Self and Self-Realisation: The Journey to Wholeness

Self, from a psychosynthesis perspective, is our true identity, untouched by the layers of masks and conditioning we wear. It is the essence of who we are—a stable, unwavering core that embodies authenticity and wholeness.

In Eastern traditions, Self is often described in terms that reflect its subtle, profound nature: the void, the point of nothingness, the Tao, essential energy, or the jewel within the lotus. Over centuries, this essence of pure being has taken on many names—Spirit, Soul, Atman, Tao, and even the notion of No-Self. Each term points towards the deep, timeless presence that exists beyond our ordinary understanding, a universal essence that transcends individual identity

We might imagine Self as the sun at the centre of our inner world, a source from which all our qualities and energies radiate. Just as the sun’s light reaches across the vastness of the solar system, so the light of Self illuminates and energises every part of our being.

This journey of unfolding, of becoming more fully ourselves, is what we call Self-realisation. Our potential begins its unfolding at birth and moves through the vibrant growth of childhood, the challenges of adolescence and adulthood, and continues into old age until death. It is a continuous journey; we do not become fully “Self-realised,” but rather, we are always in the process of “Self-realising.” Our potential knows no bounds, and our growth has no final endpoint.

When we connect with Self, we experience peace, stillness, unity, and serenity—qualities that anchor and guide us on this lifelong journey of becoming more fully ourselves.

Authentic Personality: Embracing Our True Self

Our authentic personality blossoms within the nourishing environment of relationships that encourage and respect our individuality. When surrounded by people who genuinely support us, we find the freedom to express our unique qualities, talents, and dreams. This supportive presence gives us the space to reveal who we are, allowing the true essence of our being to take shape. In such relationships, we feel accepted, not for who we should be, but for who we truly are, and this acceptance is a vital catalyst for personal growth.

From our earliest days, we are connected to a network of relationships that profoundly shape our development. Childhood connections begin with the closeness of family, where parents and caregivers provide our first experience of connection and belonging. As we grow, this web of relationships expands to include teachers, classmates, and friends, each bringing unique perspectives and influences that impact our sense of self.

In adolescence and adulthood, our relationships diversify even further, encompassing colleagues, partners, and the larger social fabric. Each stage offers fresh opportunities for self-discovery and growth, and each new relationship provides a chance to reflect on who we are and how we want to relate to the world.

When others see us for who we genuinely are—acknowledging both our strengths and vulnerabilities—our inner self can unfold naturally, free from the constraints of rigid expectations. Our authentic personality thrives in this atmosphere, where our potential is encouraged and genuinely supported. Through this acceptance, our actions, choices, and even our way of being become a dynamic expression of our inner nature.

In this ongoing journey, we don’t merely adapt to the expectations of others; rather, we engage in a creative dialogue with them. We bring forth the qualities, values, and dreams that are uniquely ours, living from a place of authenticity. Our Self, deeply connected to our core, moves toward realisation—not as a destination but as a continual unfolding, a lifelong process where we grow closer to the heart of who we are.

Authenticity is the key to living a fulfilled and meaningful life.

Roberto Assagioli

What is the Survival Personality and How It Shapes Our Lives?

For most of us, the survival personality is our starting point, a response to the implicit and explicit demands of our family, culture, and society. While our authentic self is rooted in natural, spontaneous expression, the survival personality is moulded to meet external demands.

In truth, our growth is rarely smooth or predictable; it's woven into the fabric of being human. The notion of a perfect society or flawless parents is, at best, a myth.

As young children, we arrive helpless and deeply dependent, relying on our parents and family for survival—not only physically but emotionally. At that vulnerable age, the absence of love or care from our caregivers feels like an existential threat, something akin to death itself.

From this place of need, we develop an instinctive drive to secure love and approval. We sense the cost of upsetting those we depend on and learn early to adjust ourselves accordingly. We shape ourselves to meet the expectations of those around us, often concealing aspects that feel unacceptable or unlovable.

In time, we learn to reveal only what’s safe, only what secures belonging and love. But this selective expression comes at a cost: rather than unfolding into our authentic self, we shape what could be called a survival personality. This is a version of ourselves sculpted to fit in, to avoid rejection, to adapt. What we repress or deny forms a shadow—a hidden part of who we are.

Yet, it's crucial not to judge the survival personality as devoid of worth. It often displays exceptional qualities—skills and strengths that may even exceed the average, contributing richly to our lives.

