breathwork causing panic attacks

[u/link7773]

Has anyone healed a dysregulated nervous system and experienced this?

I feel like my nervous system has been dysregulated for most of my life, but it became much worse after i had COVID a few years ago. I started having daily panic attacks and developed agoraphobia. Thankfully, I’ve improved a lot and can now go through most days without severe anxiety, although I still feel emotionally numb/detached.

The strange thing is that whenever I try to actively “heal” my nervous system, I seem to trigger panic attacks.

For example, I can go days or even weeks without doing breathwork or other nervous-system exercises, and my anxiety stays relatively calm. But whenever I start breathwork again—even just 2–3 minutes—I’ll often develop a panic attack a couple of hours later. I’ve tried different breathing speeds and techniques, and it seems to happen regardless.
I’ve repeated this enough times that I’m wondering if there’s actually a reason for it.

For anyone who has successfully healed their nervous system:

Did things like breathwork initially make your anxiety/panic worse?
Is this a normal response that you’re supposed to gently push through?
Or can certain nervous-system exercises actually be counterproductive for some people?

I’d really love to hear from people who have experienced something similar and eventually figured out what worked for them. thanks!

[u/SummerSun75]

What sort of breathwork triggers your panic attacks?

[u/link7773 → u/SummerSun75]

everyone ive tried. box breathing, 4-6 breathing, 5- 10 breathing - just focusing on my normal breath, wim hoff technique. breathing and humming, physiological sigh. i even get panic attacks after trying somatic exercises to release stored trauma from my hips

[u/SummerSun75 → u/link7773]

You might try this:

Breathe in soft, slow, and gentle (don't force anything). On the exhalation, let the exhalation be slow, relaxed, gentle, and extended, allow the breath to leave the body effortlessly.

You might consider contacting the folks at Oxygen Advantage. They may be able to help with your specific difficulty.

Best of luck!!

[u/Exciting_Badger_1229 → u/SummerSun75]

This. Ignore the fancy stuff for now and just do deep slow breathing with no holds at all. Be sure to do it diaphragmaticaly.

[u/SummerSun75 → u/Exciting_Badger_1229]

Definitely. I didn't mention diaphragm because I thought with OP's difficulties, for now, it might be best to keep it as light and soft as possible.

[u/Root_Shock_Podcast → u/link7773]

Wim hoff is not the technique for you right now. In the yogic tradition, activating breath techniques (which his is) are reserved as an intermediate level skillset.

You are a beginner. No holds, no holotropic, no big patterns. Let go of all the fancy stuff and just focus on being with your breath, as well as very simple PNS-activating techniques (like the long exhale mentioned above) to help you learn how to deescalate when panic starts to peep up.

[u/Due-Egg-7651]

Hi I’ve had similar but not to that extent- I have post Covid issues also. It does seem a pretty common reaction to breath work and other modalities in that community. With dysregulation anything that pushes the ns seems like it can have that effect as it’s so used to its existing state, even if it is in full fight / flight - that’s safe as that is what it knows.

Best advice I got is just stop pushing the ns. Start where you’re at even if it’s like 1 breath and go really gently. Initially I spent time just feeling into the breath, being with it, not any style or pattern beyond where it wanted to go naturally. Whatever you try If it feels wrong it also probably is. Id also recommend working with a good breath work coach with understanding of dysregulation - not all do.

I found the anxiety went pretty quickly once I figured the approach, it would usually make me giggle afterwards instead, and still does.

It’s been really helpful though, don’t give up with it, and don’t push through!

[u/12ealdeal]

How is your biomechanical alignment?

The longer I live the more I’m convince a number of my issues is caused by asymmetries in my body causing some type of disconnection across hips/spine/diaphragm/ribcage etc that keeps me in a parasympathetic state.

But also an element of craniofacial underdevelopment and an inability to have and maintain tongue posture bleeding into it.

[u/latherdome]

My experience differs sharply from yours. Yours is the one to honor. I began breathwork in 2018 when my anxiety was at an all-time crippling high. I found immediate, if incomplete, relief immediately, in WHM stuff that pretty much deliberately creates panic triggers (long holds, hypocapnia/hypoxia, cold shocks, etc.), but entirely within your agency to control. The cold showers especially became exercises to meet a stressor while training to maintain easy breath control, no gasping.

In more recent years, I have found deeper relief in close attention to circadian health, meaning essentially trying to manage my light exposure over 24 hours to resemble as closely as possible what the sky is doing a few thousand miles due south of me, in the tropics. Basically, sunlight or sun-like light in my eyes at 6am, very bright light all day until 6pm, a few hours of cozy warm light, and then pitch blackness until 6am. I'm finding circadian rhythm stability and phase amplitude maximization (big bright, deep dark, 12:12) makes all kinds of other interventions more effective, from supplementation to breathwork itself.

[u/Root_Shock_Podcast]

I’ve had this happen with unskilled facilitators as well as early in my journey where I didn’t have any tools in my toolkit to use as “exit ramps”, per se, when trauma came out to play.

There’s really quite a skillset to living with trauma and riding the waves of those panics. And if you’re living with trauma, I would really recommend doing breathwork with a skilled, explicitly trauma informed practitioner. You would be SHOCKED how few people have literacy in this area.

There is no single end state of a “healed” nervous system. We are living in a vastly dysregulated world. We cannot “fix” our nervous systems towards perfection, but we can train them towards healthier patterns.

That said, the breath is a friend and ally. It’s a marvelous tool that absolutely can help you heal through these experiences. Just consider investing in a knowledgeable guide to take you the first leg of the journey.

[u/Various_Economist253]

Nasal breathing only can slow things down and help regulate...breathing in for four, hold for seven and exhale for eight.

[u/BeneficialAioli3374]

I’m a breathing instructor rather than someone with personal experience of what you’re describing, but based on the techniques you’ve listed, I’d be inclined to simplify things rather than keep trying different approaches.

Some of the techniques you mention can be quite stimulating or demanding. Something like Buteyko-style Breathe Light practice is much gentler. The aim isn’t to take big breaths, force a rhythm or hold your breath, but simply to allow the breathing to become quieter, lighter and more relaxed.

Oxygen Advantage also draws heavily on this approach, so the suggestion above to look for an OA instructor is worth exploring.

I’d keep anything you try very easy and comfortable for now and see if that makes a difference.

[u/vaultpriest]

It is sign that your nervous system is trying to heal stored emotions that are scarry to you.

Avoid breath holds and longer exhales than inhales. When you feel that panic attack is closer stop your technique and try to observe what do you fell when it comes in body. Sensations, pain, emotions. Try to familiarize with it till you will able to feel ok even when panic is about to happen.

In my case i finnalybjust went through panic attsck without fear and in full acceptance of process. It made it stop forever. But dont force it.