4 Mantras to Center Yourself During an Anxiety Attack

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It’s not easy to center yourself during an anxiety attack, mantras or not. And I recognize that. 

It can feel near impossible. 

But I decided to make a post because the more we practice, the quicker we can come out of it. And eventually prevent it altogether.

In last month’s post, I said I find anxiety attacks to be worse than panic attacks.

Mind you, a panic attack sucks… I still live with the fear of a potential onset. But the body can only maintain the fight-or-flight response for so long.

An anxiety attack on the other hand can last indefinitely.

A few months ago, a single thought put me in anxiety mode, which lasted through the night, into the morning, and didn’t ebb until late afternoon.

How did I spend those hellish hours?

My partner Shaun drove me around all day.

We ate at my favorite restaurant, got chocolate sorbet at my favorite ice cream shop, and finally parked up at a remote beach. The sky was dark with clouds. Turbulent waters crashed into rock. The wind howled, buffeting the windshield. Seagulls strained to reach their nests in the cliffs.

I watched, feeling disconnected from it all. 

Rubbing my hands together. Fidgeting in my seat.

Shaun asked for the hundredth time that day, not unkindly, but with the desperate gentleness of someone who loves you and doesn’t know how to help: “What are you so scared of?”

And for the hundredth time, I gave him the same answer.

“I want to be okay.”

Anxiety can’t be abated with logical thinking. Anxiety is, in itself, illogical. 

In those grueling hours, I couldn’t see that I was actually “okay”. That I was in good health, that I had two degrees, a job, exciting projects, a loving partner, a beautiful home, amazing friends.

In fact, those thoughts caused more anxiety. It’s the illogical feeling that it would all unravel. That the sky would fall and split my head open.

See? Illogical.

When it comes to anxiety, reminding ourselves of all the wonderful things we have is futile. The correct approach is much simpler… but not easy.

It’s about centering yourself. Reeling your soul back into your body.

Below is a list of mantras that may help you center yourself during an anxiety attack. They aren’t cures… but I hope you find a flicker of peace from them.

1. “I’m here, here, here.”

During an anxiety attack, it’s essential to bring yourself back to the present. Forget all the wonderful, awesome things in your life. Forget your bright future, promising career, and whatever else you try to tell yourself.

Focus on your surroundings. Your senses. The now.

The mantra “I’m here, here, here,” is a reminder that you are present, there, wherever you are, in that place.

With every “here”, add an element for your senses.

Example: I’m here (I ponder the seagulls nesting in the cliffs), here (the aftertaste of chocolate on my tongue), here (the smell of the sea), here (the windsong), here (the sunset warmth).

The exercise prompts you to step out of the negative feedback loop in your mind. When you’re in the present moment, your mind goes quiet and suddenly it’s not so loud anymore.

In the words of Eckhart Tolle, “you are always safe in the present moment.”

2. “I love you.”

In the world we live in, people with mental illness are stigmatised. While things are slowly improving, shame is still in a lot of people’s blueprints. I definitely struggle with this. Growing up, I was fed a range of toxic messages, such as anxiety being a lack of resilience, or depression being a lack of gratitude. So often when we break down, we berate ourselves for it. And that makes things worse.

Enveloping yourself with compassion and love can be intensely powerful. This doesn’t mean blocking out unhealthy thoughts… it means meeting them with kindness, patience, and love.

Wrap your arms around yourself and say “I love you” and mean it. It might feel strange. It’s sad that most of us don’t know how to love ourselves. But the more you practice, the easier it will come.

I highly recommend reading Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff. This book redefined how I think about self-compassion and includes powerful stories from Neff on life’s challenges and the power of loving-kindness.

It’s easy to be a skeptic… but you may be surprised at the impact of love mantras to center yourself during an anxiety attack.

3. “Breathe in, I breathe in. Breathe out, I breathe out.”

My brother recommended this mantra to me from an exercise he did with his psychologist.

Now more than ever, there are books, studies, testimonials, and TED talks on the physiological benefits of breathing. And I, a previous skeptic, completely vouch for it.

I actually have an incredible story about how my breathing practice stopped a panic attack in its tracks. But that’s a story for another post.

Breathing works. It just does. While inhaling increases your heart rate, the exhale is where the magic happens. Exhaling long and slow hijacks your brain to turn off the fight-or-flight response. 

It took me years to buy into this. I don’t know why, maybe because my anxiety disorder felt so complex and this solution overly simple. These days, I swear by it.

When you feel anxiety in your stomach, no matter how big or small, pause, acknowledge it, and take a deep, slow inhale. Pause. And a long, slow exhale. Notice your heart rate slow and your body sink into calm.

Repeat.

4. “This won’t last forever.”

The biggest lie depression and anxiety tell us is that they will go on forever. When we feel trapped in the dark night of the soul, it’s easy to think we’re broken beyond repair. That there’s something wrong with us.

We torture ourselves with thoughts that this will last forever, that we are alone in this struggle. We think no one understands us and we isolate ourselves from friends and family.

Depression and anxiety speak a language of torment, but they are only thoughts. 

And it’s hard, I know it’s hard, when your mind bombards you with disturbing and invasive thoughts. But they’re only thoughts.

If you practice meditation, you know the teachings about letting thoughts go. Thoughts in themselves are impermanent and untrue more times than not.

You are not your thoughts. This moment, in which you are experiencing difficult emotions, negative thinking, or numbness, will not last forever. Not even happy moments last forever. Life consists of impermanent moments, good and bad, and our bodies are powerful vessels to hold them, observe them, and let them go.

There’s great freedom in detaching. Observe the noise of your mind with curiosity, then let it go.

There is nothing wrong with you. You are not broken. You are not alone.

Stay well and much love,

P

Today’s tunes: Castle of Glass by Linkin Park