overwhelmed .
While you fold your laundry, take this time to really be conscious of every detail about the laundry. Are the clothes fresh from the dryer and still warm? Who was wearing these clothes or sleeping on them or using these items last? Notice the colors, the sizes, the variety, the worn spots, and so on. With tenderness and sensitivity, acknowledge any feelings that arise as you fold your laundry.
Acknowledge any fears that spring to mind. Are you fearful of someone seeing you have a panic attack? Are you scared of a future attack? Are you apprehensive and anxious about leaving the house for fear of something going wrong? Take this pause to recognize all the emotions that come up. Practice folding each fear into an article of laundry that you’re folding. Place each fear on top of the other, as if making a pile of fears out of your laundry. These fears are with you, but they don’t own you. They exist, but they don’t make up who you are. They are just fears.
Check in again with your breathing and connect with the present.
Finally, let your feelings of fear and apprehension just be. This is not the same thing as letting go. If you’ve ever tried to let go of your panic, it probably didn’t work. If letting go was so easy, you’d have mastered your panic by now. Letting be means not putting any effort into changing or controlling your feelings. Your feelings are here with you, piled up in the folded laundry before you. There they sit. And the next time you fold laundry, you will likely have a whole new set of articles to fold and a whole new list of emotions and fears and apprehensions waiting for you to pay attention to. The feelings will change as often as the laundry changes, as often as the weather changes.
Letting your emotions run their course is one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself. In time, you will become more and more familiar with the passing and changing of your emotions, and you will learn to go with the flow of your feelings without needing to control or change anything. May you experience more peace and contentment with each passing breath.
Get the Rest You Need
Panic attacks are one of the most frightening emotional experiences in life. It’s difficult to describe the disabling sense of extreme terror and the intense psychological distress that overcome you in the midst of a panic attack. Some people say that they feel paralyzed with terror. Others describe a sensation of choking or being smothered. One woman described feeling as though her heart would burst or explode in her chest. If you experience panic before bed at night, then you may also face disrupted sleep or no sleep at all.
The following application of R.A.I.N. will help you relax and get the rest that you need each night. Like any exercise in self-inquiry, to be truly beneficial, it takes regular practice, incorporating each step into your nightly routine.
You may sit up in bed or lie down—it doesn’t matter, as long as you are fully alert and comfortable.
Become aware of your breathing. This is the first step in aligning with the present moment, living in the now. Each conscious breath is your bridge to a deeper connection with being more present. You may be more accustomed to experiencing your life with a focus on the past or the future, but for this moment you are consciously focusing on what is happening right here and now.
When you are in the throes of panicky emotions, it is difficult to unwind from the terror. Take this moment to set your intentions for what you would like to walk away with from this practice, such as May this practice restore my belief in my own capacity to heal. May this practice help me live with more ease in my body and mind. May it teach me to have greater self-compassion, kindness, and gentleness .
Begin to recognize whatever powerful or severe emotions come up. Envision your feelings as leaves on a tree…each feeling fluttering on a branch, asking to be seen and heard and paid
While you fold your laundry, take this time to really be conscious of every detail about the laundry. Are the clothes fresh from the dryer and still warm? Who was wearing these clothes or sleeping on them or using these items last? Notice the colors, the sizes, the variety, the worn spots, and so on. With tenderness and sensitivity, acknowledge any feelings that arise as you fold your laundry.
Acknowledge any fears that spring to mind. Are you fearful of someone seeing you have a panic attack? Are you scared of a future attack? Are you apprehensive and anxious about leaving the house for fear of something going wrong? Take this pause to recognize all the emotions that come up. Practice folding each fear into an article of laundry that you’re folding. Place each fear on top of the other, as if making a pile of fears out of your laundry. These fears are with you, but they don’t own you. They exist, but they don’t make up who you are. They are just fears.
Check in again with your breathing and connect with the present.
Finally, let your feelings of fear and apprehension just be. This is not the same thing as letting go. If you’ve ever tried to let go of your panic, it probably didn’t work. If letting go was so easy, you’d have mastered your panic by now. Letting be means not putting any effort into changing or controlling your feelings. Your feelings are here with you, piled up in the folded laundry before you. There they sit. And the next time you fold laundry, you will likely have a whole new set of articles to fold and a whole new list of emotions and fears and apprehensions waiting for you to pay attention to. The feelings will change as often as the laundry changes, as often as the weather changes.
Letting your emotions run their course is one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself. In time, you will become more and more familiar with the passing and changing of your emotions, and you will learn to go with the flow of your feelings without needing to control or change anything. May you experience more peace and contentment with each passing breath.
Get the Rest You Need
Panic attacks are one of the most frightening emotional experiences in life. It’s difficult to describe the disabling sense of extreme terror and the intense psychological distress that overcome you in the midst of a panic attack. Some people say that they feel paralyzed with terror. Others describe a sensation of choking or being smothered. One woman described feeling as though her heart would burst or explode in her chest. If you experience panic before bed at night, then you may also face disrupted sleep or no sleep at all.
The following application of R.A.I.N. will help you relax and get the rest that you need each night. Like any exercise in self-inquiry, to be truly beneficial, it takes regular practice, incorporating each step into your nightly routine.
You may sit up in bed or lie down—it doesn’t matter, as long as you are fully alert and comfortable.
Become aware of your breathing. This is the first step in aligning with the present moment, living in the now. Each conscious breath is your bridge to a deeper connection with being more present. You may be more accustomed to experiencing your life with a focus on the past or the future, but for this moment you are consciously focusing on what is happening right here and now.
When you are in the throes of panicky emotions, it is difficult to unwind from the terror. Take this moment to set your intentions for what you would like to walk away with from this practice, such as May this practice restore my belief in my own capacity to heal. May this practice help me live with more ease in my body and mind. May it teach me to have greater self-compassion, kindness, and gentleness .
Begin to recognize whatever powerful or severe emotions come up. Envision your feelings as leaves on a tree…each feeling fluttering on a branch, asking to be seen and heard and paid
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