Suzanne's Yoga Peace

05/06/2026

The breath is the only autonomic system you can voluntarily control. Slow it down, and the rest of the nervous system slows with it.

A 2017 review by Marc Russo, Danielle Santarelli, and Dean O'Rourke, synthesized decades of physiology research on slow breathing. Breathing at roughly 6 breaths per minute, with exhales longer than inhales, increases heart rate variability, activates the vagus nerve, improves baroreflex sensitivity, lowers blood pressure, and shifts the autonomic balance toward the parasympathetic, or rest and digest, branch.

Six breaths per minute. That is roughly 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out.

After 20 years of medicine, I rarely meet a stressed patient who knows this. We treat anxiety with medication, with therapy, with exercise. All of those matter. But beneath them, the breath remains the most accessible reset switch the body has.

Try this. Breathe in gently through your nose for 4 to 5 seconds. Breathe out slowly through your nose or pursed lips for 6 to 8 seconds. Repeat for three to five minutes.

You will feel your shoulders drop. Your jaw soften. Your heart rate ease. This is not imagination. It is your vagus nerve responding to a signal it has been waiting all day for.

Free, instant, infinite, always with you.

Could you take five slow breaths right now, before scrolling on?

05/06/2026

When we cue a pose, we can speak to many layers of the experience — not only the physical body, but also the heart, the mind, the nervous system, and the stories we carry within us.

Cat Pulling Tail often feels like a kind of tug of war. A pulling in opposite directions. Holding on while trying to move forward.

So rather than only cueing the physical shape, we can also invite students into the language of softening, listening, releasing, and letting go of force.

• Soften your grip
When we stop pulling ourselves in every direction we create more space

• When life seems like a tug of war
You simply need to let go of the rope

• Your heart is the bow, your arm the arrow
Where do you want to direct your energy today?

• Move like you are listening, not conquering
The body responds to safety not force

This is the kind of body wisdom and symbolic cueing I love exploring in class and through my books — weaving together sensation, metaphor, nervous system awareness, and the deeper emotional experience of a pose.

04/29/2026

🌈✌️ Choose peace, spread love, and let your soul shine bright. Life is better when you live with kindness, color, and good vibes only. 🌼✨

04/29/2026

This video is about 40 minutes but well worth the watch. Very informative.

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