Panic can arrive like a storm, sudden, consuming, and disorienting. Your heart races. Your breath shortens. You might feel dizzy, numb, outside your body, or convinced something terrible is about to happen.

But here’s the truth:

You are not alone, and you are not broken.

Your body is trying to protect you.

What is a panic attack?

A panic attack is a surge of intense fear or anxiety that activates your body’s survival system.

It can feel like being caught in a tide with no warning, a rush of symptoms that might include:

• Racing heartbeat

• Tightness in the chest

• Breathlessness

• Shaking or sweating

• Nausea or dizziness

• Numbness or tingling

• Feelings of unreality or detachment

• Fear of dying, losing control, or “going crazy”

It is your nervous system in overdrive not because you are in danger, but because your body believes you are. This is a biological response, not a reflection of weakness or failure.

Why do panic attacks happen?

Sometimes panic is linked to trauma.

Sometimes to chronic stress, burnout, or overwhelm.

Sometimes it emerges seemingly from nowhere.

But often, panic is the body’s way of expressing something that hasn’t yet had space to be felt, an emotion unprocessed, a memory stored without words, a part of us asking to be witnessed and held with care.

What to do in the moment

When panic rises, there are small, sacred things you can do to remind your body that it is safe now:

1. Name it gently.

“I’m having a panic attack. My body is responding to something it perceives as unsafe. But I am here now.”

 

2. Find something solid.

Feel your feet on the ground.

Press your hands into your thighs or the earth.

Name five things you can see.

Touch something textured, a stone, fabric, bark, your sleeve.

 

3. Breathe into the belly.

Inhale for 4 counts.

Exhale for 6.

Do this slowly, kindly, until your breath feels less tight. Longer exhales help your nervous system soften.

4. Anchor with words.

Repeat a phrase to yourself like a mantra:

“This will pass.”

“I am safe now.”

“I can ride this wave.”

“I am not alone.”

5. Visualise a safe place.

This might be a forest, the ocean, or being held by someone you trust. Let yourself go there. Feel it in your body.

When the storm has passed

Take time to rest. Be gentle with yourself, as you would be with a child who had been afraid. Panic does not define you. It is a sign of a nervous system that is asking for safety, presence, and care.

Over time, therapy can help explore what’s beneath the panic, whether it’s past trauma, emotional overwhelm, or attachment wounds and gently restore a sense of inner steadiness.

I work with EMDR, somatic therapy, and attachment-based healing to support people in feeling safe again inside their own bodies and stories.

You are not alone in this.

There is nothing wrong with you.

There is a path back to peace, and we can walk it together.

 

Thank you for reading this post. 

With love, Sahar Zadah