What Is Breathwork Really Doing? Nervous System Perspective

What Is Breathwork, Really?

A Nervous System Perspective on Healing, Energy, and Coming Home to Yourself

Many people think of breathwork as a way to relax. To calm down. To feel less anxious.

“Take a breath.”

And while that's true, it's only the beginning.

Breathwork is powerful and deeply effective. It helps you release stress, reconnect to your body, and even transform your life.

But it’s more than slowing down or breathing deeper—it’s about creating space for your system to recalibrate. To rewire. To release. To remember who you are beneath the tension.

And that shift? It doesn’t happen in your mind. It happens in your nervous system—deep within the body, even beyond words.

And why does something as simple as breathing in a certain way have such a profound effect?

Let’s break it down gently—through the lens of body, energy, emotions, brain and nervous system.

Why the Way You Breathe Matters

You breathe thousands of times a day (over 20.000 breaths!). Most of those breaths happen unconsciously, without awareness.

When you bring presence to your breath—when you begin to work with your breath, instead of ignoring or overriding it—something opens. Something shifts. This is breathwork: the intentional use of breath to regulate, reset, and release what’s stored in the body.

It’s not just a technique. It’s a somatic practice that connects you with your emotional world, your nervous system, and your energy field. It creates space. It invites presence. And it activates the body's natural ability to heal.

Your Breath & Your Nervous System

Understanding the Nervous System

The nervous system is your body's command center. It decides whether you're in survival (fight-flight-freeze) or in connection (rest-digest-heal). Whether you feel calm or tense, grounded or overwhelmed.

When you're stressed, your breath changes.

But here’s the magic—when you consciously change your breath, you can send a signal back to the system: It’s okay to soften. You’re safe now.

There are two branches to focus on:

• The sympathetic nervous system: Activates the “fight or flight” response. It’s activated when the body perceives danger or stress. Fast breathing, racing heart, and muscle tension are common here.

• The parasympathetic nervous system: Can bring you into “rest and digest.” It brings relaxation, digestion, restoration, and deep healing.

Breath is one of the only tools that can intentionally shift you between these two states. That’s why it's so powerful for emotional regulation, nervous system repair, and energy healing.

This Is Why Breathwork Works:

• It bypasses the mind and overthinking

• It reaches into the subconscious

• It helps release tension, trauma, and survival responses held in the body

Why We Stay Stuck in Stress

Modern life is full of micro-stressors. From rushing to work, checking your phone constantly, or holding back your emotions in relationships- it all adds up. Holding your breath- emotionally and physically - without even noticing.

Over time, this becomes your “normal.”

You may feel anxious, overwhelmed, or wired—but unable to fully rest.

Even when you're safe, your body doesn't always know it's safe.

This is where breathwork acts as a reset.

It sends signals to your nervous system that you’re okay. That it’s safe to slow down.

That you don’t have to brace anymore.

Neuroplasticity: Rewiring the Way You Feel

Your brain is always adapting. That’s called neuroplasticity.

When you breathe with awareness - especially during emotional release or deep relaxation- you’re giving your brain and body a new experience.

And it means every experience shapes the way you feel, react, and connect.

When you breathe with awareness—especially during emotional release or deep rest—you’re teaching your system:

• That safety is possible

• That an emotion can move through without breaking you

• That the old loops don’t have to run the show

Healing doesn’t begin through control—it begins through felt experience.

Why You Can’t Think Your Way Out of Overwhelm

Our body stores what your mind can't process.

That knot in your chest. The shallow breath. The tight jaw. These are not random. They’re signals. Memories. Held energy.

Breath work helps you access that energy.

When you breathe intentionally, the body often begins to release emotions or sensations that have been held for years—sometimes without words, just through feeling.

You don’t need to explain it or figure it all out. You don’t need to fix or analyse it. You just need to feel it.

The Breath as a Bridge

The Breath can be the bridge:

• Between the conscious and the subconscious

• Between survival and surrender

• Between the body and the mind

• Between the conscious self and the soul self

Through breathwork, you can move from protection to connection. From control to curiosity. From stuckness to flow.