But as we grow, the survival personality often tightens its hold. Gradually, we identify more with this adaptive self and drift from our authentic essence. We may come to believe that we are this constructed version, losing touch with the fullness of who we truly are. It becomes second nature, a habit we slip into without question.

This identification can persist for much of our lives, especially when it brings outward success. Eventually, the survival personality begins to limit us, like a bird trapped in a cage too small to spread its wings fully.

A rupture inevitably occurs when we overlook or deny parts of ourselves for too long. We may experience this as stress, anxiety, or a subtle but profound sense of unease. Life then nudges us—sometimes gently, sometimes with force—to reconnect with the whole of ourselves and rediscover the freedom of our authentic being.

The Power of Creative Visualisation

In creative visualisation, you use your imagination to create clear “images” of the desired result in your mind. It is a powerful technique that can help you create an attitude or behaviour that will lead you to achieve your goal.

Visualisation is more than imagining a static picture. It is about imagining yourself as a protagonist in a movie. In your visualisation, you do not watch yourself as if you are on a screen but are living what you want to achieve. It is also essential to get your senses and emotions actively involved.

World-class athletes use the power of visualisation to reinforce precisely how they want to perform. They develop mental images of the behaviour that will lead them to the results they want to achieve. They see in their mind’s eye the result they want and the actions leading to it.

Numerous studies done on visualisation confirm its positive effects not only on the performance of athletes but also on the performance of musicians, singers, actors, managers, and students in exams.

Creative visualisation can be easily learnt and used by anyone. You can try the following exercise:

• Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Become quiet and relaxed.

• Formulate a scenario of some event in your mind—it can be sitting an exam, having an interview, or anything else you want. See it as vividly as you can, but do not strain. And do not worry if the picture is not perfect. See in your mind all the relevant details—people around you, the place where you are, how you are dressed.

• Add colour, sound, and smells. Engage in your imagination with all of your senses.

• Put positive feelings and emotions into what you are doing. Imagine yourself doing it well, feeling confident and calm.

• Practice at least twice a day. The best time to do it is just before going to sleep at night and just upon awakening in the morning before you start your day.

Invest time each day in visualising what you want to achieve. Make the scene alive and honest in your imagination. Add all the action, energy, and emotion you can muster to the “movie” in your mind. The more it appears and feels real to you, the more likely you will achieve your goal in real life.

And do not forget to have fun with it.

Self-Discovery: The Journey Within

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.

––St. Augustine

Self-discovery is the process of uncovering who we truly are and learning how to embrace and live in alignment with that truth. It involves delving beneath the surface of our everyday selves to explore our deeper desires, values, motivations, and potential. This exploration often requires patience, courage, and a willingness to challenge our assumptions about ourselves and the world.

The ancient Greek philosophers understood the fundamental importance of this pursuit, famously encapsulated in the maxim "Know Thyself." It’s an age-old truth that resonates across time because much of our suffering and dissatisfaction arise when we live disconnected from our true nature. When we fail to live in harmony with who we really are—whether because of societal expectations, fear, or confusion—our lives become fragmented, leading to stress, anxiety, depression, and a sense of “something is missing.”.

Engaging in self-discovery helps us bridge that gap. It allows us to align our external lives—our careers, relationships, and actions—with our inner world. This alignment fosters a sense of wholeness, clarity, and empowerment, essential to living a purposeful and fulfilling life. Without this inner knowledge, we risk living someone else's version of success, perpetuating a cycle of discontent.

Good health, both mentally and physically, cannot be fully realised without self-awareness. Living authentically reduces the tension and stress that arise from living in conflict with ourselves. By understanding our needs, desires, and limits, we make choices supporting our well-being, leading to a healthier life.

Self-discovery is not a destination but a lifelong journey. As we grow and evolve, so too does our understanding of ourselves. The more we learn about who we are, the more equipped we become to navigate life with wisdom and grace. It's a journey worth embarking on, as it ultimately leads to a deeper sense of peace, fulfilment, and inner freedom.

Awareness: The First Step to Transformation

Awareness is the most basic and foundational experience of consciousness. It is the essential quality that allows us to engage with both the external world and our internal landscapes. To be aware is to have full, direct consciousness of something—whether it is a person, an object, a thought, or a feeling.

