By Cynthia Oser, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)



The cabin pressure drops. Quick! Put on the oxygen mask!

You're having a heart attack. CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation stat!

Panic attack! Hold your breath. Huh? What? Hold your breath.

Um. No.

Why? We need oxygen to think. We need to think to calm ourselves down. We need to calm ourselves down, so we can breathe. See the problem?

Need a solution? Breathe.

Breathing is one of the quickest ways to stop a panic attack. Unfortunately, we usually can't remember to do it because the oxygen has already stopped flowing properly. Why? Weren't you listening? Answer: Because we stopped breathing and are hyperventilating.

So we have to find a way to catch ourselves at the beginning of a panic attack to remember to breathe.

A CPR instructor had a brilliant idea that helped her keep time with heart pumps. While performing CPR she sang, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive. Ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive." The beats to that song were in sync with the repetitive heart pumps.

If you breathe in through your nose at the "ah, ah" parts and breathe out through your mouth for the "staying alive" parts, you have a rhythm. Now all you need is a reminder.

Let's see… disco, bell bottomed pants, really gawdy jewelry. Nope. Let's try the video. While you're watching it, breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth.

I know what you're thinking… what the heck are they saying??? Guess you had to be there. And stop laughing at the video! Back to breathing…

There are some key lines in the song that need to be pointed out. Like, "I've been kicked around since I was born," "Well now, I get low and I get high," "Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me," Sound familiar?

These are things we tell ourselves. I've been kicked around. Therefore it's going to happen again because I'm powerless. I can't control these highs and lows. I have no future. I can't control anything. I have no power.

That kind of thinking would make anybody hyperventilate.

It's the powerless part that trips us up. We didn't have power when we were bullied, abused, or young. If it's a bipolar chemical imbalance, our emotional juices take over.

Now watch the video again. This time look around at the crumbling buildings. It looks like something terrible has happened. Houses and streets are damaged and abandoned. Only shells are left. Alleys are dark. And the song says they are going nowhere.

Pretty bleak, huh? It definitely looks hopeless and perhaps the people who left felt powerless to repair it.

In come the BeeGees, aka Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. Watch Barry Gibb's face. He's the lead singer. He is holding is head high. He walks with confidence. He looks toward the sun. And he is breathing. And then he is smiling.

Has his smiles repaired the broken street? No. But what it does is provide oxygen to stay alive one more day… to have hope. He sings and it brings in oxygen. He stands straight and tall and that forces oxygen into his lungs. He is willing to breathe to get through the abandonment and utter devastation around him.

(And no, he's not just high on psychedelics)

The point of this is to get in the habit of catching yourself when things look bleak. When you feel yourself holding your breath, remember the BeeGees, and start chanting, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive."

You are not powerless. You have the power to take control of your life now. You just have to remember to breathe.

Maybe go out and get yourself some bell bottoms if that will help.