What is the nature of panic attacks by the yogic philosophy and what techniques yoga provides to treat them?
Thank you
Hello CityMonk,
Would you care to make your question more specific? Based on what you have asked, I can only provide a general answer.
Yoga philosophy does not discuss panic attacks specifically. However, yoga does offer some answers for dealing with them. After all, panic attacks are just an extreme form of fear accompanied by many strong reactions in the body (like accelerated high heart rate and breath, sweating, muscular tension, stomach and gut pains).
By way of a general approach, yoga can help to promote relaxation. This can be done with gentle asana (e.g. supported shoulderstand, corpse pose), mild breathing exercises (ujjayi, alternate nostril breathing without retention, lengthening the exhalation, abdominal breathing), and meditation. Yoga nidra is also very effective, even for panic attacks caused by posttraumatic stress syndrome (Richard Miller). The eight week MBSR program (Kabat-Zinn) is also very effective. It is based on yoga and meditation.
During a panic attack itself, abdominal breathing and witnessing are the best recommendations.[ol]
[li]Realize that fear is a thought about the future (e.g. I’ll be run over by a truck tomorrow"). Because it is impossible to predict the future, the thought is often erroneous. See sutra I-8 for misconception. So realize that fear is a wrong thought. Unfortunately this wrong thought also gives rise to undesirable physical reactions. So change this thought or drop this thought![/li][li]Realize that fear produces physical sensations in the body, for example abdominal pain. Try to become aware of the physical sensation, just the physical sensation. Place your two hands on the abdomen and breathe into the abdomen. Witness your fear. Don’t judge your fear, don’t think about it, don’t push it away, don’t analyse it. Just remain fully aware of the physical sensation and your abdominal breathing. By remaining fully aware, the fear (wrong thought) and the physical reaction (pain in the abdomen) will ebb away.[/li][/ol]In short, abdominal breathing in savasana is one of the best ways to deal with fear.
Sometimes fear and panic attacks can prevent one from living a normal life. In these cases I would highly recommend seeing a health care practitioner of choice. Yoga can be effective, but it sometimes has to be supplemented by cognitive therapy and even short-term medication.
Thank you Willem, your post made my assumption more sure:)
I know the physiological etiology of panic attacks. I was looking for some explanation from yogic point of view.
By mentioning yoga philosophy I meant something like…hmm… for example bad thoughts about others can produce some mental illnesses… excessive practice of pranayama can result in some problems as well… clotted nadis or overactive/under-active chakras reflects on particular part of the body…
I used to have panic attacks and now trying to help one of my students to pull through…By the way, my fears was not about the future, it was in the preset moment and I felt like I’m dying ( not tomorrow, but right now).
I am glad you asked this CityMonk! In my experiance, just knowing the breathing and relaxation techniques associated with yoga has helped me. I have had panic attacks since I was about 7. When I was raped by several males a few years ago, the panic attacks have increased in strength and regularity. Most times, they occur after I have a flashback, but sometimes happen without warning. Practicing yoga has made dealing with the emotional turmoil, the physical pain, and the panic attacks that accompany my flashbacks much easier. I think that whatever your student’s problem, yoga in general will help them.
You’re welcome. I am curious about what your assumption was. Could you elucidate? Your other sentences certainly don’t sound like Patanjali’s yoga philosophy.
Witnessing and abdominal breathing work even if your thought is about the present. You will agree that the thought “I am dying” felt really true at the moment but was a misconception in hindsight. Taking the position of the witness can create some much needed distance to these type of thoughts.
Good luck in supporting your student. You can contribute because of your own experiences and your knowledge of yoga. In these cases, I always make sure I know my boundaries because I am not a mental health care professional. In other words, I feel that yoga therapy in a western environment should be complementary medicine.
Symptoms of anxiety and panic are brought on by an intense reaction to fear. It is crucial to become a more calm and centered individual in order to deal with these reactions in a rational fashion. Exercise is said to be one of the best methods to discharge tension, stress, as well as panic. A minimum of half an hour of vigorous exercise per day ought to be enough to ease signs and symptoms. Other natural forms of treatment include getting enough sleep, meditating, keeping a every day journal, and eating healthy.
Dear CityMonk,
Let’s address panic attack disorder through the lense of yoga philosophy of the three primary energies, ([I]gunas[/I]).
Accordingly, imbalanced, predominate rajasic quality of the mind manifests as pure agitation, anger and anxiety.
In my opinion, panic attacks (at various levels) relate to broader anxiety issues and therefore, excess [I]rajo guna[/I].
It is best to seek professional/medical help first since there may be a genetic component, or biochemical imbalance
in your student that you are not aware of. For example, peri-menopausal and menopausal women often experience
panic attacks from hormonal imbalance. Balancing those hormones naturally eliminates this excess.
Sattvic balance is desired–always.
As a complementary healing modality, a yogic strategy to reduce anxiety (from the Viniyoga traditon)
is to use brahmana/langhana (building-tonification/reduction-purification); [I]Brahmana[/I] therapy nourishes; [I]Langhana[/I] cools.
Please explore Kraftsow’s yoga therapy work for more information.
Personally I would suggest alternate nostril breathing as an adjunct to other treatment wisely mentioned in this post.
Best with Blessings,
Nancy
The first panic attack I had was when I was cutting out meat and chocolate at the same time. Within a few days, I started having attacks. That’s when I discovered L-trypotophan, or my lack there of. I know this isn’t a yogic approach, however, L-tryp is an essential amino acid (I had 15 years of insomnia until I started supplementing). It is the precursor to serotonin and thus melatonin. I know I will get the response - if you eat a well-balanced meal, whole and organic… I know this is true, but if you suffer from PTSD - even it’s in most mild sense, I believe a supplement may be appropriate. Yoga can only go so far when nutrition may be the limiting factor.
Another factor is that even organic foods contain “natural flavors” which can in some instances be translated into MSG, which leaves ulcers on your brain, it’s not a big jump to assert that these ulcers could limit the ability for serotonin to be processed by the brain.
Nonetheless, anti-depressants open up the serotonin neurotransmitters, but again without enough serotonin then what good is opening up the neurotransmitter? Here is a good article outlining how to take it, with what, when and the reason it was recalled in the 80’s (BTW a bad batch can act like similar to West Nile Virus). I purchase mine from Natural Grocers, with the hope that there is some quality control.
http://www.overcoming-depression.com/tryptophan.html
Hope that helps and isn’t too confusing. Sorry if this totally diverts from the essence of yoga.
[QUOTE=concoulor3;30590] I know I will get the response - if you eat a well-balanced meal, whole and organic… I know this is true, but if you suffer from PTSD - even it’s in most mild sense, I believe a supplement may be appropriate. Yoga can only go so far when nutrition may be the limiting factor.
.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your response. I will have a look at your link. Totally agree, that in the middle of panic attack there is no point to speak about eating healthy and exercise. i’m a sinner 
and I did take pils when it was impossible to handle the fear.
BUT in the long run I would still think about meditation, and breath, and fight the problem from the root, not just wiping the pollen…
And also, some psychotherapeutic techniques just represent meditation techniques, and are used in what you call “western practices” to cure those conditions.
Namaste