Breathwork to Break Through: Resetting Your Nervous System Fast + Meditation

Breath is one of the most overlooked yet powerful tools for emotional regulation and nervous system healing. When the body is overwhelmed, triggered, or stuck in survival mode, the breath is often the first thing to change — and the fastest way back to safety.

In this episode of Heal Within, I explore how intentional breathwork can help reset the nervous system, interrupt stress and trauma responses, and bring the body out of fight, flight, or freeze. Breath becomes a direct bridge between the conscious and subconscious mind, offering a gentle yet effective way to restore balance from the inside out.

This episode also includes a guided healing meditation designed to support regulation, grounding, and a felt sense of calm and stability in the body.

You don’t have to push through healing.
 Sometimes, the breakthrough begins with a single breath.

With love,
 Dr. Evette Rose 🌿

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Intention Setting
• 1:13 Why Breath Shapes Healing
• 2:00 How Trauma Alters Breathing
• 4:33 Amygdala, Vagus Nerve, And CO2
• 7:12 Breaking The Trauma Loop With Breath
• 10:56 Metaphysical Lens On Breath And Intuition
• 11:56 Guided Breath Practice Setup
• 16:40 Butterfly Tapping And Affirmations
• 23:07 Closing Reflections And Gentle Return
• 28:58 Share, Breathe, And Next Steps

