Reclaim Your Life With A Short Trip Through 🌌Space
Nothing adds more space to your body and your life than oxygen.
Storytime
One of the scariest moments and memories of my life was at a gathering of people where everyone around me was happy and smiling. No one knew I was terrified and having a panic attack.
It was at The Taste of Minnesota at the state capital grounds on the 4th of July in the early 1990s. Everyone was smiling and happy, getting ready for the fireworks. I couldn’t breathe.
I was with three friends. We had staked out our picnic blanket on the lawn, left one of our friends on the lawn while we went to get some mini-donuts. About thirty minutes before the fireworks were set to start, it was like the crowd instantly grew ten times its size and morphed into a scene from the 1958 horror movie The Blob.
My two friends and I were holding hands, and there were no less than 20 people between us! My face was in a tall man’s beer belly. A woman’s armpit was on my shoulder. Someone’s toe was under my heel pinning my flip-flop to the ground.
Everyone around me was laughing and smiling.
I was crying.
There were so many people between me and my friends, they couldn’t hear or see me.
No one noticed my panic attack.
All I wanted was my own SPACE.
I wanted Andre the Giant from The Princess Bride to shout and clear a pathway for me.
Too much PEOPLING! - my introvert self cried.
Too much NOISE - my hyperacusis ears screamed.
Too much ENERGY - my highly sensitive self sobbed.
Too many EMOTIONS - my empathic self wailed.
Ironically, as soon as I got home, I curled into the tiniest crawl space in my closet under a pile of blankets and pillows. It took me three days to recover.
Lesson
My crowd-induced panic attack is the perfect metaphor for what happens inside the human body when we have a panic attack. Everything in the body tightens up. The blood vessels contract. The air-way constricts. The entire body tightens. Everything gets SMALLER and TIGHTER and takes up more SPACE.
The exact opposite of open wide space.
Sadly, this circumstance of tightness is often self-induced. (I did put myself in a crowded place on the most popular day of the week-long event.) In my more stressful times of life, I am guilty of creating circumstances that make my life and body more tight and have less space.
I overbook my time, leaving no space in my calendar for “free time”.
I overstuff my closets and drawers and home with “stuffs”.
I over-do things which causes me to tighten my muscles without relaxing them.
I over-work myself to the point where I can’t relax.
No wonder I wish Andre the Giant would come to my rescue.
Let me tell you a secret.
You can call Andre the Giant to your rescue ANYTIME you want!
Andre the Giant and his Space-Creating Voice lives inside me, and you, and everyone. In the form of BREATH.
Well duh.
We all know that the best was to treat a panic attack is through slow deep-breathing.
This is because OXYGEN is the atom that is the BIGGEST. It takes up the most space. When you take a deep breath, it is the elemental equivalent of Andre the Giant screaming to your nervous system MOVE! Namely, to move all the crap that doesn’t belong there OUT so that you can have some much needed SPACE.
Resource
This article by
is an excellent science-y description of a breathing technique that works to promote space in the body.Take-Away
I don’t care what image you use, whether it’s Andre the Giant as Princess Buttercup’s Protector, or Andre the Giant as an astronaut floating through Space, or if it’s not even Andre the Giant at all and you prefer the image of an oxygen atom racing through your veins. Use whatever image or non-image works for you.
I only wish I’d known these breathing techniques on that horrible day at the MN State Capital Grounds. It would’ve saved me from a massive panic attack, and helped me recover much faster.
What I hope you take-away from this little story is that when you need SPACE in your life, your body, your world, your self… JUST BREATHE!
If you want to learn the absolute best way to get the most Andre the Giant type oxygen into your system, become a paid subscriber and take my BREATHE Mini-Course. It’s only $5.55/month or $55.55/year, and you get tons of other mini-courses too.
This Month on The Mindfulness Coach
My free subscribers will get a series of four articles about why deeper natural breathing is so important, what it does for you, and how it works in your body.
August 6 - Breathing Your Way To Better Health Really 🫁 Sucks
Learn how oxygen vacuums up all the junk in your trunks.
August 13 - Tired? Free Air Works Better Than A $5.00 ☕Coffee
If you’ve never scored 90% on anything, here’s your chance at a do-over.
August 20 - Reclaim Your Life With A Short Trip Through 🪐 Space
Nothing adds more space to your body and your life than oxygen.
August 27 - Go “Steady” with Your Breath
It’s a relationship you want to stay in.
Re-Learn How To Breathe Like a Baby - And Make EVERYTHING Better.
(for paid subscribers)
This month I’ll be offering step-by-step 🎥 video instructions on how to train your body to breathe better. If you practice these simple exercises throughout the month, by the end of the month, you will have trained your body to breathe better as your natural every day breath. The benefits are limitless.
Step #1 - Your Diaphragm is Your Parachute to a Better Place
Step #4 - Even-Steven your way to Steady-Ready-ness with your Breath
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Oh my yes! I’ve had the same thing happen, but mine was at a football game in a college stadium. All these people were milling around pre game, pushing and shoving their way to food and drink vendors, and my husband at the time (who is 6’3”) took no notice where I was (about 20 feet behind him, stuck in the maelstrom. Husband past tense) Like you, I learned much later about belly breathing.
I think it should be mandatory to teach elementary kiddos meditation and belly breathing!
And PS. I love Andre the Giant, especially his rhyming. 🤗
"What I hope you take-away from this little story is that when you need SPACE in your life, your body, your world, your self… JUST BREATHE!"--mission accomplished, dear Teri Leigh, as this is exactly what I am taking away from your brilliant piece today! So simple, so profound, and so easy to forget. A deep bow and a lotus for you 🪷🙏