Anxiety and working out.

I second yoga. Another thing you can do is not think of it as exercise. Just put on some music and dance at your own pace in a private space. The most important thing is to keep moving.

My personal experience with my anxiety attacks has been baby steps and long curve expectations. I used to not be able to swim more than 15 meters in the local pool and then have to turn around and swim back. Reason being is that I needed to be close to the change room which had a toilet. This went on for months and slowly I made it to the other end of the pool - 25 meters and back again. 10 years later I've been in triathlons where I've had to swim out to the middle of Lake Zurich, I've swam 2km in the Thames river, I've been dropped off a ship and swam from Alcatraz, and I've swam in some chop and currents in the San Francisco Bay that even the kayaks following us struggled to keep afloat. I also once got stuck in a tide a kilometre off the Vancouver shoreline. So I came a long way from that 15 meter anxiety wall.

Recently I had an inner ear infection and went swimming in our local lake at a water ski park and the dizziness caused by this when I got to the 400 m marker really freaked me out. The world was spinning and I was forced to swim back through waves and wind and dizziness. My point is even though I championed my fear through these personal swim experiences I was knocked back after this one experience swimming with an inner ear infection. I'm now gradually feeling more comfortable in the water again but I don't forget EVER that this anxiety is right around the corner. There are times I just have to swim through it.

For me it really is just baby steps. As long as I get to the water and IN it - even if I'm just treading water (which I've done ) to reacclimatise myself in the environment which I had my freak in- then that's a score. I have challenged my fear. And step by step I find myself returning to a comfortable place.

Panic hits me most in the open water and when I'm a kilometre or so from shore and alone - not the best place - but I realise that it's not just me there are others that have it too and that makes me feel better.

Hey i suffer from anxiety attacks too. My triggers are movie theaters, being in the bus or subway, airplane, and was the gym. I take the subway everyday to work so I just deal with it, it sucks, i sweat, i freak out, i feel like death, but i close my eyes and control my breathe and just disappear in my own mind. I used to take xanax but I couldnt function and got addicted. I go to the gym late hours when no ones there, i feel like I have it all to myself! just remember you may think everyone is looking at you but they are not, your all there for the same purpose and thats to better yourself. Gluck. add me, ill help any way i can!

I have severe anxiety and depression. I tried to take care of it naturally with herbs and yoga and things. I couldn't leave the house without a panic attack. I try not to recommend anyone taking prescribed meds but i have been on prozac for about six months now and i feel like a completely different person. I have no anxiety at all. I dont know if this is the route you should go but some people like me just have to try different things.