When I hit a bad time with my anxiety I get a very tight chest and my breathing all goes to pot. My breathing is then all I can think about and it starts to make me dizzy as I know I am breathing wrong.

It was actually these symptoms that pushed me over the edge and lead me to experiment and finally seek a way out of my anxiety & panic disorder.

A test you can perform on yourself to see if you are breathing correctly is:

Place your hand across your tummy. If you feel your hand rise on inhale and your hand fall on exhale then you are breathing correctly. If you feel little to no movement at all then you are breathing in correctly.

If you own a copy of How to Overcome Anxiety & Panic Attacks then refer to chapter 8 Breathing Techniques As this is where I go into detail and show a proper breathing exercise specifically for anxiety & panic sufferers.

Another nifty little trick you can try to put it at ease and hopefully stop it before it gets to the extent of dizzy spells is:

Place your hand across your nose and mouth and concentrate on the breath you feel against the palm of your hand. This will reassure you that you are definitely still breathing and will help prevent you from hyperventilating so you can get back into a normal breathing pattern again.