Awareness is a dynamic form of experiencing. It is the continuous process of being in touch with the world around us through our senses—vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But it also extends inward, enabling us to be attuned to our inner world: bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts, desires, needs, attitudes, and actions. Through awareness, we recognise how we move through life and how life moves through us.

Being aware means paying attention, but in a particular way. It is attention free from judgement, effort, or the impulse to control or change anything. Instead of trying to alter what we experience, we allow ourselves to witness it as it is. In this way, awareness invites acceptance and presence.

To be aware is to feel truly alive. It sharpens our sense of aliveness, grounding us in the present moment. In those moments of pure awareness, we are connected both to the richness of our surroundings and to the depths of our own inner life.

Awareness is the first step in any meaningful transformation. When we bring awareness to our thoughts, behaviours, and reactions, we begin to see patterns and responses that were previously unconscious. Without the need to force change, simply observing these patterns with awareness allows a natural, gentle transformation to begin. Over time, this mindful observation shifts how we engage with ourselves and the world, leading to personal growth, healing, and deeper understanding.

Breaking the Cycle of Automatic Thoughts

Automatic thoughts, also known as inner talk, are our ongoing internal commentary on the world and our place within it. This inner dialogue is perfectly natural; it’s part of how we interpret life and our experiences. From moment to moment, we assess events, measure how we're doing, and decide if what’s happening feels good or bad, safe or threatening.

One defining quality of these automatic thoughts is their subtlety. They occur so frequently and so quietly that we become almost numb to them. They hum along in the background of our minds, often unnoticed and unexamined.

Another characteristic of these thoughts is their spontaneity and speed. Automatic thoughts pop up immediately, without analysis, reacting to whatever’s in front of us. They’re brief, often just a few words or an image, capturing a whole collection of past memories or impressions.

Some automatic thoughts are accurate, helping us gauge situations and avoid danger. Others, however, are misguided, alerting us to threats that don’t exist—these are what we call negative automatic thoughts.

Negative automatic thoughts can profoundly impact how we behave and make decisions. They share several common traits:

1. Unconscious: These thoughts arise without our conscious awareness.

2. Distorted: They don’t align with reality. If we stopped to examine them, we’d see their flaws, but instead, we often accept them as true without question.

3. Negative and Unhelpful: They tend to fixate on past regrets or future fears, forecasting the worst. They frequently lie at the heart of anxiety and depression.

4. Powerful and Automatic: Running in the background, these thoughts trigger one another—a single anxious thought can snowball, fueling more anxiety and drowning out rational thinking.

5. Persistent: Negative automatic thoughts are often deeply ingrained in our minds.

Breaking Free from the Cycle

The good news is that this cycle of automatic thoughts can be broken. We can transform our inner dialogue by becoming aware of it and choosing to replace negative thoughts with constructive ones. This process, called de-conditioning, allows us to regain control over our inner narrative—and ultimately, our lives.

The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision: A Comprehensive View of Supervisory Practice

The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision is a process-orientated approach that integrates both the relational and systemic aspects of supervision. It focusses on the relationships between the client, therapist, and supervisor while also considering the interplay between these relationships and their context within the wider system.

The model is called “seven-eyed” because it addresses seven distinct aspects of the supervision process, as explained below.

My supervision approach integrates the Seven-Eyed Model by Peter Hawkins and Robin Shohet with the Psychosynthesis model, incorporating a transpersonal perspective.

Image: D. Djukic

Here is a description of the seven different eyes:

1. Focus on the Client and what and how they present

This mode focuses on what actually happened in the sessions with the client:

• How the client came to be having sessions; their physical appearance; how they move and hold themselves; how they breathe, speak, look, gesture, their language, metaphors, images and the story of their life as they told it

• What they chose to share, which area of their life they wanted to explore, and how the session’s content might relate to previous sessions

• The choices the client is making

• The connections between the various aspects of the client’s life

2. Focusing on Interventions

The focus here is on: 

• Strategies, skills and techniques used by the therapist; when and why they were used

• Developing alternative strategies and interventions

3. Focusing on the Client-Therapist Relationship

The aim of this mode is to help the therapist gain greater insight and understanding of the dynamics of their relationships with their clients. This includes:

• Addressing contract and boundaries; therapeutic alliance and how it develops

• How the session started and finished, what happened around the edges of the sessions, metaphors and images that emerged

• Paying attention to the client’s transference

4. Focusing on Therapist’s Process

The focus is on how the therapist is consciously and unconsciously affected by the work with their clients and how they deal with this. It includes focusing on the therapist’s emotional reactions and countertransference, their development, and how they resource themselves. 