Transcript

Speaker: 0:06

Hi and welcome. Welcome here to Heal Within with me, Dr. Evette Rose, trauma therapist and also creator of Metaphysical Anatomy Technique. And this podcast is your safe place to explore emotional healing, nervous system repair, and also a very deep inert transformation. And if you're ready to go deeper and you would like to be supported in your journey, you can always also book a one-on-one session with me or with any of my certified metapsychology coaching practitioners and join also our upcoming live healing events, workshops, or retreats at metaphysicalanatomy.com. Now, let's begin your journey back to wholeness. One breath and one breakthrough at a time. In this episode, we're going to explore something incredibly powerful, yet sometimes very much overlooked. Because we do it every day, sometimes in most cases, without even thinking about it. And that is breathing. Not just for survival, but also we're gonna look how can we use something as simple as our breath for emotional regulation, trauma release, and also restoring your nervous system back to safety. I really have to say that breath work has been such an integral part of my healing journey, and it's so diverse. You can add it to any type of practice. You can add it to your yoga practice, your Reiki classes, your even, you know, my technique, metaphysical anatomy technique. I incorporated a few short breath works there in between as well. It is so powerful and really truly very impactful. So we're gonna talk today in this episode about how trauma can really change our breath. It changes how we breathe. And then how breath can actually also reverse the trauma's impact on our brain, our hormones, and also our emotional patterns. You see, breath is by far the fastest way to communicate with your autonomic nervous system because it can shut down anxiety, you know, those signals within seconds. It can interrupt trauma cycles that keep looping subconsciously. Now, what I mean by trauma cycles, when we have these unexpected events sometimes happening in our environment, and it triggers a deep subconscious fear and stress in your body. Your body has this biochemical reaction, you don't feel good, you know something's going on, but you just cannot put your finger on what it is. You see, what we're going to highlight in today's episode is that breath gives us direct access to a vagus nerve. And our vagus nerve is a very important nerve because it helps to regulate our body and our organs, and it has so many other factors as well. And it's also connected to our amygdala, which is our panic button. You see, our breath can really truly can help you so much because it's the fastest regulator of the fight, flight, and freeze response. Right? And our breath, it also bridges, it's like a bridge between the conscious and the subconscious mind as well. And it has a positive impact on trauma imprints. Because when there's trauma imprints that are activated, you might have noticed that you have shallow breaths, right? Very fast, very high chest breathing. And healing is going to require us to gently start to reverse this pattern of how we breathe consciously. You see, before we go into techniques, let's understand also what actually happens in your brain and also when trauma and stress starts to take over. You see, I want to touch just briefly on the neuroscience of what trauma does to your breathing. You see, we're gonna break it into very simple, impactful scientific steps. Number one, amygdala rewires your breath through the brainstem, and the brain stem actually controls your automatic breath, and trauma sensitizes it. And now what happens is this default becomes hyper-vigilant, right? We have hyper-vigilant breathing, and breath can as a result become really short, it becomes fast, really shallow, which signals danger to the body. And then the amygdala, which is the panic button in our brain, this alters breathing rhythm. Now, what does that mean? You see, trauma overactivates the amygdala, and this causes faster breathing, and this tells the body that we are not safe. So it creates this really unhealthy loop. This anxious breath equals to anxious brain, which equals also an anxious body. And our vagus nerve tone drops. Now, trauma reduces also that vagal tone, right? So a low vagal tone equals digestive problems, inflammation, emotional reactivity. You see, breath work also mechanically stimulates the vagus nerve endings. And what's really interesting now also is when we look at the CO2 imbalance that's being triggered, creating panic. Because trouble causes chronic overbreathing, right? That's that hidden hyperventilation. Two mux oxygen plus too little CO2 equals dizziness, tingling, and panic. Now, breath work helps to restore the CO2 tolerance window. Now, what happens is when we have slow diaphragmatic breathing, this equals serotonin, this equals dopamine and also oxytocin pathways that can start to heighten. So you see, breath literally shifts your chemistry from survival to safety. So trauma, as we understand, changes our breath. But breath work actually helps to take our power back. So we can really start to unlock these trauma loops and also create safety from inside out. So what's really interesting for me about breath work and trauma, when we start to look at these trauma cycles, when they start to cycle, we have the trigger, we have body tension, we have fast breathing that then starts, and the brain perceives threat. So emotions intensify, and the loop it repeats. So breathing consciously, it really can upgrade our autonomic responses. Slow exhale means we are safe. Breath during stress stabilizes the sympathetic overactivation. And breathing during sadness, it actually activates the and ensues the parasympathetic nervous system. You see, breath really helps to move stuck trauma out of the fascia and also the organs, because the fascia contracts when we are in a state of chronic stress. Breath, this creates expansion and micromovement, starts to unwind these emotional imprints that's stuck in the body. And your organs, your organs, they soften, the diaphragm unlocks, and blood flow improves. You see, the body then stops holding the memory, and then when our breath gently starts to reset the default survival patterns in our body. So the fight response is stabilized, the flight response is slowed down, and the freeze dissociation response. This is when we can use our breath, and the sensation brings reconnection. Have you ever noticed when you feel anxious or stressed or panicky or you feel really heavy, really sad, you feel very disconnected from your environment. And that disconnection also creates even more stress because we're actually designed to feel connected. So breath work can actually help to restabilize that and recreate and re-establish a sense of connection. I also want to add here for you a metaphysical layer to this when we start to look at breath work. Remember that breath is our life force and trauma is constriction. So breath breaks the emotional membrane that really keeps trauma frozen. And breath reopens also intuitive