The way you breathe is the way you think. The way you think is the way you breathe. – Sadhguru

The Familiar Cycle of Crisis

I’m a natural thinker—it’s both my gift and my challenge.

My mind loves to explore ideas, analyze situations, and dive deep into understanding. I can process thoughts with clarity and insight that often surprises even me. But sometimes, this mental gift becomes a double-edged sword. What starts as productive reflection can spiral into endless loops of analysis.

People often tell me it’s because I’m an air sign—that deep thinking comes with the astrological territory. There might be wisdom in that perspective, but I’ve learned that understanding why something happens is only the first step toward transformation.

Some time back, I found myself at another all-too-familiar crossroad.

The Meeting That Changed Everything

Just seven days earlier, everything had seemed so certain.

My new boss had called me with promising news—a permanent position with the company after years of contract work. I was elated. Finally, stability. The long nights to meet project deadlines seemed to have paid off. The validation that my work mattered.

Everything seemed to be going exactly as planned.

Until it wasn’t.

When the Floor Disappears

Another meeting appeared on my calendar the following week. No agenda, no context. Just thirty minutes blocked with my boss and someone I’d never met.

That someone turned out to be from HR.

“I’m sorry to inform you that due to budgeting constraints, we’ll have to let you go.”

The words hung in the air like smoke. I sat there, my face a calm mask while my insides collapsed. It was surreal. One week promising permanence, the next delivering precisely the opposite.

I remember logging off that meeting in a daze, unsure of what I’d even said in response. Had I managed a weak “It was great working with you all”? I wasn’t certain. And at that moment, it didn’t matter.

I was back to square one.

Jobless.

The Unwelcome Return of an Old Friend

The days that followed brought a predictable emotional journey: relief (no more uncertainty), excitement (finally I had some time for myself), disappointment (what could I have done differently?), anger (how could they promise one thing and deliver another?), anxiety (what am I going to do?) and finally—

Depression. My old friend had returned.

Days blurred into each other, then weeks into months. I sent hundreds of applications, reached out to every professional contact in my network, and waited.

Several interviews later – crickets.

I travelled a bit, spent time with friends, did all the odd jobs around the house I could think of. Cleaned every corner. Organized the drawers and closets.

Nothing helped.

Soon enough, the depression became unbearable. The questions haunted me like shadows that grow longer as the day fades:

Was it something I had done? Why didn’t I see it coming? – After all I had done for the ‘team’!

Now that I had time, sleep abandoned me. Peace felt like a distant memory.

The Pattern Recognition Moment

Then, in the midst of this darkness, clarity arrived: I had been here before.

When I lost previous jobs, when lovers had broken my heart, when friends had betrayed me, and when grief came for the ones I loved.

This wasn’t new territory—it was a familiar landscape of pain I had navigated before. And in that recognition came the most important realization:

I already knew exactly what to do.

The Salvation of Dropping Down

When the mind spins out of control, the body offers sanctuary.

I had to drop to my body and routines—it was the only way through. Sure, I had routines before but having too much time had eroded some of the discipline and even though outwardly I appeared structured, internally the accumulation of stress had created chaos within.

The brilliance of this approach is its simplicity: The daily routine keeps you grounded when your thoughts want to carry you away into catastrophe. Dropping to your body allows you to detach from the mental chaos and simply feel what is happening in the present moment.

It sounds deceptively simple because it is:

The Morning Anchor

Every morning, without negotiation:

• Prayer (connecting to something larger than my problems)
• Three variations of breathwork (scientifically proven to regulate the nervous system)
• Gentle body stretching (bringing awareness to the physical vessel carrying me through this storm)

Total time: 30 minutes Benefit: Inner calm

The Structure That Saves

Throughout each day:

• Maintain working/eating schedule 
• Wake up at the same time
• Take lunch at normal hours
• End the “workday” decisively

Benefit: Structure creates safety when everything else feels uncertain

The Gradual Return to Self

Slowly, I started coming back to myself.

The panic subsided first. Then my thinking began to clear, like fog burning off a morning lake. The situation remained difficult, yes—but I could survive it. I always had before.

When You Don’t Know What to Do

If you find yourself lost in the labyrinth of your thoughts, remember these two principles that can guide you back:

1. Drop to your body. Exercise is powerful—especially for someone like me who finds solace in lifting weights, but its relief is often short-lived. After a workout, my thoughts would rush back in, just as loud and unruly as before.

