By Anya Light
It is easy to heal your panic attacks once you understand what a panic attack truly is.
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The next time you feel panic coming on, if you can remember the words I’m writing to you here, I assure you that the feeling of panic will begin to dissipate.
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I am here to tell you that you can heal your panic attacks, permanently and completely!
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Before I share the details of how to heal, please know that I deeply empathize with what you’ve been going through. I struggled with panic attacks for over a decade, stemming from a long battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I have now reached the point in my life where I no longer have panic attacks.
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What exactly is a panic attack???
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Well, on the surface level, a panic attack appears like a negative thing. It manifests physically as rapid heart rate, sweating, weakness, dizziness, nausea, shaking, unexplainable feelings of paranoia and impending doom, racing thoughts, and a wish to retreat from others and hide in a cave.
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Yes, panic attacks feel AWFUL! They make us feel like we are our own worst enemy—like we can’t even trust our own bodies or our own minds.
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It’s a feeling of total distrust. It is fear and horror.
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But what is a panic attack, at a deeper level?
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Dear friends, a panic attack is a message. It’s a wake-up call. It’s an invitation to go deeper within ourselves.
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Quite simply, a panic attack is a healing message from the Universe/God/your angels (however you want to label your higher power).
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The message is:
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Dear one, it is time for you to come back into your body.
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Panic attacks happen when our spirit (some people also call this “soul” or “life spark”) has been somewhat disconnected from our physical form. This happens due to trauma, illness, or other challenging scenarios in life.
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When our spirit gets disconnected, this builds up pressure over time. When the pressure builds to a high level, we get a panic attack. It’s a loud wake-up call that we need to spend some time in self-care. We need to retreat from the company of others and take some much-needed solitude and pay attention to our body, our physical form.
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Through the seemingly “negative” experience of a panic attack, we are urged to bring our attention back inward toward the body.
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Even though it seems negative, a panic attack is an opportunity for a healing to occur. Even if we aren’t aware of the benefits of bringing awareness back to the body, we can’t help but notice our rapid heartbeat. We can’t help but notice our fast, shaky breath. We can’t help but notice our dry mouth, weak limbs, and queasy stomach. Yes, we are noticing all these different sensations.
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It is the sheer act of noticing that begins to heal the disconnection from our bodies.
Bringing Awareness to Panic Attacks
Now that you’re reading this article, you can bring conscious awareness to the process, which will both deepen the healing as well as release you from the need to have panic attacks in the first place.
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Perhaps, at first, it may seem nonsensical to hear that your spirit has not been fully living inside your body. This information is not taught to doctors and therapists in regular textbooks. (It’s leading-edge metaphysical knowledge, which, unfortunately, is not included in most medical and psychological professional training today.)
But healers across the world are gaining insight into this phenomenon. I myself have recognized first-hand the truth of how spirit and body need to be merged in order to have a healthy, peaceful life.
If you have experienced any form of abuse, trauma, intense illness, or severe pain in your life, there is a good chance that your spirit (the indwelling spark that is uniquely you) has felt very unsafe and has tried to protect itself by not fully occupying your physical vessel. You have been, instead, hovering near and around your body. You have been near your body, but not often fully within it.
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Also, another scenario that can provoke the spirit to flee the body is our genetic or karmic histories. If your genetic heritage includes extreme trauma such as war or violence, and those core wounds have not yet been healed—then those past energetic wounds from ancestors have left their impression upon you. These wounds are crying out for healing through the experience of the panic attack. Also, if you believe in past lives, then you may realize that other lifetimes are lingering in your energetic fields. Overall, genetic and karmic histories explain why some people who’ve had easy, pleasant, or even wonderfully pampered life experiences still have unexplainable anxiety and panic attacks.
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Another reason why you may not have felt safe inside your body is that you are an empath or a naturally gifted intuitive, but you were raised in an environment where your gifts were suppressed rather than nurtured. Thus, when you were a child, you unconsciously shut down certain chakras (abilities) and partially fled your body.
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There are many, many reasons why we don’t feel safe in our bodies. Your reason(s) may be one of the ones I just listed, or it may be totally unique to you.
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Regardless of the reason, however, the main point to understand is this: If you’ve been experiencing panic attacks, then, most assuredly, for some reason or another, your spirit has not been fully dwelling inside your body. In other words, your mind-body connection has been severed.
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Safety Affirmation Tool
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To be firmly rooted in the body is to have attention focused on the body consistently and at various intervals throughout the day. This is what mindfulness is all about: feeling the sensations of our bodies without mental judgments or mental labeling.
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To be firmly rooted in the body is to feel you are truly safe there, to feel that it is your home.
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When you feel anxiety building, you can prevent a panic attack. Simply take a few deep, slow breaths and say the following affirmation to yourself, either aloud or silently:
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I am safe to come back into my body.
I am safe, here, inside my body.
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Next, simply gaze at your body. Notice your hands, feet, and legs. Notice your arms and torso. Gaze at your body parts while breathing slowly. Bring your attention to all the various sensations within your body: the aches, pains, shivers, tingles, everything. Then, imagine that your soul is entering your body and fully occupying it. Imagine that you are taking up residence there, inside your body, and that it is fully safe to do so.
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Unfortunately, our culture teaches us to neglect our body. It teaches us to poison ourselves with unhealthy foods and unhealthy lifestyles. Our culture wants to enslave us with thoughts of lack, competition, scarcity, and violence. No wonder we have panic attacks!!! Any sane person would!!! It can feel pretty scary living on this planet right now. Even if we did not experience any major abuse in our childhood, all of us were raised on a planet where there are some people who starve to death while some people live in mansions. That is emotional abuse, plain and simple. And this emotional harshness affects us deeply and creates lasting (often subconscious) feelings that it is not safe to be here in our bodies on planet Earth.
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With our Safety Affirmation, though, we can begin to bring some awareness to the trauma we have felt and cultivate some self-compassion for ourselves. We can heal.
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Loving Our Bodies
All of us lose track of our bodies from time to time. We get carried away in daydreams. We sit in front of the computer for hours at a time and lose all connection with our torso and legs. We hold our breath when we’re nervous. We stay indoors watching television and forget to go out into rivers and forests for deep replenishment.
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We all get disconnected from time to time. It’s normal.
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Yet, when a panic attack strikes…pay attention. The disconnection has reached epic proportions. It’s time to heal.
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Yes, panic may feel frightening, it may feel the worst thing ever…but, truly, it’s only trying to get our attention.
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My friend, you are being protected and cared for. The body is really, really smart.
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Because of your panic attacks, you are reading this article and pondering deeply. What does it mean to be a human being? How can I heal myself? How can I listen to my inner wisdom? These are deep questions! These are questions that not everyone has the opportunity, nor the courage, to explore.
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You are truly blessed in this lifetime. You have reached an amazing stage in your evolutionary journey: you’ve already thoroughly explored the land of anxiety and panic, learned all its corners and routes and territories, and you are now ready to emerge from it. You are wise. You know.
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Eventually, you will grow so confident in the fact that panic attacks are a past issue that you will feel an urge to share your wisdom with others. You will teach. You will help humanity heal.
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Thank you for being you and blessings on your journey back into your beautiful body.
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Many thanks to the awesome folks at elephant journal, who also published this article.
