How Not to Panic in Any Situation, According to First Responders

You already know that life doesn’t always go as expected. Whether you get stuck in traffic before a date, roll an ankle during a backcountry hike, or witness a car accident, things can get unpredictable pretty quickly. Knowing that is one thing. Understanding how to calm down when things are spiraling beyond your control, whether your circumstances are a minor inconvenience or a life-changing trauma, is an entirely different thing.

If there’s anyone who knows this, it’s first responders. And according to them, the one thing you can do to manage your panic in uncertain or potentially life-threatening situations is to pay as much attention to your breath in a crisis as you do on your yoga mat.

How Your Breath Responds to an Emergency

For the most part, breathing is an autonomic act, one that the body performs unconsciously. Although you can intentionally regulate it, that’s typically unnecessary. But when emotions are heightened, the elevated levels of stress hormones flooding the body trigger a nervous system response which includes an increase in your breathing rate.

Think back to a time when you were startled or started to panic. Maybe you found yourself taking quick, shallow breaths to the point where you were gasping for air or it seemed that you forgot how to breathe. “I’ve certainly seen this as a common occurrence among the victims we’re rescuing,” says Andy Bozzo, Battalion Chief of Contra Costa County Fire Protection District in California and co-founder of Tablet Command. “They weren’t expecting to be in a life-threatening situation, so it’s an expected component of the rescue.”

The first thing Bozzo and many first responders focus on is helping people who are showing signs of panic regulate the breath. This is essential in managing high-stress levels, explains Bozzo. When you slow your inhalations and exhalations, a chain of reactions is set in place that can quiet the nervous system response. “Breathing can alleviate that fight or flight feeling, leading to ‘focused calm,’” explains Bozzo. That, in turn, helps you cultivate the calm you need to remain present and aware of your external circumstances, whether you’re sharing a presentation in a work meeting or responding to a grease fire in your kitchen, rather than allowing panic to take over.

“It’s important to get them to calm down and breathe, which is always something you want to encourage. When someone falls in the river whitewater rafting, sometimes they forget,” says Denny Gignoux, vice president of  Glacier Guides and Montana Raft. “I have been to accidents where people hyperventilate or get worked up. I tell them to take a few breaths to get the oxygen flowing and calm them down. Even 15 seconds of deep breathing can help.”

There’s a reason these first responders focus on slowing the breath. It works.

How to Calm Down in an Emergency, According to First Responders

You can apply the same tactics that first responders rely on to help yourself remain calm in any situation, whether you’re anxious, injured, surprised, confused, scared, uncertain what to do next, or otherwise barely able to hold yourself together. Following are some of the common approaches they take. Essentially, each of these relate to bringing your awareness back to your breath, over and over again, as many times as needed.

1. Keep It Simple

Rather than try to explain complicated breathing tactics when they arrive on the scene, first responders keep it simple. “Things are usually moving so fast, it’s not the best time for a box-breathing tutorial or the introduction of other calming techniques,” explains Bozzo.

The primary focus is simple slowing the breath. “Can you take a big breath and hold it a couple of counts?” That’s what Gignoux asks victims in emergency situations. He also reminds them to release it.

That pause can be enough to modulate your breathing rate—and, by extension, your emotional response—when both are running wild.  Simply slowing your inhalations and exhalations or practicing breath retention by pausing after a breath in or out can help manage the panic response. Basically, you’re extending the same attention to the breath that you focus on during your yoga practice. It’s something you can remind yourself to do, even if no one else is there prompting you.

2. Remain Present

Remaining focused on the present moment, a hallmark of yoga and meditation practices, enables you to assess what’s happening and determine what your next step should be.

“Sometimes people can get in their own heads. They might pass out, speak of impending doom, or become combative without cause,”explains Anthony Perrone, FDNY Firefighter and Owner/Operator of Down Range Ops, LLC. Perrone explains that first responders use breathwork to keep themselves calm so they can remain present and focused on carefully assessing and monitoring others for indicators of shock.

Bringing your attention to the breath can help you maintain your presence. Once the breath is slowed, that sets the stage for a clearer state of mind and an ability to pay attention to the circumstances of your current reality and what needs to happen next.

3. Focus on What You Can Control

Rather than fixating on what just happened, which can’t be undone, turn your attention to what you can control in your present situation and not the what ifs racing through your mind.

“We focus on our controllables—one of the biggest ones being mindset accompanied with proper breathing to support it,” says Bozzo.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice

If you’re experiencing a heightened emotional response in any situation, it can be helpful if it’s not your first time attempting to slow your breath. One of they ways first responders handle their own panic during intense situations is by practicing breathing techniques under duress.

“During training, we try to induce situations where panic can occur, whether it’s stuffing ourselves into confined spaces, working in zero-visibility environments, or training in high heat with live fire,” says Bozzo. “These are the situations where we can put a variety of breathing techniques to the test, which require serious sets and reps.” What results, explains Bozzo, is an ability to reflexively remember the need to slow the breath.

You can do the same, albeit in slightly less-intense situations, by practicing a calming breathing technique or simply lengthening your exhalation when you’re experiencing a seemingly impossible work deadline, frustrating traffic situation, difficult conversation, or challenging yoga pose.

It’s not the same as being in an actual emergency. But it helps you become so familiar with the mechanics of regulating your breath that it feels instinctual—or at least something you can revert to without much thought—when you’re in the grips of a stress-related cortisol spike. To be clear, you don’t need to bust out a technical breathing exercise in a crisis. You can simply focus your entire being on lengthening your exhalation.

Box Breathing

1. Inhale fully, deeply, and slowly, filling the lungs without straining, to a count of 4.
2. Hold/retain the breath for a count of 4.
3. Slowly exhale, allowing the chest to relax for a count of 4.
4. Hold the breath after the exhalation to a count of 4.
5. Repeat the cycle.

Alternate Nostril Breathing

1. Close the right nostril with the right thumb.
2. Inhale deeply through the left nostril.
3. Close the left nostril with the index/pointer and middle fingers; release the right thumb and exhale through the right nostril.
4. Inhale through the right nostril while the left nostril is still held shut by the index and middle fingers.
5. Close the right nostril with your thumb; release the other two fingers and exhale through the left nostril.
6. Repeat as desired or needed.

Kapalabhati Breathing

1. Place your hands on your belly and take a full, deep inhalation, followed by an equally long, deep exhalation.
2. Then, take a deep breath halfway in, followed by short, sharp bursts of exhalation for as long as you can.
3. Complete as many cycles as desired. Can also be performed vice versa with a scooping in action of the transverse abdominals as you inhale, and a release and push out of the abdomen on the exhalation.

Diaphragmatic or Belly Breathing

1. Place one hand on the chest and the other on the abdomen, just below the ribs.
2. Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose, letting the stomach expand.
3. Exhale slowly, allowing the stomach to contract.
4. Repeat.

Lung Stretching

Lung stretching should only be performed — with caution — when the body is warm in order to avoid overstretching muscles. Be super gentle and work with your abilities.

1. Start sitting or kneeling. Place your right hand on the floor alongside you.
2. Take a light breath into lungs and retain it.
3. While holding your breath, extend your left arm up into the air and slowly move over the top of your head to the right side while keeping the right arm on the ground next to your body. You will likely feel a full feeling within the chest/lungs.
4. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds. When you reach the desired timeframe, slowly exhale, moving back to the starting position.
5. Repeat the cycle on the other side.