Three Breathwork Practices for Anxiety Relief
It’s 3pm on a Thursday, your chest feels tight and breath shallow, your thoughts are looping back and forth incessantly, and everything feels like it's piling on top of you at once. This is anxiety. While it can feel impossible to shift in the moment, your breath* is one of the most direct tools you have access to, always, for free, without needing a single extra minute in your schedule or a whole hour of yoga to feel ‘normal’ again.
Here are three gentle breathwork practices for anxiety relief that actually work - and that you can use anywhere, any time.
Physiological sigh (yep, Andrew Huberman was right).
This one is so simple it feels almost too ‘easy’. But the science behind it is solid.
Take a normal inhale through your nose. Then, at the top of that breath, take one more small sniff in - topping your lungs all the way up. Then let it all go in one long, slow exhale through your mouth.
That's it.
The double inhale pops open the small air sacs in your lungs that collapse when there’s not enough air flow into your lungs (ie. during stress), and the long exhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system - the part of you responsible for calm.
Simple technique, real results. This is the kind of tool that fits into real life - no mat, no quiet room, no ‘extra’ time required.
The Interrupted breath.
This practice asks you to slow everything down and pause, and pause, and pause…and exhaleee…
Here’s how we do it:
Inhale slowly into your belly first (just a third of your lung capacity), then pause gently (for a second or two),
then continue inhaling into your ribcage (another 1/3 of air), and pause again,
then inhale the final third into your chest, and pause.
Finally, exhale slowly from your chest, your ribs, then your belly - emptying from the top down. Pause softly at the bottom before your next breath.
The pauses and intentional breath focus (into the different body areas) are where the magic happens. They give your nervous system and mind just enough space and focus to reset and soften. This is the kind of breathwork for burnout recovery or just a full-lifestyle that doesn't ask you to stop your life - just to move through it a little differently.
3. Bee breath.
Close your eyes, take a full breath in, and on your exhale hum softly with your mouth closed. Feel the vibration in your face, your jaw, your chest. Repeat for three to five breaths.
The hum activates your vagus nerve - a key player in calming your nervous system down from the inside. It also gives your busy mind something gentle to focus on, making it one of the most grounding practices for anxiety available.
It can feel a little strange the first time. But it does work*.
If you give any of these a try let me know - I’d love to know which ones landed for you, felt useful or were simply life-changing ;)
*PSA I’ll be the first one to say - if you find that breathwork actually makes you more anxious - trauma-informed somatic practices might be the first place to start for you instead. And then revisit the breathwork when you’re feeling more regulated :)
A note before you go.
These three practices are a starting point - and a genuinely effective one. But if you're finding that anxiety is a constant companion, you might be ready for something more consistent and supported. Our 5 weeks to ‘No More Triggers’ curated program for overwhelmed women is a gentle yet supportive practice series to help you shift from overwhelmed and reactive, to steady and embodied on a daily basis. If you’re ready to integrate and truly embody a version of you that feels regulated, steady and at ease in daily life - this is for you.