Last October, I drove from my home in Maryland to New Jersey to help my sister who was scheduled for surgery later that week. I had made the drive several times in the past and had no worries about the trip. Fueled with a healthy breakfast and my morning cup of joe, I queued some of my favorite podcasts and began the cruise up I-95.

I smiled sweetly as I approached Baltimore, my gaze briefly cast toward the skyline of my first Southern home. As my mind flipped through memories of graduate school and living solo in Charm City, my car entered the Harbor Tunnel at 55 miles per hour.  

I reviewed my mental checklist: stay in your lane, headlights on, just drive.   

And then, out of nowhere, an immense pressure crushed my chest. My arms and legs began to tingle with prickly heat. I felt my head separate from my body as if it were a helium balloon. Agitation filled every cell of my body. What’s happening? Am I dying? There’s no escape.  

From somewhere came a cue to take a slow, full breath. Inhale, exhale a little longer. My fingers wiggled off the steering wheel to blast the AC and lower a window.  

Then, utter fear returned. My thoughts bounced erratically inside my skull much like activity inside a pinball machine. Oh gosh, I might pass out. I’m going to wreck my car. 

Again, a quiet inner voice: “Breathe Jen.  Just breathe. Breathe in for 4, breathe out for 8.”  Finally, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. As my nerves steadied and my heart rhythm slowed, I plunged back into the light. 

I think I had my first panic attack beneath the Baltimore Harbor.

When I reflect on my terror in the tunnel, I’m most amazed at how my body knew exactly what to do in a moment of extreme stress. I credit my decades of practicing yoga, breathwork, and mindfulness meditation for this wisdom. I was somehow able to remain present to safely drive a motor vehicle while tuning deeply inward to the uncomfortable sensations in my body. Instinct took over when my brain was flailing.

Pranayama (the practice of breath regulation) is a central tenet of yoga. In most yoga classes, we are guided to become aware of our breath in some way. The yogic breath practice that saved my life during my panic attack is one you can use when you feel your nervous system being overtaxed. Sometimes called “relaxation breath” the technique is actually quite simple: inhale for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 8.

Breathing in a way that lengthens each exhalation shifts our nervous system from the sympathetic mode (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic side (rest and digest).  Almost immediately, a respiration pattern with longer out breaths slows down major organ systems and calms the body.  

The next time you’re feeling anxious about a presentation, overwhelmed about a conversation you need to have with a loved one, or just maxed out from the rigors of modern living, spend a minute or two breathing in for a count of 4 and out for a count of 8. If the 8 count exhale feels hard at first, breathe out for 5 and build up to your exhalation being twice as long as your in breath.

Like anything, practice builds muscle memory. To help you strengthen your capacity to breathe into the hard spots of life and find ease,

Let us know how this practice lands for you.  (And, may you NEVER have to use relaxation breath while driving through a tunnel!)