Reclaiming Regulation: Breathwork as a Bridge Back to Yourself

There’s something quietly radical about remembering you can choose how you breathe.

For many of us, the breath is something we barely notice, until it’s short, tight, stuck, or gone altogether in a moment of stress. But your breath is also one of the few systems in the body that operates both automatically and voluntarily. That makes it a powerful gateway to change.

This blog continues the Reclaiming Regulation series, a collection of reflections on ways to work with your nervous system, not against it… without always reaching for a pill, a fix, or a way out. In the last post, we looked at interoception: the internal sense that lets you tune in to what’s happening inside your body. Today, we look at how working with the breath can give you a way back when everything feels too much.

The Breath Reflects and Affects

Your nervous system and your breath are in constant conversation. When you’re calm, your breath slows and deepens. When you’re under threat, physically or emotionally, your breath becomes fast and shallow. This isn’t a mistake, this isn’t new. It’s part of the body’s intelligent system for keeping you safe.

But here’s the bit we don’t often talk about, you can talk back, influence the communication and take charge.

Consciously slowing your breath, extending your exhale, or breathing through your nose can send signals of safety back to your nervous system. Not in a performative or forced way, but in a real, biological way. It doesn’t make the world any less stressful. But it gives you a steadier place to meet it from.

Breathwork Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated

There are hundreds of breathwork techniques out there, some designed to energise, others to calm. But for most people, the simplest practices are the most powerful.

If you’ve ever found yourself holding your breath while concentrating, bracing when anxious, or sighing deeply after stress, you’ve already experienced how breath responds to the nervous system. The idea here is simply to get curious, and to experiment.

Here are a few gentle ways to begin:

1. The Soft Exhale

Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, and out for a count of 6 or 8. The longer exhale helps activate the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) branch of your nervous system.

2. Hand on Chest and Belly

Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. As you breathe, feel where the movement is. Can you gently guide the breath deeper, without force?

3. Noticing Without Fixing

Sometimes the work is simply noticing: My breath feels shallow today. I feel tight around the ribs.   That noticing is “regulation”. There’s nothing to correct, only something to hear.

Breath as an Anchor

Breath doesn’t solve our problems. But it gives us a place to start, a moment to return to, when life gets loud.

Breathwork is not about becoming a perfect breather. It’s about building a relationship with yourself that includes the body, not just the thoughts.

Just like interoception, breath awareness is a skill we can nurture. One that brings us closer to our needs, helps us pause before reacting, and lets us create a little space between what’s happening and how we meet it.

You Don’t Need to Do It All

This isn’t about adding another task to your list. You don’t need to master a breathing technique to be well. Sometimes, it’s enough to simply notice… I’m holding my breath again.

That small awareness is a doorway, and sometimes, it’s the beginning of everything.