How often do you think about your breathing? Probably not often. It’s one of those things our nervous system controls without our noticing.

When you’re stressed, scared, nervous, or angry, have you noticed the rhythm of your breathing changes? It does! That’s your sympathetic nervous system, which is sometimes called the “fight or flight” system.

When this system is activated, our breathing becomes quick and shallow, which is fine for short periods, but we want to move out of that mode pretty quickly and activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which is all about rest, healing, and digestion.