17/05/2025
Sometimes anxiety just walks in the side door, totally uninvited. Suddenly it’s there, taking up headspace and energy, perhaps making a mess of your day. We can be left wondering what it’s about, what we’re worried about, what we should change to get rid of it.
The trick is, sometimes anxiety has more to do with our internal landscape than what’s going on externally. Internal changes like lack of sleep, hormone fluctuations in perimenopause or puberty, medications, too much caffeine, can all shift our state from the inside. So what to do about it?
My go-to technique for ushering free-range anxiety back out the door is really simple. The important thing is allowing yourself to notice that it’s there, not fighting with it or ignoring it. It's important to remember that even if it doesn't disappear completely, taking the edge off it can be a powerful way to keep it from ramping up.
To cool off hot, anxious energy quickly, I allow in a slow breath through the nose, aiming that breath deep down into the bottom of the lungs, letting it create a good 360 degree expansion in the body. Then I let it out slowly through the nose and repeat.
Why does this work? A bunch of things happen when we breathe deliberately and into the bottom of the lungs:
🧠 Stimulation of relaxation neuroreceptors in the lower lungs
🫁 Better oxygen transfer out of the lungs to the rest of the body
👤 Increased carbon dioxide production, creating a relaxation response in brain & body
🫁 Increased nitric oxide production, opening airways
🧠 Pre-frontal cortex (home of clear thinking) lights up
You don’t need to know what all that means for it to be effective. It’s only important to understand that a lot of feel-good biochemical and neurological things happen when we breathe deliberately, slowly (I repeat, SLOWLY), and into the lower lungs. Have a try and see if it calms your chickens. 😉
