Harnessing the Power of Military and Police Tactical Stress Control Strategies for Your Own Anxiety

When in high-pursuit of a dangerous criminal that may be carrying weapons and willing to do almost anything to evade capture, law enforcement and tactical teams such as SWAT can’t afford to let their stress response cloud their senses and functioning. The typical symptoms of stress we all occasionally feel to various degrees such as tunnel vision, shakiness or loss of fine motor skills, and the loss of ability to focus and process our surroundings quickly may be uncomfortable and frightening to the average civilian who may feel this way while driving, on an airplane, or standing in line at the grocery store, but are dramatically more costly in situations where they can be not only a deciding factor to the individuals safety and survival, but the safety of others, and even the suspect. In order to effectively and rapidly reduce physiological stress levels and maintain control even in the most extreme and anxiety provoking of circumstances, law enforcement and military training has adopted what is called “combat breathing”, an easy to remember and perform breathing technique for the reduction of both the physical and mental effects of anxiety that can be used with surprising effectiveness by anyone experiencing anxiety, stress, panic attacks or fear in everyday life.

As anyone who suffers with anxiety or panic attacks knows all too well, the burst of adrenaline into the body during high levels of stress can virtually instantly effect optimal functioning and be terribly frightening, the fear response itself sometimes being mistaken as a sign that the individual is about to lose control or “go crazy”. Once the reaction that unleashes the stress chemicals into the body has started, it is incredibly difficult to turn off, although there are specialized techniques and advanced skills that can be learned to both prevent and end anxiety such as those discussed in my programs. Combat breathing was developed to help police and military personnel in rapidly regaining control over their bodies reactions during intense and dangerous situations and is considered a high priority aspect of successful training.

Alexis Artwohl, PhD., one of America’s most renowned police psychologists, considers it such techniques so critical to officer training, he was quoted as saying, “Police officers should be taught controlled breathing from DAY ONE in training to the point where it becomes so automatic they do it without thinking.” Additionally, Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, a former special forces soldier who taught psychology at West Point and who created the widely used and praised training video “The Bullet-Proof Mind.” has taught the breathing exercise and its positive impact on performance during high-speed pursuits for years.

Sergeant Charles Humes explained the basics of combat breathing as follows, “The breathing is done in cycles. Breathe in through your nose for a count of four; hold your breath for a count of four; exhale through your mouth for a count of four; hold your breath for a count of four, and then restart the cycle. Breath deeply and methodically – completely filling and emptying your lungs during each cycle. This simple technique will lower your blood pressure and arousal/stress level, and minimize the overwhelming side effects of an adrenaline dump.”

When you’re feeling anxiety, fear, or a panic attack while driving to the grocery store, sitting in a meeting at work, getting a haircut, flying in a plane, or even sitting on your couch at home, follow the training given to police and military personnel whose lives hang in the balance of their ability to control their stress reaction and practice a few moments of combat breathing!

P.S. I’ve been asked if this type of breathing is appropriate for children who are experiencing anxiety or excessive fear, and the answer is a huge YES!  Teaching your child how to better control and navigate their emotions is a lifelong skill that will serve them well, and perhaps generations to come.  In fact, it is discussed in great detail in my program developed for children with anxiety at www.AnxietyFreeChildren.com.

Alright, time for me to clean something up…

I know sometimes it seems like I’m against “positive thinking”, but in reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m a HUGE fan of thinking positive, in fact, I think it’s the critical first step in overcoming anxiety or fear.  Heck, it’s the first step to ANYTHING.

What I’m not so keen on is stopping with positive thinking and not following it up with ACTION.

Let me explain…

Before we could put a man on the moon, we first had to BELIEVE we could.  I mean if we can’t do it, what’s the point in trying?  That’s why you don’t see many professional alchemists anymore still trying to turn lead into gold…we just don’t believe we can anymore (and we’re probably right on that one).

But what if we would have just sat around thinking and pondering how great it would be to go to the moon?  What if we just believed it REAL HARD, but that was it?

We’d be no closer to moon than we were in 1900.

We had to believe and then DO SOMETHING.   We had to figure it out.  Build a shuttle.  Set a goal to do it in a certain timeframe.

Kennedy said,

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

ONLY THEN did we actually take the steps necessary to plant our flag on the moon.  Belief and positive thinking was a necessary first step, but not nearly enough.

It’s the same with overcoming fears and anxiety.

If you think you CAN’T be different, that you’re destined to a life of misery and anxious suffering, then you’ll never try and put in the effort required to change.  You’ll guarantee your own failure.  So thinking positive is critical, you HAVE to think positive and believe in the possibility of change just to start.

