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Panic runs on the belief that the sensations are in charge and you are not. One demonstration to the contrary is worth more than a hundred explanations. So it helps to practise a breath while calm, so it is already familiar when you need it, and to notice out loud afterwards what you did: I felt it coming, I breathed out long and slow, it passed sooner.
Water was sent down 'to make your hearts strong and your feet firm' (Quran 8:11). Steadiness arriving through something physical is the pattern, and here the physical thing is your own breath.
الأنفال
إِذۡ يُغَشِّيكُمُ ٱلنُّعَاسَ أَمَنَةࣰ مِّنۡهُ وَيُنَزِّلُ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءࣰ لِّيُطَهِّرَكُم بِهِۦ وَيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمۡ رِجۡزَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ وَلِيَرۡبِطَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِكُمۡ وَيُثَبِّتَ بِهِ ٱلۡأَقۡدَامَ
Remember when He gave you sleep as a reassurance from Him, and sent down water from the sky to cleanse you, to remove Satan’s pollution from you, to make your hearts strong and your feet firm
Qur’an 8:11read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta analysis of randomised trials of non drug approaches in fibromyalgia found that different symptoms improved to different degrees and no single approach helped every feature. Which method works for which person is not settled, so the discovery has to be made individually. Those trials were about fibromyalgia symptoms rather than panic.
Kundakci B, Kaur J, Goh SL, Hall M, Doherty M, Zhang W, Abhishek A. (2022). Efficacy of nonpharmacological interventions for individual features of fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.. Pain doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Doing it once disproves the thing panic keeps telling you.
Breathing practice is not a substitute for assessment if panic attacks are frequent or you have unexplained chest pain or breathlessness.
Put your right hand flat on your left upper chest, gather the skin gently and draw it downwards, then tilt your head and lift your left ear away from it. Hold there and wait.
There is a route the calming nerve takes through you: eyes, then jaw and mouth, then throat and neck, then shoulders and chest, then belly. You can visit each stop in turn and simply notice what is there.
Body based approaches have been linked with better physical and mental health, easier relationships, and in some settings lower use of painkillers and psychiatric medication.