Free Calming the Rush of Panic by Bob Stahl Page A

You will learn that you don’t have to be frightened and held hostage by your panic and fears and realize that you can live your life with greater ease and peace.
    Deepening the Investigation
    Mindful inquiry meditation is an investigation into what’s fueling your panic, fear, or anxiety. The more you understand what’s driving it, the more you can be free of it. When your awareness and understanding grows brighter, the darkness of panic and fear diminishes. So after acknowledging your panic and letting it be, you are welcome to proceed further into a deeper investigation into what’s driving the panic. This is called mindful inquiry.
    When you practice mindful inquiry, you may first want to try to calm your body and mind with some mindful breathing and then begin to acknowledge and let be whatever you’re feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally. In this meditation you are going to stay and investigate those feelings of panic by bringing attention to the fearful feelings themselves. This is done by bringing awareness to the feeling of panic in your body and mind and letting yourself experience and investigate it nonjudgmentally, just the way it is. Allow yourself to acknowledge what it feels like in your body, emotions, and feelings, and let these feelings be. There’s no need to analyze or figure them out; just ride and observe and experience the waves of emotions and feelings as they come and go. In time you may discover that within those feelings of panic lie important insights into what may be fueling them. You may also realize that within you are tremendous resources for resiliency and healing—that you can learn to overcome those powerful and captive feelings of panic and live with more freedom and ease in your life.
    Below is one poignant story of mindful inquiry. Although this story illustrates the recalling of childhood memories and trauma that fed into panic, we should mention that there are other kinds of insights and realizations you can gain from meditation, ones that may not have to do with repressed memories. Consider Marcos’s story in the last chapter, in which his panic attacks seemed to come for no apparent reason. There are many reasons why people experience panic: past experiences, physiological or biological imbalances, diet, medicines, or drugs. Sometimes panic is truly enigmatic. What is of the utmost importance is how you respond and deal with it. That makes all the difference in the world.
Joe’s Story
For many years, one of my clients, Joe, had experienced panic when going over bridges. In session, I (Bob) suggested that we explore these feelings, and he agreed. I told him that he could stop at any point if it felt too uncomfortable. Joe began with mindful breathing, and then I gradually encouraged him to reflect on what it felt like to get near a bridge and to report any physical sensations, thoughts, or emotions that came up. He soon said that he was feeling tightness in his belly and chest and was beginning to feel scared. I instructed Joe to acknowledge those feelings, and in time he began to settle down. I invited him to move further into those feelings of tightness and to notice and acknowledge what it felt like physically and emotionally and to not analyze them. He was quiet for some time, and then he blurted out, “I remember! I remember when this all happened. I saw my sister get pushed off a bridge when I was a little boy.” He went on to explain that it hadn’t been a very large bridge—actually a culvert near where he grew up in a farm area—and that his sister fortunately had not been injured. Yet this was such a frightening experience for him that he had repressed this memory and developed a panic and anxiety disorder about going over bridges. This awareness helped free Joe from the panic.
    In mindful inquiry you’re invited to bring nonjudgmental awareness into any panicky emotions or feelings, whether they are related to memories (as in Joe’s story) or not (as