Breathing practice

When you're stressed, breathing goes short and high, up into the chest. That's the body's alarm state, and it stays on as long as the breathing does. Slow the exhale down, and you send the same signal back: the danger's over, you can stand down.

It isn't just in your head. The exhale is wired to the part of the nervous system that calms things down, and an exhale longer than the inhale switches it on every time, whatever you think about it.

There are dozens of breathing methods, and most are more complicated than they need to be. We go through a handful — box breathing, extended exhale, 4-7-8 — and find the one or two that fit your day, not the one that looks most advanced.

The goal is being able to do it in a lift, before a meeting, in the car before you walk through the door. If a technique needs ten minutes sitting down with your eyes closed, you won't use it when you need it most.

Before something that makes you nervous — a meeting, a hard conversation, a presentation. In the middle of something that already feels like too much. And as a daily habit, a couple of minutes, to bring the baseline down before it has a chance to build.

Meetings are online and 55 minutes. We go through techniques, try them together, and you leave with a couple that actually stick — not a list to remember.

This is wellbeing practice, not healthcare. I make no diagnoses and treat nothing. If what you're carrying is heavier than stress — persistent low mood, anxiety, burnout — counselling is a separate service, and that's the one to look at instead.