5. Focusing on Therapist-Supervisor Relationship

The aims of this mode are:  

• To ensure the quality of the working alliance between therapist and supervisor

• To explore how the therapist-supervisor relationship might be unconsciously playing out or paralleling the hidden dynamics of the work with the clients

6. The Supervisor focusing on their own process

Here, the supervisor pays attention to their immediate experiences in the supervision session – what feelings, thoughts, and images are emerging for them while listening to the therapist and in response to the material shared by the therapist. The supervisor uses these responses as another source of information about what might be happening in the client-therapist relationship.

7. Focusing on the Wider Context in which the work happens

This model takes into consideration:

• The context of the client—client’s family, social, cultural and economic context

• The context of the therapist’s profession—employing organisation or training agency

• The wider world of the therapist and supervisor

• Professional codes and ethics (e.g. BACP, UKCP)

All of the above is addressed within the Transpersonal context

The tanspersonal perspective includes:

• Looking for creative possibilities and seeing “crises as the opportunities for growth”

• Addressing meaning, values and common humanity 

• Holding the emerging higher purpose (I-Self connection)

While supervision ideally involves all seven modes, incorporating each one in every session is not essential.

Reference
Hawkins and Shohet (2006) Supervision in the helping professions. Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education

Six Types of Courage: Pathways to Face Life’s Challenges

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honour.

Aristotle

Courage is a quality everyone aspires to possess, yet it is often misunderstood as merely physical bravery. In truth, courage takes many forms, each of which we may need to call upon as we navigate the complexities of life. There are six distinct types of courage, each vital for facing different kinds of challenges:

1, Physical Courage – Acting Despite Fear

Physical courage is the most recognised form of bravery. It involves taking action despite the risk of bodily harm or even death. This type of courage is not just about fearlessly charging into danger but also about developing physical strength, resilience, and awareness. It’s the determination to endure, persist, and stand firm in the face of bodily threats or challenges.

2. Emotional Courage – Embracing Vulnerability

Emotional courage is the strength to follow your heart, to face and experience the full range of human emotions—whether they be joy, sadness, fear, or anger—without becoming consumed or attached to any of them. This type of courage allows us to be open to emotional experiences, even when uncomfortable or painful. It requires vulnerability, as it invites us to feel deeply and honestly, without avoidance or suppression, and to remain authentic despite emotional risk.

3. Intellectual Courage – Expanding your Mind

Intellectual courage is the willingness to challenge one's own thinking, step outside the comfort zone of familiar knowledge, and embrace new ideas. It is about learning, unlearning, and relearning in an ever-evolving world. Intellectual courage encourages curiosity and open-mindedness, enabling us to let go of long-held beliefs that no longer serve us and adapt to new perspectives with flexibility and grace.

4. Social Courage – Staying True to Yourself

Social courage is being yourself in the face of potential social repercussions. It involves risking embarrassment, rejection, or exclusion to maintain your authenticity. Social courage is essential for leadership, as it often requires standing apart from the crowd, expressing unpopular opinions, and making decisions that may not be socially approved. It’s about being honest, maintaining integrity, and not allowing the fear of others’ judgements to dictate your actions or words.

5. Moral Courage – Standing Up for What is Right

Moral courage is the resolve to stand up for what you believe is right, even when it is uncomfortable, unpopular, or comes with personal cost. This courage is closely tied to ethical behaviour and integrity, as it compels us to make decisions based on our principles and values. Moral courage often involves confronting injustice, speaking truth to power, and advocating for others, even in the face of personal risk.

6. Spiritual Courage - Finding Purpose and Meaning

Spiritual courage is the strength to face suffering, pain, or uncertainty with dignity and faith. It involves a heart-centered approach to life, enabling us to live with purpose, compassion, and a sense of connection to something greater than ourselves. Whether through religious faith or a deep personal philosophy, spiritual courage provides the resilience to endure life’s trials with grace, to live in alignment with our values, and to seek meaning even in the darkest times.

Courage is not a singular trait but a spectrum of qualities that allow us to navigate life’s uncertainties with strength and resilience. Whether we face physical threats, emotional vulnerability, intellectual challenges, social pressures, moral dilemmas, or spiritual trials, courage provides the foundation for meaningful and purposeful action in the world.