Breathwork, on the other hand, offers something different. It’s like a bubble bath for the mind—not because the thoughts disappear, but because their sharp edges soften. The panic dissolves. There is a soft detachment.

I turned to breathwork because traditional meditation has always felt out of reach. But what I found is that breathwork holds the same essence—stillness, awareness, release—just in a form that feels more alive and accessible.

The Ancient Science of Sacred Breath

Eastern wisdom traditions have always understood this: breath is the bridge between body and spirit, the vehicle for transmuting emotional energy.

In yogic philosophy, pranayama means “extension of life force” and refers to the regulation of breath through specific techniques and exercises. It’s no coincidence I felt drawn to it. After exploring various breathing methods, I still find Eastern traditions the most compelling. Conscious breathing isn’t just about moving air—it’s the intentional flow of life force through the body.

The Taoist masters called this cultivation qi (vital energy) and understood that controlled breathing harmonizes the three dantians—energy centers that govern physical vitality, emotional balance, and spiritual clarity. Buddhist meditation texts describe anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) as the foundation practice that leads to liberation from suffering – exactly what I needed.

But here’s what these ancient traditions knew that we’ve forgotten: emotions are energy in motion. When we suppress or avoid difficult feelings, we create energetic blockages that manifest as physical tension, mental loops, and spiritual disconnection.

Conscious breathing becomes the vehicle that helps release these blockages—guiding energy through the body and restoring flow where it once stalled.

The Alchemy of Emotional Transmutation

Breathwork serves as emotional alchemy—transforming the raw energy of pain, fear, or anger into wisdom and resilience.

Each conscious breath activates the parasympathetic nervous system, shifting you from fight-or-flight into rest-and-digest mode. This isn’t just relaxation; it’s physiological transformation. Your heart rate variability improves, cortisol levels drop, and your vagus nerve—the body’s primary pathway for healing—becomes activated.

During deep breathing, something significant occurs in the brain: the prefrontal cortex (responsible for higher thinking) comes back online while the amygdala (fear center) calms down. This neurological shift allows you to witness your emotions rather than be consumed by them.

It’s no wonder the Navy SEALs place such emphasis on breathwork—they’re trained to harness their breathing to manage stress in the most high-stakes situations. When lives are on the line, clear, logical thinking isn’t optional—it’s essential. And that clarity begins with the breath. A calm, steady breath becomes the anchor that steadies the mind.

The mystic journey requires this capacity for witness consciousness. As the Sufi poet Rumi wrote, “You are not just the drop in the ocean, but the entire ocean in each drop.” Breathwork helps you access this expansive awareness.

The Gateway to Stillness

When we close our eyes and breathe deeply, we enter a natural meditative state. The breath becomes an anchor for attention, drawing consciousness away from the mental storms and into the present moment.

This is where the teaching emerges: everything left alone returns to its origin.

Emotions, when neither suppressed nor amplified, naturally dissolve back into the stillness from which they arose. Thoughts, when not pursued or rejected, settle like sediment in still water. The agitated mind, when given space through conscious breathing, remembers its original peaceful nature.

Each breath becomes a return journey to your essential self. In the space between inhalation and exhalation, you touch the same silence that mystics have accessed for centuries—the pregnant void from which all creation springs and to which it returns.

2. Maintaining strict schedules provides external structure when your internal world feels like it’s collapsing. They create boundaries that hold you when you cannot hold yourself.

It’s fascinating how even our pets mirror our need for structure. When a dog can’t rely on you to maintain a consistent routine, it quickly decides you’re not the leader—and your little fur baby turns into a little nightmare. Behavioral issues start to surface. Dogs crave leadership and clear boundaries. Our minds are no different. Without structure, they too become restless and disorderly, drifting into chaos.

Combined with conscious breathing, this structure creates space for what the mystics call dhyana—effortless awareness that arises when the mind stops grasping. 

The Mind Returns as Ally

In Hermetism, the first law is the principle of mentalism—the idea that the world is shaped by thought. If thoughts create our reality, and breath clears our thoughts, then it makes sense to begin any life change with the breath.

Once your mind clears through these practices, something happens: the very thinking that once tormented you becomes your greatest ally again.

Perspective returns. Solutions appear. Creativity awakens.

You remember the most important truth of all:

You’ve been here before. You’ve survived before. You’ll make it through this time too.

When chaos returns—and it will—drop to your body. It carries the memory of calm when your mind has forgotten.