We live in a world obsessed with food and exercise plans, hydration hacks, and supplement stacks.
But there’s something we do over 20,000 times a day, mostly without noticing — and it’s more vital than anything we eat or drink.
It’s breath.
And it might just be the most underrated form of nourishment we have.
It was our first act when we entered this world.
It will be our final release when we leave.
And everything in between — every thought, every emotion, every heartbeat — rides on its rhythm.
💭 I Always Knew…
There was one moment that came flashing back to me…..when I was a traumatised, overwhelmed and hyper-emotional five-year-old.
I was so worked up it brought everything to a standstill…
forcing both my mum and me to pause and catch our breath.
She didn’t try to fix it or talk me out of my feelings.
She actually couldn’t — no one could — I was too far gone and worked up.
She just sat with me, quietly, until our breathing fell into a calm rhythm together.
In that stillness, I remember thinking:
if nothing else, if we have nothing else, we can always come back to the breath.
🧘♀️ I’ve known breath was important.
Yoga taught me — inhale through the nose, exhale through the nose.
It was the rhythm that moved with me through every posture,
the anchor that softened the chaos.
A few months ago I purchased an Intake breathing device to wear at night to encourage nasal breathing in my sleep.
Mentioned by James Nestor in Breath.
I knew.
And yet, I wasn’t practicing.
Not consistently, anyway.
I’d go through short seasons of devotion, dabbling in breathwork, loving how it felt.
Then life would grab me by the collar, and the stressors of everyday survival would pull me out.
Out of presence.
Out of my body.
Out of the very practice I knew was the key to my peace and vitality.
🌬️ Last Week, I Came Back.
Over the last two weeks I started returning back to conscious breath.
But this time, I went deeper.
I stumbled back across something I had vaguely heard years ago: the Buteyko Method.
It first crossed my path through Aware Parenting and Marion Rose, who mentioned it in the context of emotional regulation and healing.
I remember googling it briefly.
But it didn’t stick.
This time, it did.
And I dove in.
🔍 Who Was Dr. Buteyko?
Dr. Konstantin Buteyko was a Ukrainian doctor who, in the 1950s, noticed something radical:
Patients with asthma, anxiety, high blood pressure, and chronic fatigue were over-breathing.
Not under-breathing — over-breathing.
They were breathing too much, too fast, and too forcefully and this excess was actually starving their cells of oxygen by disrupting the body’s delicate carbon dioxide balance.
Instead of deep, forceful breathing, Buteyko taught people to:
- Breathe through the nose
- Inhale gently, not deeply
- Reduce the volume of each breath
- Increase their tolerance for carbon dioxide
The result?
More oxygen delivery to tissues, calmer nervous systems, fewer symptoms.
It went against everything mainstream medicine and wellness said about “taking a deep breath”. But those who practiced it reported remarkable improvements.
⏱️ Understanding the ‘Pause’
One of the core self-assessment tools in Buteyko is something called the Control Pause.
It’s a gentle, measurable way to check your respiratory health and CO₂ tolerance.
Here’s how it works:
- Breathe in and out normally through your nose
- At the end of a normal exhale, hold your breath
- Time how many seconds pass until you feel the first desire to breathe (a twitch in the throat, diaphragm, or urge to inhale)
- Then breathe in gently through your nose and return to normal breathing
That number — in seconds — is your Control Pause (CP).
📖 What the Control Pause Reflects
The Control Pause (CP) is a simple breath-hold test that offers insights into your breathing efficiency, CO₂ tolerance, and nervous system health.
- Under 10 seconds: Highly dysregulated — often linked to anxiety, fatigue, over-breathing, and chronic stress.
- 10–20 seconds: Dysfunctional — common in burnout, emotional stress, and low resilience.
- 20–30 seconds: Improving — better oxygen delivery, steadier mood, and increased clarity.
- 30–40 seconds: Healthy baseline — especially in the Buteyko community.
- 40+ seconds: Optimal — seen in athletes and breathwork practitioners. Reflects strong CO₂ tolerance, high energy, and deep resilience.
The beauty of the Control Pause is that it doesn’t just show you where you are —
it gives you a tangible way to track your healing.
Whether you’re starting at 8 seconds or 28, every small gain is a quiet revolution inside your body.
📈 My Progress: From 10 Seconds to 21
At the start of the week, my pause was less than 10 seconds.
That’s actually quite common — especially for people living with stress, inflammation, or dysregulated breath patterns (guilty of all three).
But by the end of the week, with gentle daily practice and conscious nasal breathing, my pause had increased to over 20 seconds.
That shift is more than just a number.
