Breathless? Why you need to focus on your vision

Do you ever experience shortness of breath?  A tight chest?  Rapid heart beat? A fear that your body is failing you? Do you become hyper focused and worried about your ability to breathe?  Many clients I see would describe these sorts of symptoms to illustrate how their anxiety manifests in their lives.

Up until now I have looked at supporting these people to regain control over their anxiety by using their breath.  Techniques such as box breathing, grounding and deep breathing can help to slow down the heart rate and allow the parasympathetic nervous system to kick in, this helps return the body to a rest state after a period of stress.  I have tried to reassure those that worry they will stop breathing that breathing is an automatic physiological function  - we automatically breathe from the moment we are born until the moment we dies, without having to think about it.  But at any moment we can become conscious of our breathing, grab hold of it and change it.

Unfortunately, despite knowing and practising these breathing techniques some clients do not always find them helpful in moments of panic.   Whilst listening to one of Dr Chatterjee’s “Feel Better, Live More” podcasts with Dr Andrew Hubermann, an American neuroscientist talks about how breathing influences mental state, fear, memory and reaction time.

The visual system is similar to the breathing system, we are seeing things all the time but we can decide what to focus on it. Throughout the day our attentional system is shifting all the time and we are meant to be shifting our focus.  Often whenever we have a spare minute we default to looking at our phones, scrolling through our messages or socials. This can mess up our attention span and ability to focus. We were not designed to be looking into a little device as much as we do. Choosing how we use our focus throughout the day will have a knock on effect on the whole system.

Evidence shows that panoramic vision helps change how we feel. Without moving your head or eyes, try and see more of what is in front of you. Dilate your gaze so that you are seeing more of the space around you – the ceiling, your own body.  When you use panoramic vision you release a connection between the brain and the brain stem that is involved in alertness. It’s not that you become less alert but you become more relaxed, a bit like easing your foot off the accelerator.

Expanding your visual field will relax you – you can use this at any time, anywhere.   Panoramic vision will relax your brain and body in a gradual way. Panoramic vision means you become more alert, aware and responsive. So, next time you are feeling wound up or anxious, rather than deep breathing why not try and exercise your panoramic vision to help change your state of mind. How you view the world literally makes a difference to how you feel in the world.

Try it and I would love to know how you get on.