Adapted from ‘Six Types of Courage‘, by Dungate & Armstrong

The Science and Art of Affirmations

Affirmation is a positive statement used to reprogram your unconscious mind; a statement, when said to yourself over and over and with feeling, will intensify the internal forces and manifest change in your life.

Listed below are certain rules to be followed for optimum use of affirmations:

• Always use the PRESENT TENSE. Say, “I am healthy," “I am calm," “I am optimistic," or…

• Only POSITIVE affirmations work. The unconscious mind is incapable of dealing in negatives. So, if you say “I am not fat”, then when the affirmation reaches the unconscious mind, the term “not” is ignored, and it becomes “I am fat.”.

• REPETITION. To bring about significant changes in your life, affirmations have to be done several times a day till they become a reality.

The principle behind the working of affirmations is similar to that of drops of water falling on a rock. A few drops will not make any difference to the rock, but if the drops fall continuously, then, over a period of time, the rock will be worn out.
If you do affirmations for only a few days, the expected results may not come.

You become what you think about all day long.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Healing Depression through Self-Expression

There is an intriguing psychological connection between the processes of expression and depression, both of which relate to the concept of life force.

At the root of the word “express” is “press,” symbolising movement or the outward flow of energy. Expression, in this sense, represents the healthy externalisation of life force—moving thoughts, feelings, and creativity into the world. Similarly, “press” is central to the word “depressed,” indicating that the life force is still active. However, in depression, this energy becomes directed inward, constricting and turning against the self rather than being expressed outwardly.

The distinction between the two lies in the direction of energy flow. While expression channels life force outward in a productive and often therapeutic way, depression internalises and suppresses it. Importantly, these two states cannot coexist; one cannot simultaneously express and depress life force.

From a therapeutic perspective, depression often serves as a critical signal that aspects of a person’s life may require attention or change. It can indicate unfulfilled needs or a lack of meaningful outlets for self-expression. In psychotherapy, addressing depression involves exploring underlying causes and identifying areas where clients can cultivate interests or find constructive ways to express their thoughts and emotions. This shift from inward repression to outward expression is an essential part of the healing process.

How Stress Can Trigger Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are very common. They are not a sign of some kind of mental or physical illness, but they are directly related to cumulative stress – a kind of stress which builds up unnoticed over months or years. This is why for most people the first panic attack comes as a complete surprise.

Very few people experience just one single panic attack. In most cases panic attacks tend to recur, seemingly without any reason. Repeated panic attacks lower your self-esteem, break your confidence and crush the faith you had in yourself. Your life begins to be dominated by the ever-present fear of experiencing another panic attack. All the things which you once believed in and hoped to achieve suddenly may become very distant and unreachable.

If you suffer from panic attacks my aim in therapy is first to teach you simple techniques which can help you to take control over panic attacks and so to lose fear of panic attacks.

Secondly, working together I can help you to identify and address the underlying stress which led to panic attacks. For some people stress can arise from the difficulties in relationships, or from work problems, or for many people stress arises when their deeper need for self-realization has for some reason been obstructed.

Worry: A Habit We Can Break

Worry is the misuse of imagination.
—Dan Zadra

Worry is a lasting preoccupation about something that has already happened in the past or that we fear will happen in the future. Worry never deals with the present.

Worry can be powerful and persistent. It can run our life.

Somehow, we tend to believe that worry is virtuous – that I am not a good parent unless I worry about my children and that I am being irresponsible if I am not worrying about my business.

Worry is a pattern of thoughts, a certain habit of thoughts. It is a type of thinking that makes us feel as if we were reliving a past event or living out a future one. We may feel that we cannot stop those thoughts from occurring. They are characterised by the phrases “If only…” and “What if…”

• “If only…” thoughts are always about an unhappy event that we wish had not happened.
  The event has left us with an unresolved emotional feeling and our mind continues to try to resolve it, trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Unfortunately, in many cases, because the event has already happened, nothing can be done. We cannot go back into the past and have the event turn out differently.

• “What if…” thoughts are about future events, about the possible bad things that could happen:

  • ‘What if I get ill?”

  • “What if I lose my job?”

  • “What if I make a mistake?”

Each of these thoughts is about a possible future event. Such thoughts can make us depressed or anxious, no matter how unlikely it is that such an event will happen.

