1Breath work goes straight into the body, and for some people that is the problem. If your panic has ever been about not getting enough air, putting your attention on your breathing can set it off rather than settle it.
Asthma, a history of choking or smothering, panic that arrives through the chest: any of these makes the breath a loaded place to put your attention. It does not mean this is closed to you. It means starting somewhere gentler, keeping the practice short, and stopping the moment air hunger appears.
Islamic evidence
He closes and constricts their breast as if they were climbing up to the skies (Quran 6:125). The verse is speaking about guidance rather than panic, but the sensation it names, a chest that will not open, is one plenty of people know from the inside.
“When God wishes to guide someone, He opens their breast to islam; when He wishes to lead them astray, He closes and constricts their breast as if they were climbing up to the skies. That is how God makes the foulness of those who do not believe rebound…”
Qur'an 6:125
Psychological evidence
In a controlled comparison, people with panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder had lower resting heart rate variability than healthy controls and reacted more strongly to a hyperventilation challenge. That is a direct measure of the thing to be careful about: over-breathing sets off far more in some bodies than in others. The study compared groups rather than testing a treatment, so it warns rather than prescribes.
Pittig A, Arch JJ, Lam CW, Craske MG. (2013). International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · doi
Review detail
Why it works. Attention on the breath makes small changes in breathing feel large, and for some people those sensations are where panic begins.
When not to. If breathing exercises reliably bring on panic for you, this belongs with someone trained in trauma work rather than in a practice you do alone.
Feedback
none yet2For when you are stuck in shutdown there is a faster practice: short sharp exhales driven from the belly, letting each in breath happen by itself, about twenty of them.
It is meant to rouse, so expect to feel more awake and a little buzzy afterwards rather than calm. Twenty is plenty. Sit down before you start so that stopping is easy, and stop earlier than planned if you feel dizzy or light headed.
Islamic evidence
he cried out in the deep darkness (Quran 21:87). The first move out of that dark was an act rather than a mood, which is the spirit of this one.
“And remember the man with the whale,when he went off angrily, thinking We could not restrict him, but then he cried out in the deep darkness, ‘There is no God but You, glory be to You, I was wrong.’”
Qur'an 21:87
Psychological evidence
Direct evidence for rapid breathing practices is scarce, and one finding is worth knowing first. In a controlled study, people with panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder reacted more strongly than others to a hyperventilation challenge. Deliberate fast breathing is not that challenge, but it moves in the same direction, so if your anxiety arrives as breathlessness this is the practice to leave alone.
Pittig A, Arch JJ, Lam CW, Craske MG. (2013). International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · doi
Review detail
Why it works. Fast forceful breathing pushes the body towards alertness, which is the opposite of what most breathing advice is aiming at.
When not to. Skip it entirely with high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma or pregnancy, and skip it when you are already anxious rather than flat.