Anxiety and panic? This one’s for you

I know it’s massively cliché, but I feel like the weeks are starting to come round really quickly again. You?

It feels different somehow though, it feels like a pleasant ‘in-flow’ pace, despite its quickness. For once, January has been filled with a lot, yes, but a lot of things I’m really, really enjoying. Things that feel they are properly filling my soul. Can’t ask for more than that, can we?

I cannot tell you the absolute pleasure delivering the free 5-Day Reset Your Nervous System for 2025 has brought me, right to my core. A coming together of a whole community of people, all taking small bits of time out for themselves, prioritising their own nervous systems (and notably prioritising themselves), is just truly heartwarming to me.

I know the power of learning and applying this work. I see it with my clients every day, I feel it in my own life. And let’s be honest, a lot of mentors/coaches and teachers in this… argh it pains me to say this… ‘wellness space’ are here because we’ve needed to be. Our own journeys have brought us here.

It was contemplating this, and a podcast I have pending this week, that brought about the writing of this week’s email topic.

There are a lot of new people here in our Shift community. So all you beautiful new people here, hello! A big, warm welcome to you, and thank you for finding your way here. I hope you find this a place of personal growth, increased calm, and more enjoyment in life. That’s my absolute wish.

It occurred to me, you may not know a lot, if anything, about my history if you are new here? I think it’s probably quite important to understand my background and how I got here, to give some context as to why I’m so passionate about doing what I do.

In a nutshell, I come from a long history of anxiety and some seriously debilitating panic attacks that lasted many years. They got so bad at one point that I would wake in the morning, feeling normal for probably 30 seconds, until the ‘whooosh’ of a panic attack would descend upon me.

I describe it as a ‘whooosh’ because that’s exactly how it felt as it took over and enveloped me, almost suffocating me… that’s how it felt. And that ‘whooosh’ remained with me, consumed my every moment, all day, throughout everything I did, until I went to bed at night. It was utterly petrifying.

I won’t go into any more detail, because if you are someone who suffers from panic attacks, hearing about someone else’s has the power to bring one on. It used to for me. But I can confirm this: If you are suffering with anxiety or panic, you can come out of it. I don’t have panic attacks anymore, and I don’t suffer anxiety per-se, and that is thanks to the absolute life-changing physiological resetting, regulating, and restoring of my nervous system.

That’s why I’m here, sharing it with you now. I would shout it from every rooftop possible if I could. It’s life-saving, freeing, beautiful life-creating, and the most valuable knowledge I have ever learned (to date anyway).

The podcast I’m about to go on will have me talking about anxiety at length. Sooooo many of us struggle with it at some point in our lives; many on a day-to-day basis. Anxiety is so normalised because so many of us experience it, but it shouldn’t be ‘normal’.

We are living in a world for which we, as humans, are simply not designed. I want you to hear this:

Anxiety is not something you just ‘have’ and have to accept is yours.

In fact, really, it’s not something to be feared when you understand what’s happening in your body… although feeling it when you’re actually experiencing it is really scary. It’s awful.

You see, all anxiety really is, is a signal from your nervous system telling you you’re in danger. Often, though, you’re not in danger. It’s just a perceived threat. It might be based on a past experience, something your nervous system remembers as being similar, and it’s putting your body into a state of alert.

Because the nervous system’s number one function and purpose is just to keep you alive!

Important to note: 80% of what goes on in our mind is given to us by sensations in our bodies. So if our nervous system perceives fear, it will go into fight-or-flight mode and start our heart racing. This will turn on the amygdala, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into our system to get us ready to fight or run away.

This, in turn, shuts down our prefrontal cortex, the area used for rational thinking, because we don’t have time to think rationally when we need to fight or flee. We need that energy in our legs or arms to give us the power to leg it or fight. To keep us safe.

But you see, this is how we get stuck in an anxiety-panic feedback loop: a miscommunication between the signals from the body and brain. Our body (80% of the messages!) tells the brain, "Danger!" and the brain sends signals back to the body that it’s in danger.

Here’s the REALLY good news: Nervous system regulation is the switch.

I say the switch, but you don’t just flick a switch and turn it off. It’s a slower, more gentle, sustainable process. We have to be gentle with our nervous systems.

So, I told you that 80% comes from our body to our brain, and only 20% from our brain to our body. This is why telling yourself to calm down or trying to “mindset” your way out of a panic attack never works.

We need to show our nervous system it’s safe, and we do that by using our senses. Our bodies. We have to do this in small, incremental steps, to show it very gently that we really are safe.

Before I get too deep into this and take you and me down a massive rabbit hole of too much information… I’ll leave you with that today.

As usual, this is threatening to become a novel!

Before I go, I’ll leave you with a couple of practices you can apply if you are struggling with anxiety.

I do encourage you, if you haven’t already joined in with the free 5-day challenge, to join the masterclass which I will be delivering to bring it all together in one really simple, valuable, FREE 30-minute session—Monday, 20th Jan, 7pm GMT (via Zoom—wear your PJs and turn your camera off if you wish!).

I’d love you to take the opportunity to join me there.

And here are some really useful things you can do if you are currently experiencing anxiety or panic. They will really help you right in the moment.

1. Acknowledge the Experience

• Say to yourself, “This is my body protecting me. I don’t need to fight this.”
• By naming the experience without judgment, you reduce its intensity and create space for it to pass.

2. Orient Yourself to Safety

• Look around the room and name what you see, slowly and intentionally.
• This tells your nervous system, “We’re here, now, and safe,” rather than being stuck in the imagined or past threat.

3. Ground Yourself Through Sensation

• Feel your feet pressing into the floor or place your hands on a solid surface.
• Use firm touch, like holding your own hand or placing one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
• This provides a somatic (in the body) anchor, helping your body recognise the present moment.

4. Soften the Breath

• Avoid forcing deep breaths, as this can sometimes amplify the panic. Instead, lengthen the exhale slightly to signal safety. For example:
  • Inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6 or 8 counts.
  • Hum or sigh softly during the exhale to stimulate the vagus nerve.

Hope these bring you some calm… As ever it’s been gorgeous being here in your inbox, as ever.

Have a great week, and hopefully see you Monday at 7pm!