channels. So when the survival brain is more quiet, our intuitive brain awakens. And that's why breath can really truly help to restore your inner guidance. Because for me, I personally have noticed how we can use breath work, especially when you breathe in the nose, out the nose 13 times. Last breath you hold as long as you can, especially when you feel you need guidance. This for me, by far, has been the most powerful technique and just one moment of breath work that you can do to help you to reconnect. So when I feel my intuition is blocked, or when I work with a client and I feel blocked, it's a beautiful process to use to relax, but also to come back into your inner voice, into your intuitive flow, to be able to be more receptive to intuitive messages, be more receptive to how your client or a person that you are with is feeling. It really brings you safely back into your intuition but also your emotions. And so now I would love to take you through a very gentle healing meditation that can now also help you to start to reset your nervous system. But I would like to also at the same time help you to rewire your subconscious mind more for safety. And what we're gonna do is yeah, let's do that, let's get started. I invite you now to start by just taking a nice deep breath. Very good. And notice now, just as you're breathing, just gentle, normal, consistent breaths. Notice as they breathe as you breathe, as your body is moving with you. And as your body is moving with you, notice and see if you can become so still that you can feel your heartbeat without putting your hands on your heart. And notice as you're doing that, how by just focusing on your breath, how you're gently slowly starting to feel like your conscious awareness is called back into your body. And notice as you are in that space, notice now perhaps where do you where in your life or maybe where in your body do you feel unsettled? Where do you feel stressed? Where could it be that you might feel anxious, upset? Noticing that now. Or a fear. Maybe something happened that unsettled you. I invite you now to bring your full focus and awareness to your body. Whatever that thought or emotion is, event or incident. Notice where in your body do you feel the impact of it? Where do you feel your awareness is just spontaneously drawn to I invite you now to bring your full focus and awareness to that area where you feel that stress, where you feel that nervousness or discomfort, or upset, or tension. And I invite you now. We're gonna start our breath work, and how we're going to do that is we're gonna breathe in the mouth, out the nose 13 times, and on the last breath, we'll hold it as long as you feel comfortable, and during that time, you're also going to affirm a positive affirmation that feels in alignment with you, somewhere along the lines of I am safe in my body right now, in this very moment, or it can be anything along the lines of feeling safe if you feel that's the best affirmation for you, or it can be I feel calm in my body, or I welcome calmness into my body, anything that makes you feel that this is the right statement for me for today. Very good, and so now let's gently start. We're gonna breathe, take a nice deep breath in the mouth, out the nose, breathe in the mouth, out the nose, breathe in the mouth, out the nose, breath in the mouth, out the nose, breathe in the mouth, out the nose, breathe in the mouth, out the nose, breathe in the mouth, and out the nose, breathe in the mouth, and out the nose, breathe in the mouth, out the nose, breathe in the mouth, and out the nose. You might feel dizzy at this point, and that's normal. Breathe in the mouth, and out the nose. Breathe in the mouth and out the nose. Last deep breath in the mouth and hold your breath. Hold it as long as you feel comfortable. And when you can't hold it anymore, it's important exhale out your nose. It must be out your nose. And that calmness that's coming forward now. Take it in. Fingertips each touch the side of your shoulders, or you can just simply put your hands on your on your legs, or you can just tap on your arms, whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Okay. I normally like the butterfly, I call it the butterfly tap, palaro. And so let's just start tapping, just find your rhythm. Just tap left, right, left, right, left, right. And also tap at your own pace. It doesn't have to be fast, just a nice, gentle pace that's comfortable for you. And now's a good moment to think of that positive affirmation we talked about earlier. It can either be, I am safe in my body now, or I embrace the stillness that I feel now. I am safe here right now. I invite the calmness into my body, whatever you feel best. Just silently or out loud affirm that for yourself. Continue to tap. And we're going to do this for about a minute or two. Whatever you feel you need right now. Very good. And now you're welcome to continue to tap if you wish to. I'm going to affirm now a few positive affirmations that you can just listen to and just allowing your subconscious mind to just take in what you feel is in resonance with you. My body is allowed to feel safe now. Every breath I take brings my nervous system back into balance. I release the stress responses that no longer serve me. My body knows how to return to calm, and I allow it. Safety lives inside of me, and I can access it at any time. I soften the places in my body that learn to brace for impact. I allow myself to slow down and receive support. My breath is my anchor, guiding me back to peace. I choose gentleness over survival mode. My nervous system is learning new patterns of ease and comfort. I'm worthy of calmness and clarity and emotional safety. It is safe for me to relax. The tension that I've carried for years is gently leaving my body. I honor the messages that my body gives me, and I respond with self-love and self-compassion. With each inhale, I release fear. I allow my nervous system to gently rewire with ease and with grace. My body's healing on days even when I cannot feel it. I trust in my body's ability to restore its natural rhythm. I allow peace to settle into every single cell of my body. I'm no longer at war within myself. I am safe within myself. My nervous system is learning now that the world is safe enough for me to rest. Very good. And just gently starting to bring your focus and your awareness to the surface beneath your body. Feeling fully supported by it. Bringing your full focus and awareness to the bottom of your fate. Slowly starting to come back into the room, into the here and now. Giving yourself a nice big stretch. And welcome back. Well done. Well done. And remember that you're not alone. You are healing one step at a time, one breath at a time. And healing affirmation for today is your body is healing even on days that you cannot feel it. So remember, if this episode touched you, then please share it with someone that's maybe also on their healing journey. And as always, breathe deep, listen within, and stay gently curious. I love you, and until next time, be the light that you are. Bye for now.