I have been a bit slow with newsletters, so here is a behind the scenes life update written in a more casual way.

After a few years of being rooted in beautifully magical Wales, a quiet but undeniable pull began to move through me. It became clear that it was time to shift home base. Like many of you this year, my foundations moved. Life shook the core, reorganised everything internally, and eventually the external began to reflect those changes. In between the travels and trainings, I have been packing, selling, and releasing the version of “life” I once knew. It has been a shedding in every sense of the word.

Throughout all of this, I reinstated the practices that help me meet my edges. Breathwork and pranayama have been the most grounding companions. With constant change and unpredictability all around me, I leaned into the one thing that has never left my side. My breath. The constant. The familiar. The anchor.

This reconnection pulled me back into community as well. First in Sicily with a beautiful group of humans, then again in snowy Sweden for a science based and trauma informed breathwork training with Janna Herberg and Nicolas Ojamo. It was my second week long immersion with them within four months. The earlier one was the retreat in Sicily that cracked something open in me that I did not realise needed opening.

Throughout all of this, the common thread was simple.

The Breath

Breath is available without cost. You do not need to travel for it. You do not need to pay anyone to give it to you. You do not need permission. It is free. Accessible. Ever present.

It is the one objective thread that connects every form of life. Humans, animals, plants, and the very cells that form our bodies. Everything breathes.

As we come into resonance with our own breath, we begin to tune into the larger rhythms around us. The earth, the tides, the moon, the seasons. Until eventually we are not only in our lives, we are moving with our lives.

I will stop before this turns into a full tangent. What this has all been leading me toward is this.

Breathwork has become the place where nervous system regulation and self reclamation meet. It has been the most reliable axis to drop into when everything else changes.

The real and regulated version of you is already doing many things correctly. What becomes difficult is consistency. When the internal reference point is not anchored, consistency in life becomes inconsistent.

The most consistent thing you have ever done, consciously or unconsciously, is breathe.

When you learn to work with your breath, you open the doorway to working with more of yourself. You do it for your own growth rather than as a reaction to life.

This is the essence of what INsource supports. It is also where the three pillars inside the HOHM App begin to anchor into real practice. Know Yourself, Trust Yourself, and Be Yourself. All three rely on the breath as the place where integration becomes possible.

Consciously, your breath creates clarity. It connects the mind, the heart, and the gut into a coherent internal state.
Unconsciously, your breath reveals your primary nervous system state. Fight, flight, freeze, fawn, collapse.

When these two levels are not in conversation with each other, breathwork that should expand you can feel like a panic attack.

Which brings us to the next part.

Your breath tells the truth before you do.
You can say you are fine. You can smile through the storm. You can perform calmness.
Your breath will reveal the truth anyway.

Fast, shallow, or erratic breathing signals danger to the body.

Slow, deliberate, or present breathing teaches your system that it is safe to hold more. It teaches you that you can create. That you can express. That you can flow.

This is the consciousness of breath.
It shapes the internal environment that shapes your narrative.

This is also the blooming dahlia moment.
The moment the body learns to hold tension without collapsing.

Breath is the first thing you did when you arrived in this life. At the end of your life, it will be the last thing you give back.

Everything that happens between those two moments is a playground for presence.

Breath brings you back into your body.
Feeling becomes accessible again.
Somatic cues become clearer.
Life becomes more alive.

When you intentionally upregulate or downregulate your nervous system through the breath, you move toward stress with courage rather than away from it.

The water buffalo walks into the storm.
Wim Hof steps into the cold.
You meet your life directly.

When your breath becomes shallow, your body interprets that as a lack of safety.
This is panic, overwhelm, and survival mode.

And here lies the paradox of pranayama.
It can warm you or burn you.
The difference is awareness.

From Sanskrit

Prana means life force or vital energy
Ayama means expansion, regulation, or conscious direction

Pranayama is not simply breathing in and out.
It is conscious stewardship of your life force.

Ancient yogis used the breath to touch the divine.
Modern science calls it nervous system regulation.
It is the same practice described in different languages.

Research now shows that pranayama can

Lower blood pressure
Balance stress hormones
Improve focus and memory
Strengthen immunity
Support neurodivergent minds
Increase capacity for discomfort

In simple terms, breath trains the body to stay steady inside intensity.

You may have experienced this before.

Dizziness
A racing heart
A rush that feels like the rollercoaster drop that rolls through your entire body
Breath that becomes fast, shallow, or held

Here is why that can happen.

Over breathing or hyperventilation

Forceful or fast breath techniques such as Bhastrika, Kapalabhati, Wim Hof style breathing, tummo, and holotropic breathwork can push off too much carbon dioxide. This can create anxiety or lightheadedness if the body is not grounded.

A helpful solution is to slow down and ground the body. Working with a trained breathwork facilitator is ideal until your system knows how to stabilise itself.

Unprocessed stress

Breathwork is honest. It brings buried tension to the surface. Sometimes it feels chaotic before it feels peaceful.

The solution is to work at your personal edge rather than your overwhelm. This is how capacity expands.

Nervous system mismatch

If you are already in a sympathetic state, intense breathwork can overstimulate the system.

Balance yourself with the opposite practice.
If you are highly activated, try Nadi Shodhana or soft belly breathing first.

Awareness turns breathwork from frightening into empowering.

The Healing Side

Repatterning Through Breath

The same breath that once triggered panic can become the breath that integrates it.

Gentle pranayama teaches the body that intensity is not a threat. It is energy that wants to move through.

Here are some suggestions for practice.

Nadi Shodhana
Balances the brain hemispheres and calms anxiety

Ujjayi Breath
Builds heat with stability and gently stimulates the vagus nerve

Full Yogic Breath
Expands the ribs, belly, and back and grounds the system

Bhramari
The humming bee breath that soothes the vagus nerve and calms mental noise

Each of these techniques teaches your system to meet life with breath rather than brace against it.

Practising Safely

Start with two to three minutes rather than twenty
Sit or lie down and ground yourself before beginning
Start with calming techniques and save activating techniques for later
If you feel dizzy or anxious, pause and return to natural breathing
Be gentle with yourself

Safety is not the absence of intensity.
Safety is capacity.

Pranayama Is a Mirror

Pranayama reflects everything you are holding.
The resistance. The control. The fear of surrender.

It is not here to turn you into a peaceful mountain top monk.
It is here to make you honest.

Peace follows honesty.
Peace is what integrity feels like.

If your breath stirs panic, that is sacred information.
Your body is saying that it needs you to slow down and listen.
With practice, the sensations that once overwhelmed you become your teachers.

The Blooming Dahlia

A dahlia blooms through contraction and expansion.
Your breath works the same way.

When you stay with the contraction rather than escape it, you expand.
You train the body that sensation is not a threat.
This is capacity.
This is evolution.
This is the blooming dahlia.

Hello lotus.

Your breath will tell the truth before your mind does.
When you learn its language and allow your breath to learn you, the story changes.
You stop bracing against your life and start breathing with it.

Are you willing to let your breath become your teacher.

Practice Prompt

The next time you feel overwhelmed, try this.

Breathe with the feeling
Notice the story your body is telling
Offer yourself a second sip of breath
Stay with the sensation rather than the story
Slow and steady