This is well-timed reading for me! I recently started a breathing training program recommended to me by my insurance company as a way to reduce chronic anxiety

This is well-timed reading for me! I recently started a breathing training program recommended to me by my insurance company as a way to reduce chronic anxiety and frequent anxiety attack symptoms. I figured it was free to me, and in the worst case, I could always just go back to breathing the old way when I'm done, so I might as well try. Even before I was born, my home environment was never safe. My parasympathetic nervous system never really learned how to un-fight-or-flight me, and I had had multiple medical specialists tell me my body was responding to treatment poorly, and it was apparently because I'm in a psychogenic state of constant inflammation. I've been working with a psychotherapist in a modality that (finally) has helped a lot, but I figured trying to address the physical side directly would help too. I've only just started the treatment this week, but I do feel like it's helping a lot. I find myself responding to the little flashes of anxiety more often with, "Hang on. It's going to be OK. We've got this," which is aborting the panic cycle. Anyway, if anyone's interested, the treatment is called "Freespira." They sent me a tablet and a CO2 sensor with a cannula. For 17 minutes twice a day for four weeks, I follow audio instructions from an app on the tablet and breathe in time with rising and falling tones, which correspond to the ideal breathing pattern described in this article. It measures my output CO2 and encourages me to take in less air (which was counterintuitive to me but works!) when my levels sink below 40 mmHg. The first week's goal is to train to 40mmHg at 13 breaths per minute (I believe it goes down to 11, 9, and eventually 7 after this, probably to build the reserve capacity the article mentions).