Curious to dive deeper into how breathwork supports the brain?

Browse more insights on holistic health and self-healing.

What Happens in a Breathwork Session?

There are many forms of breath work—from gentle, soothing rhythms to more activating, intense journeys.

In my sessions, whether Breathwork Stockholm (in person) or Breathwork Online, we use patterns that safely guide you through a full arc:

1. Grounding - we begin by create trust.

2. Activation – Continue to stimulating the sympathetic system. This brings energy to the surface —what’s been held, buried, or hidden.

3. Surrender – Once the energy has been stirred, we move into deeper, slower breathing. This shifts the body into parasympathetic mode.

4. Integration – We close in stillness, letting the body rewire itself with new awareness, safety, and softness.

Through this sequence, we access and release stress, stored emotions, and old mental patterns.

Why You Might Cry, Laugh, or Shake during Breathwork?

It’s not uncommon to cry, yawn, feel tingles, or even laugh during breathwork. You might yawn, sigh, or feel your body come alive. This is not “weird”—it’s healing or accessing energy that’s been trapped in the body.

When your nervous system starts to feel safe again, the body finally gets to move it through. Your nervous system is recalibrating, releasing, rebalancing and body is letting go of what it never got to finish feeling. You don’t need to force it or figure it out. No need to “do it right.”
You just have to breathe.

Breathwork Isn’t About “Fixing” — It’s About Feeling

So often, we try to fix ourselves through thinking. We analyze and plan. We strategize and try to control our way into peace.

But your nervous system doesn’t heal through thought—it heals through experience. Through breath. Through emotion. Through connection.
When you feel safe to feel, that’s when things shift.
Breathwork offers a space where you don’t need to have the words.
You just need to be willing to feel.

Is This You? How Breathwork Supports You

People come to breathwork for many different reasons. You might recognize yourself in one (or many) of these:

• You’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious and don’t know how to calm down

• You feel numb or stuck in your head, disconnected from your body

• You’re holding onto old emotions or patterns you can’t think your way out of

• You’ve done talk therapy or coaching, but sense there’s something deeper that wants to move

• You want to reconnect with your intuition and energy

• You’re longing to feel free again

Breathwork helps you:

• Release stress stored in the body

• Reduce anxiety through nervous system regulation

• Clear stagnant energy and rewire old emotional patterns

• Increase presence and emotional awareness

• Deepen your connection to self, body, and inner truth

It’s like cleaning out the emotional and energetic “dust” you didn’t even know you were carrying.

Ready to Experience Breathwork in Stockholm or Online?

Wherever you are in the world, this work is for you.

✦ Breathwork Stockholm

Join a small in-person group at Studio Hember, Döbelnsgatan.

These sessions are grounded, intuitive, and often include Reiki energy healing or Tarot for added depth.

No experience needed. Just come as you are.

✦ Breathwork Online

Prefer to stay cozy at home? These live sessions offer a sacred container for deep emotional release, nervous system support, and reconnection.

You’ll be guided gently into your body using a specific breathing pattern that brings clarity, softness, and calm.

A Final Word

Your breath is not just air.
It’s a bridge. Between mind and body. Between now and what’s next. Between who you’ve been—and who you’re becoming. You don’t have to be calm to begin. You don’t need to feel ready. You just need to be willing.

Take one breath. And let it lead the way.

Curious to Try?

🌬 Explore Breathwork Stockholm – Join a powerful in-person session infused with energy healing and soul connection.

🌐 Join Breathwork Online – Access deep, supportive sessions from anywhere in the world.

💫 Book a 1:1 Session – Personalized guidance to move through overwhelm, release emotional weight, or reconnect with your truth.

💛 Not sure where to start? Just reach out. I’d love to hear from you.

Join Kia for Breathwork in Stockholm at Studio Hember. This is a safe space for you to travel within, release what needs to be released and open for more space and things to come.