Breathing exercises for panic attacks

Simple, slow anchors for when everything feels like too much.

During a panic attack, complicated instructions are useless. Anything that requires you to remember a four-part pattern is going to fail exactly when you need it. So the technique below has no counting to keep track of, no breath-holding, and no way to get it wrong.

The most important thing to know is counterintuitive: do not breathe deeply. Many people over-breathe during panic already, and taking big deep breaths makes the tingling, the light-headedness and the chest tightness worse. What helps is slow and small, with the out-breath longer than the in-breath.

A panic attack is horrible but not dangerous, and it peaks and passes within roughly ten minutes. Following something steady gives your attention somewhere to go while that happens.

Start with

Panic Anchor

Built for this specifically. Grounding prompts sit between the breaths, and the visual, the voice and the tone all say the same thing, so you can follow whichever one you can still process.

Start 3-minute session

Or read how it works first.

Before you start

If panic attacks keep happening, breathing exercises are a useful tool but not a treatment — CBT works well for panic disorder and is worth asking a doctor about. If you are thinking of harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line rather than working through it alone.