It’s a reflection of what was happening inside:
- My nervous system was calming
- My heart rate was stabilising
- My body was absorbing oxygen more efficiently
- And I was returning to the rhythm I had forgotten
It’s wild to think that something so simple, something we do 20,000 times a day, could be this powerful when done with presence.
💓 What I Felt Right Away
I noticed a difference on day one.
There was a calmness that moved through me.
My body, normally wound tight, softened.
My heart rate, which had been spiking to 100–120 BPM during stress, slowed to a steady 70–85 BPM throughout the day — even during stressful events!
Doctors had been monitoring me recently for this.
My inflammation markers were high.
My nervous system overworked.
My heart rate tachycardic.
And now, with something as simple and sacred as how I breathe — I was stabilising.
No pills.
No panic.
Just breath.
⚡️ This week Life Gave Me the Perfect Test
On Monday 7th July, my 6-year-old son had to have a dental procedure under general anaesthetic.
To say I was nervous was an understatement.
Surrendering trust that my first born baby would be safe.
Handing him over to a team of strangers… felt like walking a tightrope over raw fear.
Every time I caught myself spiralling into panic, I returned to my breath.
Again and again. Slow. Soft. Steady.
It not only calmed me — it held him, too.
The staff were amazed at how calm and cooperative he was.
The anaesthetists even said,
“Well done, Mum, for raising him,” noting how rare it is for a child not to need pre-meds to stay settled.
I had to stop myself from getting a big head.
I was reminded and so thankful for my son, who teaches me daily and shows me how calm, resilient, and brave he can be.
Of course, the nurses, surgeons, and anaesthetist were incredible — their warmth and support made the experience feel far less daunting for us.
But I also saw firsthand how the breath I had been practicing quietly behind the scenes became our anchor in real life.
- It helped me co-regulate with him.
- It helped me not pass my fear onto him.
- And it reminded me: this isn’t just a personal practice.
It’s generational medicine.
🦸♀️ Breath: The Forgotten Superpower
Did you know:
- You can survive about 3–5 weeks without food
- 3–5 days without water
- But only 3–5 minutes without air
I am learning it’s not just about having oxygen,
it’s about how you breathe.
If you’re breathing through your mouth, over-breathing, sighing often, or yawning constantly,
you might actually be undermining your health — feeding anxiety, fatigue, poor digestion, and inflammation.
Buteyko isn’t the only one who knew this.
Ancient traditions have always honored the breath:
- In Sanskrit: Prāṇa — life force
- In Chinese medicine: Qì — vital energy
- In Hebrew: Roach — breath, spirit
- In Christianity: The Holy Spirit is described as the divine breath
💊 Breath as the First Medicine
We tend to think food heals.
That water cleanses.
But before the meal, before the sip… breath sustains.
It fuels every cell, regulates your nervous system, shifts your state in seconds.
It’s how you return to presence, clarity, softness, and strength.
And it’s free.
It’s always with you.
And you’ve likely forgotten how to use it fully.
So did I…
until I remembered.
💫 What I Know Now
I’m not here to say I’ll never fall off this practice again.
I might — but I hope not.
Because I now fully appreciate what it’s like to live inside a regulated breath — and I won’t forget it.
This isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about coming home.
Coming back to your own rhythm, your own medicine.
Because breath truly is the master key.
- Food feeds the body.
- Water nourishes the cells.
- But breath awakens, regulates, and sustains it all.
🏡 A Whisper Home
If you’re exhausted… overwhelmed… chasing healing through pills and plans…
Pause.
And ask yourself:
- Have I nourished myself with breath today?
- Have I paused to feel my lungs expand, to return to myself through a simple inhale?
- Have I given thanks for this quiet, constant companion that keeps me alive?
Before the food.
Before the supplements.
Before the sip —
remember the breath.
As it’s always waiting to bring you back home into your body.
🙏 Final Breath of Gratitude
To every soul who led me to this remembrance —
To Dr. Buteyko, whose legacy continues to breathe life into so many.
To Marion Rose, whose gentle words first planted the seed.
To James Nestor, who reawakened my curiosity.
To the kind and steady nurses, anaesthetists, and surgeon who supported my son with such grace…
I send you all endless gratitude and blessings.
Thank you for being vessels of the Divine.
For reminding me — and so many others — of the power that already lives within us.
May this breath continue to ripple through lives —
softly, powerfully, eternally.
And to my son…
Thank you for showing me what courage and resilience looks like.
You are already becoming a million times braver and better than I have ever been,
and it is the honour of my life
to breathe alongside you.
Home to Heart 
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