alternatively, minimizing any good things in my life.  My Pyschiatrist let me know that I have a tendency to catastrophize.  My husband was having surgery and I was wound tighter then a clock sure thinks were going to go bad.  I now tell myself to quit assuming that everything is going to go bad and deal with problems as they happen. 

Mind Reading ~ a favorite among Stinkin' Thinkers, Mind Reading involves assuming that people are reacting in a negative way about me without any evidence to back it up.  I will read people's minds,  ah I am so good at that one and it is certainly due to my own insecurities.  If I have an idea and someone doesn't say they like it - I can read their mind and tell you what they are thinking,  and yet I am almost always wrong.  I now try to remember that everyone has the right to their own opinion and that is no reflection on me. 

And then there is the Self-labeling !  This used to be my favorite pass time.  Calling myself an "idiot" or a "fool" or any other derogatory name not only dents my self esteem but derails me from looking more closely at the problem and finding a better way to go about it. I have learned to just say "Stop It"!  Learning to be  kind to myself and dropping  the names has been a big challenge for me as my anxieties and my depression often make me feel useless.  I am a work in progress.  

Staying in the moment is how I have stopped much of my "Stinkin Thinkin".   Remember only this moment is real-all possible future moments is speculation.

Stop your anxiety and panic by learning how to stay in the moment. 

*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ Kitt

Hello,
I am tagging onto smilingrose's post. FYI, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a form of alternative psychotherapy that uses tapping on acupuncture points while a patient focuses on a specific while a patient focuses on a specific traumatic memory. This is said to manipulate an energy field practitioners associate with the human body.

The principle behind EFT is that negative emotions can cause disturbances in the body's energy field. EFT theory derives from similar principles behind those of acupuncture.

Thank you Rose for sharing.

Kindly,
Kitt

Nice to see you again Melodee!

I hope things start to get better for you, because the hyperventilating is really hard to deal with. Have you been working any of the techniques or CBT lately? I am having to work through all of it again myself, as this has been a difficult year.

Take care and I'm sending healing thoughts to you my friend,
Sam :)

Fugs,

I like doing the guided meditation myself. . . It is so very relaxing. Along with some light yoga, it seems to really keep me grounded :)

Take care!
Sam :)

All the above is good stuff! Breathing/CBT/exercise/good books/etc...

Sometimes when I can tell I'm at the very start of anxiety taking off - it  helps me best to think of 2 little nugget words: "positive" and "present"....

Positive: If I'm thinking negative thoughts I quickly tell myself to STOP, and try to push them away while at the same time encouraging positive thoughts to take their place.

Present: If I'm thinking too much about the future, again I tell myself to STOP! And then bring myself back to what is directly in front of me. It also helps if I say out loud "This is what I'm doing right now, I'm driving my car, I'm looking at the trees, I'm washing this dish, or so on...