Here's How We Should All Be Breathing

Breathing Isn’t Just Physiology — It’s a Learned Behavior (and most of it is unconscious)

Most people treat breathing like a knob you can turn: breathe deeper to relax, faster to energize, slower to sleep. That works… sometimes.

But breathing is also a behavior — just like your posture, the way you gesture with your hands, or how you tilt your head when you’re thinking.

Like all behaviors, your breathing habits were learned, mostly unconsciously, over years.

Some habits serve you beautifully.
Others quietly create tension, fatigue, anxiety, pain, or brain fog.

When someone says “just let go and allow your breath,” it sounds wise — but if your unconscious habit is dysfunctional, letting go actually reinforces the problem. Your body feels worse, your mind thinks “see, relaxing is dangerous,” and the habit locks in even deeper.

On the flip side, when there’s no dysfunctional habit, letting go feels amazing — energy, clarity, calm, and effortless regulation.

We all oscillate between these two states throughout life.

That’s why we don’t start with techniques. We start by gently discovering:

• What breathing habits did you learn (and when)?
• Which beliefs keep them in place?
• How do body, mind, and history all reinforce the pattern?

Only then can real, lasting freedom in breathing (and living) happen.