But if ALL you do is think positive, like some self-improvement wackos tell you to, that’s not much better than doing nothing.  You need to add ACTION to the mix and get things moving in the direction toward your goal.

What actions can you take that actually move you closer to the goal?

Things like figuring out what you do in life that causes you to get stressed, anxious, and sick, and do less of it.  How about figuring out what you do in life that makes you smile and feel at peace and doing more of that?  Starting a recovery program like on that I offer, or seeing a therapist if that’s more your speed, or deciding to confront what’s really at the core of your anxiety…

The options are limitless, but you have to start somewhere.  Thinking positive is a great place to start, but a terrible place to stop.

So what are YOU going to do today to move one step closer to who you want to be?  Shoot me a comment and let me know!

Wow….what a past couple months…

As you’d expect, it’s getting cold here in Wisconsin…that seems to start around August.  Aren’t we lucky.

I went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch my daughters pre-school class, that was a blast.  God bless those teachers.  I had a migraine after fifteen minutes on the school bus.  As you can see, we found a great pumpkin which fortunately for us, was the dirtiest one.

So we got our pumpkin for carving (a bigger one than what’s in the photo), I gouged what was supposed to be a scary face on it, and got our trick or treat gear all ready to roll.  Then the day after Halloween, both me and my daughter woke up sick.  At first, I thought it was because after we got home from trick or treating we ate candy until our faces went numb.  But it got steadily worse so we went to the doc and guess what?

Swine flu.  I’m not kidding. Not fun.

As my daughter and I were laying around all day on the couch recovering and watching Cartoon Network (my choice as much as hers), I started reading a new book someone recommended to me recently.  It’s called A Guide to The Good Life by William Irvine, and its about Stoicism, the philosophy of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.  It’s a really good book and an easy read considering the subject, if you’re into that sort of thing.  Something else good to check out on Stoicism is this post on Tim Ferris’s blog.

As I was reading it…it got me thinking…

What the heck happened to philosophy?

Not psychology mind you.  Philosophy.

In ancient times, when Socrates and Aristotle and Seneca were all walking around in togas and looking much cooler than I would have, everyone that had the means went to schools of philosophy, where they learned HOW TO THINK.

Funny enough, in those times, thinking was considered kinda important…

It seems like nowadays we don’t value actual thinking a whole heck of a lot anymore and instead place a great deal of importance on memorization and spewing out of facts.  Kids in school know lot of “stuff”, but it seems, at least to me, that they understand less and less.

When did we start to devalue thinking?

We’ve forgotten how to sit quietly and alone and evaluate the noise in our heads.  In Seneca’s time, that was many people full time job and what people talked about before they had more important things like American Idol to pay attention to.

“All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”
-Blaise Pascal

Let’s forget a second about the implications on a societal level…when’s the last time YOU really put some energy into evaluating how you’re viewing life and the thoughts that run through your head all day?

I’ve got some news for you.  If you’re struggling with anxiety, maybe a little more attention on your thoughts is on order, because anxiety doesn’t make sense.  Logically we all know that, right?  Nothing will come out of the sky and hurt us if we’re too far from home/on the highway/in a plane/in line at the store, but you worry about it obsessively anyway and it wrecks your life.

Maybe you need a whole new philosophy.

To practice thinking again – and evaluating those thoughts.  Getting some control over the noise in your own head.

I mean, that’s really what my programs do, right?  They help you get control over the noise in your head that causes you to get anxious or panic when it’s not appropriate.

But I bet that’s not the only area of life you could use some philosophy.

Hey, I know I’m not asking you to begin a small task, like starting to floss (although that was equally challenging for me).

I saying maybe you should consider undertaking a lifelong quest to understand yourself.  To make THAT your hobby.

I swear, you’ll find you’re every bit as entertaining as American Idol.

Where do you start? Well, you can start by simply paying attention to your own thoughts and seeing how they effect you.  That’s a very simple sentence that may take a lifetime to master.

Maybe you can start learning about some different philosophies and see what suits you.

Now listen up…

I don’t mean a religion, which is different than a philosophy.  You can be any religion you want and still have a philosophy or ‘rules for thinking”… no matter who you or what you pray to,  and even if you don’t pray at all.

I think the truly wise have their own philosophies, that’s what I’m shooting for.  I steal a little from Stoicism, maybe a little from Buddhism, toss in some I came up with on my own, and before you know it, I have my own rules to work from.

Maybe the right place to start is by just defining what’s most important to you.  Not everything that’s important to you,  but what’s MOST important.  What do you want to be remembered for?  What will you regret?  What do you not want to lose?

What do you want to decide to be about?

It’s YOUR choice you know.

YOUR life.

No do overs.

So what are you three most important things?  What are you committed to making your life about?  Now’s your chance to figure it out.