Breathwork & the Nervous System: What Happens in the Body
Why Breathwork Affects the Nervous System
Breath as a Direct Path to Regulation
Breath is one of the few things we can consciously influence that directly affects the autonomic nervous system.
Every breath you take sends signals to the body about safety, threat, activation, or rest. Different breathing rhythms create different physiological responses — calming the system, mobilising energy, or allowing release.
This is why breathwork can feel deeply calming for some, emotionally stirring for others, energising, revealing, or quietly grounding. The breath isn’t neutral - it’s information.
Breathwork works because it speaks the language of the nervous system, not the thinking mind.
👉 Read more: Nervous System Regulation: Why the Body Leads Healing
What Happens in a Breathwork Session?
A breathwork session is less about pushing, forcing, or “going somewhere” — and more about creating the conditions for the nervous system to respond naturally, in its own timing.
While every session feels different, the overall arc is often similar.
The Arc of a Breathwork Session
In my sessions — whether Breathwork in Stockholm (in person) or Breathwork Online — the breath is guided through a full nervous system cycle:
Before the Breath begins
A session usually starts with grounding, orientation, or an introduction to a theme.
The breathing technique is explained clearly, and you’re invited to listen to your body throughout the process. Curiosity is encouraged over performance, and you’re reminded that you are always in choice.
You can slow down, pause, or stop at any time.
This phase allows the nervous system to register safety before anything deeper unfolds.
Grounding
We begin by creating trust. Orientation, presence, and allowing you to feel for the surrounding.
Active Breathing & Activation
The breath gently stimulates the sympathetic system. Energy rises — what’s been held, buried, longed for, or suppressed can give space to surface. Depending on group or theme, I might guide to the under, middle or upper world, or a realm within you.
Once the breathing begins, you’re guided into a specific rhythm designed to work with the nervous system — not against it.
Depending on the style, the breath may be slow and regulating, or more active and expressive. Some techniques calm the system, while others intentionally activate energy or emotion before allowing the body to settle again.
As you breathe, sensations may arise: warmth, tingling, expansion, tightness, subtle movement. Emotions, memories, or images may surface — not because something is wrong, but because the body finally has space to respond.
There is no “right” experience.
Your nervous system leads the process.
Rest & Integration
The breathing slows and deepens. The system naturally shifts toward parasympathetic regulation, we land in our body or beyond. Through this sequence, stress responses, stored emotions, and old patterns are accessed and released — without forcing.
Every breathwork session ends with rest and this this integration phase is essential. It allows the nervous system to settle, re-organise, and absorb what has shifted. Often, the deepest regulation happens here — sometimes intense, vivid in journeys or colors, and other times still and serene.
You may feel calm, spacious, grounded, or quietly reflective.
Integration continues beyond the session itself, sometimes unfolding over hours or days.
Release, Sensation & Emotional Response
Why You Might Cry, Laugh, or Shake During Breathwork
During breathwork, the body may release stored stress responses in different ways.
Crying, shaking, tingling, heat, laughter, yawning, waves of emotion, deep stillness, or a sense of coming alive can all occur. These are natural nervous system responses — signs that energy, emotion, or tension is moving rather than being held.
Sometimes the hands might “cramp” up, or you get really stiff around your jaw, nothing dangerous, and you can read more about the Western, Eastern or Quantum insights about tetany, or claw hands, here.
When the nervous system begins to feel safe again, the body finally gets to complete what it never had space to finish feeling.
There is nothing to force or figure out. The body knows what to do when it feels safe enough.
Nothing needs to be analysed in the moment. The body knows what it’s doing when it feels supported enough.
After breathwork, people often notice subtle but meaningful changes:
a softer breath
more emotional space
clearer perception
less reactivity
a sense of being more “in” the body
Sometimes the shift is immediate. Sometimes it’s gentle and gradual.
There is no rush. Regulation happens in layers.
Breathwork Isn’t About “Fixing” — It’s About Feeling
So often, we try to fix ourselves through thinking. We analyse, plan, and try to control our way into peace.
But the nervous system doesn’t heal through thought — it heals through experience. Through breath. Through sensation. Through connection.
When you feel safe enough to feel, that’s when things shift.
Breathwork doesn’t force healing.
It creates the conditions where the nervous system can meet what’s already there — with enough safety to allow integration rather than overwhelm.
The breath doesn’t work on you.
It works with your nervous system.
Sometimes it feels less like you breathing the breath — and more like the breath breathing you. Letting go of control. Trusting the body to lead.
Why People Cry, Shake, or Feel Emotional During Breathwork
Emotional Release Is Not a Breakdown
When the nervous system feels safe enough, emotions that were once held back can move through naturally.
This doesn’t mean reliving trauma.
It means releasing stored stress responses.
The Body Leads, the Mind Follows
Many experiences in breathwork happen without words.
The body remembers what the mind couldn’t process at the time.
The breath becomes the bridge — between sensation and awareness, between holding and release.
Breathwork Is Not Hyperventilation (and Other Common Myths)
Breathwork ≠ Losing Control
You remain aware and present throughout the session.
Breathwork ≠ One Technique
There are many approaches, rhythms, and intentions — no single method defines breathwork.
Breathwork ≠ Always Calm
Sometimes regulation involves activation before settling. Calm is not the only sign of healing.
You can read more about what Breathwork is, and what it is not here
What to Expect After a Breathwork Session
Immediately or In the Days That Following
You may feel:
calm
tired
clear
open
grounded
The whole spectrum of emotions
emotional processing
insight
vivid dreams
softer reactions
gradual integration
Every nervous system integrates at its own pace.
Is Breathwork Safe for Anxiety or Trauma?
Trauma-Informed Breathwork Matters
When guided with knowledge and care, breathwork supports the nervous system in meeting old patterns without forcing or overwhelming the system.
Rather than trying to “fix” trauma, the work supports integration — creating space for new responses, self-trust, and long-term change.
👉 Explore the 12-week integrative program
👉 Read more about nervous system regulation
This Is Why Breathwork Works:
It bypasses the mind and overthinking
It can reach into the subconscious, into those tucked away places the mind seldom can
It helps release or soften tension, trauma, and survival responses held in the body
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 will assist you. It’s like cleaning out the emotional and energetic “dust” you didn’t even know you were carrying.
A Gentle Invitation
If you’re curious, you’re welcome to explore at your own pace.
🌬 Explore breathwork sessions (Stockholm & Online)
💛 Or reach out if you’re unsure where to begin
No pressure. No performance. Just presence.
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.