Most of the things we worry about are things we have little or no control over. Agonising about what happened or might occur and about things we cannot control gives our power away.

Worrying is a habit, but like any habit, it can be broken.

The Shadow: Path to Wholeness

Shadow is our psychic twin that follows us like a mirror image.
––R. Johnson

If we identify fully with survival personality, we deny other parts of the personality. These denied parts form our shadow.

The shadow starts in childhood, as we are discouraged from expressing our true nature for fear of upsetting others. To gain love and avoid the disapproval of parents and others, we repress parts of ourselves completely out of our awareness. We do this because not being loved would have risked a loss of existence at that stage.

Often, the shadow is seen as our ‘darker’ nature, something entirely negative, composed of the unknown aspects of personality. In reality, the shadow refers to all the parts of ourselves that we do not express, both known and unknown. Sometimes, we know them, but we do not admit them to ourselves.

The shadow holds all these parts of ourselves that we have disowned for one reason or another. They may have positive or negative qualities. They may be parts that we do not like about us or that we think are bad. It holds all our unexpressed feelings—shame, fear, anger, and guilt—but also our unexpressed capacities, talents, and creative energies.

There are treasures in the shadow. For example, a person who grew up in a family where rational thinking prevailed and such things as art making were not given much value may discover some artistic talents hiding in his shadow.

The shadow can be viewed as an unlived life. It holds everything that has been repressed over years of our lives and embodies all of our life experiences that have not been allowed expression. The narrower and more restrictive the society we live in, the larger our shadow will be.

We all have shadow. To be human is to have a shadow. The shadow is unavoidable, and we are incomplete without it. No one can be complete without shadow.

If the shadow is not recognised, if we are not conscious of it, the shadow’s energy can be projected onto others. That we disown in ourselves will be projected outwards. Then, the faults, qualities, and abilities we see in others mirror our own.

Our first task of growing whole is to ‘own our own shadow’. To be whole, we need to include our shadow. Much of the self-discovery involves gradually uncovering our shadow and accepting more and more of our disowned parts. Accepting these parts of ourselves enables us to become more who we are, moving into our authentic personality from the survival personality we adopted for survival reasons in our early lives.

By uncovering the shadow, we will regain many lost gifts—a new source of spontaneity, wonder, and creativity—but also our vulnerability and all unexpressed feelings of anger, resentment, and fear. They are all part of our story, making our path and wholeness.

Hyperventilation Explained: Managing Anxiety through Breath

What has to be taught first is the breath. - Confucius

When we are anxious, fearful, or stressed, we tend to hyperventilate. Understanding hyperventilation is key to managing anxiety.

Hyperventilation, or over-breathing, simply means inhaling and exhaling more air than the body needs. As a result, the body takes in too much oxygen while expelling more carbon dioxide than it produces, causing blood levels of carbon dioxide to drop too low.

Low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood can trigger several unpleasant sensations, such as:

• Irregular heart rate: Low carbon dioxide levels cause blood vessels to constrict, reducing blood flow throughout the body, including to the heart and brain. This can cause the heart to pound, skip beats, or produce palpitations.

• Trembling, tingling, or numbness: Reduced blood flow means that body tissues receive less oxygen, leading to tingling sensations or numbness in the mouth, hands, and feet. This can also cause a general weakness, making your legs feel unable to support you.

• Light-headedness, dizziness, and blurred vision: These are common symptoms, as the constricted blood vessels significantly reduce the oxygen supply to the brain—sometimes by nearly half.

• Shortness of breath and feelings of suffocation: This is often the most frightening symptom. Low levels of carbon dioxide prevent the body from effectively using the oxygen it has, creating a sensation of breathlessness, even though the body contains excess air.

It’s important to understand that all sensations caused by hyperventilation are completely harmless. Hyperventilation is a condition, not an illness, and it can happen to anyone.

The good news is that hyperventilation can be controlled. Breathing is the only automatic bodily function that you can consciously regulate. While you cannot directly slow your heart rate or stop sweating, tingling chest pain, or other panic attack symptoms, you can control your breathing.

This ability gives you the power to change how you breathe when you are anxious, fearful, or under stress. By adjusting your breathing during a panic attack, you can reduce the severity of the sensations and lower your anxiety.

Thus, the first step in managing anxiety and stress is learning to control your breathing.