Reiki, Anxiety & Panic Attacks: Finding Safety Within

Have you ever felt trapped in a cycle of anxiety, worry, or panic?

In this episode of Healing Waves Reiki, Cathy Scarpitto shares her personal experience with anxiety and panic attacks, including a frightening experience while driving that left her feeling overwhelmed and out of control.

Together, we'll explore the difference between anxiety and panic attacks, what's happening inside the nervous system during these experiences, and why the body is often responding exactly as it was designed to do.

Cathy also discusses the connection between sensitivity, empathy, and anxiety, inspired by insights from Pat Longo's book The Gifts Beneath Your Anxiety, and shares how Reiki helped her develop a new relationship with her body, her emotions, and her nervous system.

In this episode you'll learn:

• The difference between anxiety and panic attacks
• How the fight-or-flight response contributes to both
• Why anticipation can keep the nervous system stuck in a stress loop
• The connection between empathy, sensitivity, and anxiety
• How Reiki may support nervous system regulation
• Simple practices to use when anxiety or panic begins

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by anxiety or frightened by a panic attack, this episode offers understanding, hope, and practical tools for finding greater calm and safety within.

🌊 Continue the Journey

If today's episode resonated with you, I invite you to continue your healing journey with the free companion workbook:

Anxiety & Panic: Pause + Reconnect 

Inside you'll discover guided reflections, nervous system practices, body awareness exercises, and calming tools designed to help you move from protection toward healing.

Pair it with the Creating Safety Within guided meditation for an even deeper experience.

Download the workbook here:

