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There may come a point when the pressure builds. We feel it as a strange, low-level anxiety that doesn’t go away. It gets worse when we drift from the daily practices that keep us grounded, our breathwork, our meditation (which is just breathing with awareness), our movement (which is breathing in motion).
Don’t be discouraged when you experience emotional dips or setbacks. They’re part of being human. Unless you choose the life of a hermit in a cave, completely cut off from people and modern life, waves of anxiety will come.
But most of us aren’t leaving the world. So we live like monks in the world: doing the same things people do, but with less attachment, less greed, less self-centeredness—and more awareness. More commitment to our daily rituals. This isn’t elitist or performative. It's quiet. Personal. The goal is to regulate our own nervous systems so we can help others. That’s the path of service.
Most setbacks come when we stop doing the very things that were keeping us steady. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll usually find that your emotional crash came after you dropped the basics. That’s not coincidence. That’s cause and effect.
You don’t need a full hour of yoga or the perfect meditation space. You need consistency. Five minutes in the morning. Ten minutes at night. Three minutes if that’s all you’ve got, but show up. Sit still. Breathe. Drop into presence. That is the practice.
The mind will spin, obsess, panic. It’s what the mind does. You need something that brings you back, again and again. Even if it’s the smallest thing.
And yes, changing your environment might help. A walk in the woods. A beach vacation. Moving closer to nature. These can be helpful, but they’re not the solution. Because wherever you go, your mind goes too. You bring your anxiety with you unless you learn to shift it from the inside.
So stop waiting. No more excuses. Breathe. Right now. Return to calm, even if it’s just for five minutes.
Understand this clearly: You will have days, weeks, even seasons where you feel like you’re not progressing. That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means this work requires constant maintenance. Regulating your nervous system is not a one-time breakthrough. It’s daily.
And it’s hard. Many of us are carrying trauma we haven’t even uncovered yet. We live in busy cities, disconnected from nature, juggling relationships, financial stress, overstimulation, and constant news cycles. Add to that the nature of the human mind itself, restless, problem-seeking, fault-finding. Suffering is baked into the system unless we actively work against it.
This is your wake-up call.
Don’t let your small, daily habits fall apart. Don’t abandon the routines that stabilize you. Those seemingly small slips lead right back to chaos, anxiety, and imbalance. Let’s make things simple:
Can’t get to a 60-minute yoga class? Fine. Do 5 minutes of Downward Dog in the morning. Hold a two-minute plank in the afternoon. End your night with a forward bend.
That’s 10 minutes. Done with presence and breath, it’s enough to shift your chemistry.
Let go of the “all or nothing” mentality. Don’t journal every day for a week and then stop for six months. Small and steady wins. Always.
And don’t forget: your physiology changes. Maybe you’re a woman in your 40s navigating hormone shifts. Maybe you’re a 55-year-old man producing less testosterone and adrenaline, feeling slower. These shifts affect how you feel. So adjust. Breathe through it.
Here’s a rhythm to try:
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10 deep breaths in the morning.
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5 more before your commute.
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3 breaths when bad news hits.
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5 more before lunch.
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Use diaphragmatic breathing:
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Inhale through your nose. Belly expands.
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Exhale gently. Belly contracts.
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Repeat.
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Add a 5-second breath hold to calm your nervous system.
Sometimes anxiety isn’t about what’s happening, it’s about chemistry. When your internal balance is off, even small things can feel overwhelming. So regulate. Ground. Return to breath.
Yoga class was the simulation. Life is the real test. And in life, you must breathe. Deeply. Often. On purpose.
If you’ve done yoga even a little, you can do one or two postures each day. You can take 50 conscious breaths, scattered through your schedule. That alone can shift your mood, your focus, your life.
Don’t fall away from the practice completely. That’s when things unravel.
Keep it simple. Keep it steady. Keep coming back.