The Quantum Questions Blog

Managing Panic attacks

The word panic means an uncontrollable fear or anxiety that can lead to us acting impulsively or irrationally.   So, whether we have experienced panic attacks or not, just the thought of a panic attack begins a process of contraction inside of us, our defences begin.   Can you feel that as you begin reading this?

But I want to share with you some tips for dealing with panic attacks, as well as sharing a breath you can use if you are ever in that situation.

What is a panic attack?

A panic attack is a feeling of sudden and intense anxiety.

Panic attacks can also have physical symptoms, including:

• shaking
• feeling disorientated
• nausea
• rapid, irregular heartbeats
• dry mouth
• breathlessness
• sweating
• dizziness 

The symptoms of a panic attack are not physically dangerous but can be very frightening.

They can make you feel as though you're having a heart attack, or that you're going to collapse or even die.

Most panic attacks last somewhere from 5 minute...

I am writing this blog from Samye Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist centre in Scotland.  The heart of Buddhism is about compassion, so it seems fitting to reflect on this subject of pity and empathy while I am here.

In my work with clients and participants in courses over the past 30 years I have heard some truly heartbreaking situations for people.  Life is only temporarily comfortable and sweet.   When I say comfortable and sweet I am really talking about the inner world, as I have met many individuals who have a seemingly “easy” outer life, but their inner world is tormented.  While others can overcome with extraordinary courage and grace extremely painful outer situations to a place of inner peace.

How can we be genuinely helpful without absorbing the troubled energies of another? 

People, and healers in particular, have often said to me “I am an empath, so I feel everyone’s energies and I need to create boundaries, and I can’t be around others for long”.

 What I would say to this is...

A week or two ago, Greg said these words to me “life is continuous”.  Obviously, this was not some amazing revelation as I believe this to the core, but the simplicity of those 3 words felt like an anchor, a force idea, an impulse of profound truth I can easily remember and fasten myself to as inspiration to never give up, to never stop on this complex, convoluted road of the revelation of our true Selves.

I believe we are eternal souls inhabiting fleeting physical bodies.  When we die, we give up the body, but according to enlightened yogic masters and early Christian leaders, the place we evolve to in one life is the place we begin our next life. 

So, when is the time to transform?  When is the best time to make the efforts?  The answer is always NOW.

I am now in my 50’s and I do understand the feeling to start winding down in life, maybe semi-retiring, giving up a bit on dreams and hopes we had in the past. 

I have seen this in so many ways in people who hit middle age.

In t...

When I first heard this from Advaitananda a few years ago I felt a chill down my spine, without really knowing why as at the time I believed I was happy with my “bedroom” life.

In a later session of The Who Am I? Series we look at “Who am I in relationships and Intimacy”. This is a very tender area for most of us in truth. It is an area many of us do not speak of with real honesty. We either brag or are silent.

When I began having breathwork clients in my late 20’s I was so shocked at how prevalent and painful the intimate world was for those that came to me. Seemingly happy couples sharing a bed night after night, but with no intimacy sometimes for many years. One person rejecting. The other frustrated. Both silently heartbroken.  

How are you in the bedroom? Is it full of tiredness, suppressed anger, hurt, or joy? I don’t want to sound like I looking for miserable stories here, but with my experience in life and people opening to me, I have found that even seemingly happy relation...

Do we have to give up “normal” life to pursue a spiritual path or is there a way to live life with all its trials, tribulations, ups and downs and simultaneously progress on the spiritual path? 

Are you feeling trapped in work you don’t like, in relationships you don’t like, trapped by the intensity of bringing up children?

The first thing I would say is to let go of the need to escape from reality moments at a time. 

This attempt to escape takes us out of the present moment. Yet the present is the place not only to truly resolve our life’s issues, but also the present is the place of our true Divine self, the seat of true joy and profound peace. The spiritual life is in the present.

Feel into relaxing and surrendering to the present – little steps by little steps. This is slow and requires perseverance.  How many years have you been trying to escape? You have been perseverant at that!

A way to relax that is accessible to all, if only for a few minutes at a time, is to come into ...