https://healingwaves-reiki.com/workbook-library

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https://healingwaves-reiki.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to the Healing Waves Reiki Podcast. I'm your host, Kathy Scarpito, Reiki Master teacher, spiritual mentor, intuitive, and physical therapist. This is a grounded, heart-centered space where we explore Reiki energy and the science and spirit of healing. How Reiki supports the body, deepens intuition, regulates the nervous system, and helps transform the experience of healing. Where Reiki meets science, intuition meets practice, and healing becomes more human. If you're curious about Reiki, drawn to deeper healing, or seeking a more connective and intuitive way to care for yourself or others, you're in the right place. Let's begin. Welcome back to the Healing Waves Reiki podcast. I'm your host, Kathy Scarpito. Today we're talking about anxiety and panic attacks, what they actually feel like in the body, and how Reiki can support the nervous system in finding its way back to regulation and safety. If you've ever felt your heart suddenly race, your breathing shift, or your body move into fear without warning, you are not alone, and your body is not broken. It is responding to what it perceives as a threat. Before Reiki became part of my life, I experienced both anxiety and panic attacks. One of the clearest moments happened while driving home from work at night on the Garden State Parkway. Nothing was wrong, but a few minutes into the drive, everything shifted. My heart started racing. My hands were sweating. My breathing changed, and suddenly I didn't feel fully in my body. I felt blinded, dizzy. Cars were passing me, horns were behind me, and I had to slow down almost to a stop just to stay grounded. Just to feel safe. I eventually pulled over just to breathe and try to settle myself. And I made it home. But something changed after that night. Because the next morning, it didn't feel over. I woke up already thinking about the drive home. And that became the pattern. What if it happens again? What if I can't calm down? What if I have to pull over again? By the time I got in the car at night, my nervous system had already been activated for hours, even though nothing was happening yet. At the time, it felt like fear, real fear, real panic, real loss of control. But what I understand now as a physical therapist and through my work with the nervous system is that my body was not malfunctioning. It was stuck in a loop of perceived threat. My nervous system was responding to anticipation as if it were in danger. And over time that loop reinforced itself and then it happened again. Same road, same situation, same sudden shift. My body went into full alarm, racing heart, dizziness, disconnection. And the most overwhelming part wasn't just the physical symptoms, it was the feeling of being trapped in it. People often use anxiety and panic attack interchangeably, but they are different experiences. Anxiety is gradual. It builds over time through worry, anticipation, or uncertainty. It can feel like tension, restlessness, overthinking, constant mental scanning, and it can last for long periods of time. Panic attacks are different. They are sudden, a surge of intense fear with strong physical symptoms, raising heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, shaking, feeling detached or unreal, fear of losing control. They often peak within minutes. Anxiety is the slow burn. Panic is the spike. But both come from the same system, the nervous system. Your nervous system is constantly scanning for safety or threat. This happens automatically. When the brain senses danger, it activates the sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight response. Adrenaline rises, heart rate increases, breathing changes, muscles tighten. The body prepares to protect you. This is essential for survival. But the nervous system doesn't always distinguish between real danger and perceived danger. Thoughts alone can activate it. In my case, the anticipation of driving on a highway in the dark became the trigger. The fear of anxiety created more anxiety, and the system got stuck in a loop. Many people live inside that loop without realizing it. There's another perspective I want to offer. In my work with Reiki and clients over the years, I've noticed something. Many people who experience anxiety are also highly sensitive. They notice everything, emotions in a room, stress in others, tone changes, energy shifts. Often before anything is said, they can feel overwhelmed in crowded or emotionally intense environments, and often they don't realize how much they are absorbing. Author Pat Longo in The Gifts Beneath Your Anxiety explores this idea that anxiety in some individuals may be connected to heightened empathic or energetic sensitivity. I want to be clear, anxiety is complex. It can involve stress, trauma, biology, and life experience. But sensitivity may be one piece for some people. It was for me. As I deepened my Reiki practice, I began to notice something important. I wasn't always distinguishing between what I was feeling and what I was absorbing. That awareness changed everything. The biggest shift Reiki gave me wasn't just relaxation. It was a new relationship with my body. Before Reiki, I saw symptoms as the enemy. Now I saw them as communication. My body wasn't against me, it was speaking to me. Instead of reacting immediately, I learned to pause, observe, breathe, listen. And over time something shifted. My baseline stress softened. My awareness increased. And when anxiety arose, I no longer immediately spiraled into fear. I could stay with it. The shift became not how do I stop this, but what is my body asking for? That change is powerful because fear amplifies anxiety. Awareness creates space. From a nervous system perspective, Reiki often supports a shift out of survival mode and into regulation. People commonly report slower breathing, deeper relaxation, reduced muscle tension, feeling calmer, feeling more present. These are signs of regulation. Reiki is not a cure for anxiety, but it can be a supportive practice that helps create space between stimulus and response. A pause, a return. When anxiety begins to build, pause, feel your feet, place a hand on your chest or your abdomen. Slow your exhale and ask, what am I feeling right now? What do I need right now? If you practice Reiki, offer yourself Reiki. If not, placing your hands on your body with presence and love can bring regulation. During a panic attack, your goal is not to stop it. Your goal is to remind your body that you are safe. Look around and name what you see. Feel your feet on the ground. Slow your exhale. Let your body orient to the present moment and remind yourself. This is a wave. It rises. It peaks. It passes. Even when it feels intense, it is temporary. You are safe. If anxiety or panic has been part of your experience, I want you to hear this clearly. You are not broken. Your body is not failing you. It is trying to protect you. For me, Reiki became a bridge from fear to awareness, from reactivity to regulation, from feeling trapped in my body to learning how to return to it. From absorbing other people's energy to protecting my own. And maybe that's the deeper invitation. Not to eliminate every sensation, but to learn how to stay with yourself through it. You don't think your way out of anxiety. You regulate your way out of it. I invite you to listen to the companion meditation creating safety within. It's a gentle guided practice designed to help your nervous system experience the safety we've been talking about today. Thank you for joining me on the Healing Waves Reiki Podcast. And until next time, breathe. Pause and stay present. Thank you for listening to the Healing Waves Reiki podcast. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who may need it. Subscribe and leave a review so more people can find this work. Until next time, stay grounded, stay open, and keep healing. This podcast is intended for informational, educational, and inspirational purposes only. The content shared on this podcast is not medical, psychological, legal, or professional advice, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition. Always seek the guidance of a qualified health care provider, mental health professional, or other licensed professional regarding your specific needs. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. Listener discretion and personal responsibility are advised.