Meeting Myself Through Breath

“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Do you remember the last time you took a deep breath? And I mean a truly deep and nourishing breath. A breath that you feel in every cell of your body. When was the last time for you? Can you remember?

For me, I didn't realize I hadn't taken a truly deep breath in longer than I could remember, until I actually took that really deep breath.

My journey with breath began in an unexpected moment during a network chiropractic session.

What is network chiropractic? Let's start here just to give some background. Network chiropractic, or Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) is a very specific chiropractic technique that does NOT involve any cracking, like your typical chiropractor. Rather, it's a method using light pressure on the spine (NO cracking or jolting movements), combined with energy work, to relieve pain and help facilitate the natural flow of energies throughout the body.

And so for me, it wasn't a dramatic epiphany or a planned discovery - it was a simple, deep breath that changed everything. And once I got a taste of what that deep breath felt like - I needed to explore further.

This wasn't just about breathing mechanics. I had been holding everything in so tight, unconsciously taking shallow breaths that barely skimmed the surface of my lungs, and in that moment I understood this pattern reflected something much, much deeper.

Our breathing patterns often mirror our emotional patterns - my shallow breathing was intrinsically connected to years of suppressed emotions and unprocessed experiences that I had been unconsciously holding within my body.

You see, when we experience difficult emotions or trauma, one of our body's natural responses is to restrict our breath.

It's a survival mechanism - we unconsciously limit our breathing to limit our feeling. By taking shallow breaths, we're essentially telling our body to stay in a state of subtle tension, keeping those deeper emotions safely tucked away. The problem is, this pattern often continues long after the initial need for protection has passed.

Diaphragmatic breathing - the kind of deep, full breath that I rediscovered that day - does something remarkable to our nervous system. It activates our vagus nerve, the main highway of our parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us shift from a state of tension and guardedness into one of safety and openness. This physiological shift creates a foundation for emotional release and processing.

As I began paying more conscious attention to my breath, I discovered its power to shift my mood states and bring me back to center in moments of overwhelm. I learned that I was able to ground myself.

One thing I didn't expect was how this initial discovery would lead me down a much deeper path. When I came across a breathwork facilitator training, it felt like more than coincidence - it was an intuitive calling I quite literally could not ignore.

The type of breathwork I ultimately trained in (a derivative form of holotropic breathwork) opened my eyes to breath's profound capacity for transformation. On a physiological level, specific breathing patterns can influence everything from our nervous system to our blood chemistry, creating conditions in our body that support deep emotional processing and release. But beyond the science, I discovered breath as a gateway to parts of myself I had never accessed before. It was the exact combination of science and spirituality that I had been searching for.

Through my own consistent practice, breath has become my most reliable tool for navigating difficult emotions and processing old wounds. It's been my anchor in storms of anxiety, my guide through layers of stored trauma, and my pathway to spiritual experiences I'm still learning to put into words. But perhaps most importantly, it's shown me that everything we need for healing already exists within us. It really does.

This is what moved me to become a facilitator - not because I have all the answers, but because I've experienced firsthand the profound healing that becomes possible when we learn to work with our breath. There's a deeper intelligence at work within each of us, and breath is one of our most powerful tools for accessing it. Sometimes we just need a little help finding our way back to that inner wisdom, and that's where I come in.

I believe that each person is their own greatest healer, and nobody can heal you better than your own soul. The answers you seek are already within you - sometimes they're just buried under layers of protection that made sense at one time but may no longer serve you. Breath can help us gently dissolve these layers, creating space for whatever needs to emerge.

This blog will be a space where I share both the science and soul of breathwork - practical tools alongside personal insights, biological mechanisms alongside transformational experiences. Because breath isn't just about breathing - it's about coming home to ourselves, one conscious inhale, and exhale, at a time.

Keep following Inhexhale for more insights on using breathwork to navigate our complex emotional landscapes. May your breath guide you home to yourself.

xx,

Ally