Breathing Isn’t Just a Hack—It’s Survival
At some point, we all need to acknowledge this simple truth: there’s something to the ancient practice of “breathing to relax.” Generations of masters, philosophers, and scientists have pointed to it, yet we often overlook it in our fast, anxious lives.
Every creature on Earth experiences anxiety—humans just happen to intellectualize it. We live in a wide spectrum of anxiety, from small, mundane discomforts to deep, existential dread. Even needing to pee is a form of mild anxiety—your body signaling a problem needing resolution. Then there’s anxiety over your finances, your relationships, your children crying for attention, or your lack of control over tomorrow. And of course, the big ones—those full-body, soul-shaking waves of fear when we truly feel our survival is threatened.
The depth and intensity of anxiety we feel depends on dozens of factors—our childhoods, our brain chemistry, our thought patterns, our coping tools, our diet, our sleep. It’s all connected.
Now, the question becomes: How do we change our relationship to anxiety?
Start With the Breath, Stay With the Breath
In times of anxiety, your autonomic nervous system kicks into survival mode. The heart races. Muscles tighten. Your brain shouts, “We’re in danger!”—even if you’re just stuck in traffic or scrolling your bank account. This is where breathing becomes your secret weapon.
Simple, deep nasal breathing can do what medication, therapy, and even logic often cannot—it regulates your nervous system. When I’m practicing yoga, even under intense heat or in difficult poses, breath is the anchor that keeps me from spiraling. I can always lay down. I can always breathe. That’s the beauty of it.
But outside the studio, when real life throws its worst—your deepest fears rising, your face flushing, your palms sweating—it’s harder. Especially if, like me, you grew up not even knowing what anxiety was. I had no language for it. I didn’t know what low self-esteem or shame or guilt felt like, even though I lived in them daily.
And then came the stimulants—sugar, caffeine, stress hormones—piling on to a body already vibrating from fear. That’s when anxiety becomes chronic, and if you're not careful, crippling.
Anxiety Is a Body-Mind Feedback Loop
Think about it: if your heart’s racing from sugar, and your brain is thinking fearful thoughts, your body starts reacting as if you’re under real threat. The feedback loop kicks in. The longer you stay there, the more intense the experience becomes.
So what do you do?
You breathe. You chant. You lie down. You journal. You stretch. You recite a mantra. You jump up and down. You do whatever it takes to ground yourself and reset your nervous system. Breath must be the centerpiece of it all. When we hold our breath, everything collapses.
The Origins of Our Anxiety: A Personal (and Universal) Story
If your parents were anxious, chances are you internalized their tone, posture, and stress-response as your baseline. Add childhood fears—fear of the dark, sugar-laden diets, sibling rivalry, emotional neglect—and you have a perfect storm.
Children are designed to express stress through tantrums, crying, and wild emotions. But in homes where those expressions are punished or ignored, the child learns to repress emotion, bottle fear, and eventually cope through addiction, dissociation, or distraction.
This is not a rare story. This is humanity’s story.
Anxiety and the Autonomic Nervous System
To understand anxiety, we have to understand the autonomic nervous system (ANS):
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Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Triggers fight or flight. It’s your gas pedal in stress.
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Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): Triggers rest and digest. It’s the brake pedal.
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Enteric Nervous System (ENS): Your “second brain” in the gut, regulating digestion and intuition.
Chronic anxiety occurs when we get stuck in sympathetic overdrive. Breathing, mindfulness, meditation, and movement are all ways to shift us back into parasympathetic calm.
Why Hypnosis and Rewiring Matter
Hypnosis isn’t hocus-pocus—it’s a state of deep focus where suggestions can reach your subconscious and rewire negative thought loops. It’s one of many powerful tools to access the emotional body and relieve long-held fears.
With techniques like progressive relaxation, visualization, positive affirmations, and future pacing, we learn to reshape how we perceive fear, pain, and discomfort.
In Conclusion: It’s All Practice
Yes, it takes time. Yes, it takes repetition. But this is your life—your nervous system, your sanity. What’s more important than learning to breathe through it all, calmly and consciously?
Start now:
💭 "I am safe. I am grounded. I am breathing."
Repeat. Again. And again.