A short YouTube talk by Dr. Nicole Cain offering drug-free strategies to manage imminent panic attacks so the listener can continue performing well. The speaker gives a rapid four-step toolkit—speak to the anxiety, change the scene, left‑nostril (four-count) breathing, and sensory/body interventions (the '4S' model)—and closes with a call-to-action for a free one-week 'Anxiety Freedom' challenge and workbook.
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Here's exactly what to do when you sense a panic attack waiting in the wings and you need to perform well and shine on the stage of your life. You've got something that matters to you going down and your body, in a paradoxical attempt to protect you, hits the panic button in a big way and your flavor of symptoms comes rushing on. What is it for you babes? What happens in your body? For me, my stomach is an insta knot, my body flushes like I'm standing on the edge of a volcano and I feel as panicked as if things are about to erupt and kill me. So how can we calm our well meaning but extremely debilitating panic symptoms and let our body and mind know that we're okay? How do we get back to life and let the panning panic attack know that we've got this? I'm Dr. Nicole Cain and I have a mission to provide drug free alternatives to anxiety, especially the overwhelming experience of panic attacks. I've come up with lots of powerful and effective solutions that have shifted my clients from feeling at the mercy of panic attacks to being in total control. Here's one of the most effective strategies that works really well and quickly when you need to get back to shining like you naturally do. Step one, we have to directly respond to the anxiety. Avoiding it and suppressing it will cause a buildup of anxiety that will make you feel worse. You need to speak directly to the anxious mind. You can say things like, my body's a little revved right now. This is no big deal. I am okay. The human body was designed to experience anxiety. I don't need to worry about the feelings of anxiety. Anxiety and panic cannot hurt me. They are characters in my life story that mean well but are overbearing in their need to protect me. My brain has been wired to produce anxiety and I am working on changing that. This feeling will pass. My body hit the gas pedal a little bit too strongly just now. I need to wait for the pedal to come back up. I am not my anxious thoughts. Anxious thoughts are just an anxious brain's attempt to create rigidity from feeling chaos anxiety. I got your message. Thank you. You delivered your lines well. Now head backstage. I got this. Save your energy for the drama scenes when I'll need you at your high intensity performance. Step two, change up the scene. Change. If you're inside, go outside. If you're outside, go inside. If you're sitting still and move your body. If you're in a meeting, take a bathroom break. When the needle is starting to top into the panicky groove. We gotta get its attention by working with the body. The first step is to get away from the scene that's triggering you. Step three, your left nostril has the power to stop panic. Who knew, right? But if you're noticing anxiety kicking up, bringing breathing exclusively through the left nostril has shown to reduce a person's body's response of fight, flight and freeze. And then you can supercharge your nostril's anxiety crushing power by doing four count left nostril breathing. You would inhale through the left nostril for four counts, hold at the top and then exhale for four counts, hold at the bottom and then repeat that and draw a square. Step four is to work with your body. I talk a lot about the 4S model in quite a bit of detail in my ACT method for anxiety Freedom program and I want to share it with you today. Scene Wherever you are, change it up. This may mean getting up and going to the bathroom, walking outside, changing the paint on your walls, your bedspread, whatever it is, changing up the scene can help remove those triggers that are happening in the scene. Scents can bring back memories in a flash, distract the brain from a repetitive group, and in some of themselves, they are therapeutically beneficial. Sip the brainstem loves taste and textures. So we talked about chewing on ice or gum or licking a lollipop. Stimuli stimulate your body in a way that is louder than the anxiety itself is. This may involve something as if basic, like the feeling your feet in your shoes or something more extreme like sticking your face in a bowl of ice water. That's the four step quick fix for when anxiety tries to steal the show. You send that stagehog back into the green room to sip on a juice box and settle the heck down. You get to shine on the stage of your life. This is your show, babe. Go and shine. And know that when you're ready to have a fully functional toolkit for anxiety and kicking that to the curb with the panic attacks, I'm your gal. And if you're ready to take my flavor of alleviating anxiety for a test drive, I've got a gift for you. It's called the Anxiety Freedom one week challenge. And I hereby challenge you to come and play with me for a week and get a jump on anxiety and panic attacks for good. You deserve to put those well meaning players back in their place and be the star of who you are. You can grab that free one week challenge here on this page. And don't think I'll let you take that wild ride alone. No way, babe. I'll be there with you every day with tips and tricks to rock this challenge like only you can. Together, we've got this. Grab the free workbook and let's get started. You can grab the free workbook and start the challenge by going to my website where you can download it for free. You'll find the link in the description below. And don't think that I'll let you take that wild ride alone. No way, babe. I'll be there with you every day with tips and tricks to rock this challenge.
