I love patient encounters when I can make an immediate difference to someone. I had such an encounter with a 52 year old patient. She called up the office in a panic that her heart rhythm was “off” and her heart was racing. She did not want to goto the emergency room and wanted to see me in the office instead. I told the office staff to get her an appointment to be squeezed in to the schedule for that same morning.
She arrived. She described her symptoms and the timing was very acute to her having a stressful anxiety stricken family issue that set off her rhythm. She was definitely in Atrial fibrillation, an ekg revealed and I could tell by auscultation that her heart rates were very fast, 130 bpm while just sitting in the chair.
Her breathing was rapid, her pressured speech even more so. The longer the encounter the worse she got. Chest pain, palpitations, and shortness of breath, being compounded by her retelling the stories of her family situations. She and the whole situation was spiraling out of control. Her husband was next to her and seemed to unknowingly add to the runaway train of her heart as he kept saying “ see I told you to calm down otherwise you will hurt your heart” or “ I told you just let all that stuff with the family go”.
Witnessing all this, I had to step in.
“ STOP “ I firmly said to her, as I held her hands in mine. “ JUST STOP”
“ You are going to listen to my voice with your eyes closed and nothing else, and breathe ONLY to my count. I do NOT want you to think about anything except listen to me” I was sternly gentle.
She nodded and closed her eyes.
“ Inhale 1….2….3…4”
She followed.
“ Exhale 1…2…3….4…5….6”
She followed
We repeated this 5 times.
“ Imagine the flame of candle in your mind’s eye and you are trying to blow out the flame slowly”
Unbeknownst to her I was also keeping track of her pulse with one finger on her radial artery in her left wrist. It had started to come down, to 115bpm.
“ Inhale 1…2…3..4”
“ Hold 1….2…3..4”
“ Exhale slowly. 1….2…3…4”
“ Hold 1….2….3…4…”
She completed this new cycle with me 5 times.
Her heart rate had settled. 88 bpm. The runaway train was now in my control, or rather in her control if she realized it.
“ Just feel into this moment. How does your heart feel? “ I asked.
“ Slower”
“ How does your body feel?”
“ Less tense”
“ How does your mind feel?”
“ Calmer” she replied.
Perfect I thought just where I wanted to her to be. I could have given her medications, but this tool worked beautifully.
“ Now ANYTIME you feel anxiety creeping up when you have those same thoughts, do what I taught you. Equal amount of inhale, hold, exhale and hold. Equalize your breathing. When your mind is erratic, your breath and the heart becomes the same, but when you control the breath you can go across the two way street and control the mind.”
She gave out a yawn and a sign of relief. Tell tale signs of emotional release. I gave her medications to protect her heart from stroke with instructions to see me in a week and to call if things were out of control and she needed my help.”
“ Thank you. I knew I had to see you today, I trust you with my heart.” She said.
I led her and her husband to the checkout station.
It was not magic. It was regulation of the nervous system. Our emotions control our nervous systems. Our beliefs, our programmings, our fears, our everything is held accountable in our electrical wiring. We hard hardwired to go back to the familiar even if it means being scared, because a remembered state of fear is better than an unremembered one. One is more comfortable than the other.
Breath work is key to help being us back to center. The hard work comes after of going after the core issues that drive us off the road of our lives towards states of anxiety, depression, and fear. When our nervous system cannot trust, it seizes into freeze mode.
A calm breathing pattern practiced daily gets us to the state of balance and an open heart, in turn a beginning on the path of unconditional love.
………………
I love you
