I work with a lot of individuals who have "tried everything." They have read every mindfulness book, breathed a thousand deep breaths, and have generally exhausted themselves with the promise of relief.
Our instinctual response to threat is a biological gift that we have to protect us, and yet situations requiring that we use those strategies leave us with lingering symptoms, a sense that we have survived but that the event or events continue on.
I have spent years studying how the nervous system interprets danger, responds to the environment, and how to shift it using mindfulness. Together we use techniques that urge specific parts of the brain to "turn on" while urging other parts to "turn off". It is a joy to watch people begin to organize around an ongoing experience of internal safety, and see them emerge from feeling hijacked by physical symptoms to feeling present for their lives.
The most common experiences of anxiety and panic are as follows:
Feeling unsafe in your body · Heart palpitations · Sweating · Shaking · Sleeplessness · Muscle tightness and pain · Physical agitation such as leg shaking and hand wringing · Skin picking and hair removal · Phobias · Excessive cleanliness and/or collecting · Difficulty focusing or sitting still · Pacing · Peak anxiety · Avoidance of places or people associated with past panic attacks · Fainting associated with panic · Inability or hesitancy to leave the home · Feeling out of control · Physical symptoms coupled with an overwhelming sense that you are going to die
Skype sessions are available for individuals who are currently managing panic by remaining in the home.