Practical Breathwork for Stress, Trauma & Longevity

In this second half of our conversation with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Helen Lavretsky (UCLA, Director of Integrative Psychiatry), we move from the science of breathwork into the practical tools you can use today to calm stress, regulate emotions, and even support trauma healing.

Building on Part One, where we explored how conscious breathing affects telomere length, gene expression, and brain function, this episode focuses on accessible breathwork practices that anyone can integrate into their daily routine. Whether you are a busy caregiver, navigating trauma, or simply seeking more resilience in a stressful world, Dr. Lavretsky shares techniques that are powerful, simple, and free.

From box breathing (3-3-3-3) and the widely used 4-7-8 method to energizing practices like Breath of Fire and cooling pranayama for hot flashes, listeners will learn how to apply different approaches depending on whether they need grounding, calm, energy, or relief from stored stress. Dr. Lavretsky also introduces playful exercises like frog breathing, which can lighten mood and even help children regulate emotions.

We also dive into breathwork as a tool for trauma recovery. Through guided visualization, grounding, and golden light imagery, she shows how breath can safely access and release stored trauma without overwhelming the body. This empowers individuals to heal on their own terms and reclaim their inner resilience.

✨ Why This Matters
 Modern life leaves us disconnected, anxious, and searching outward for solutions. Breathwork is an ancient yet scientifically validated practice that reconnects us to our bodies, regulates the nervous system, and gives us a way to manage anxiety, depression, PTSD, and everyday stress. Best of all, it’s always available — anytime, anywhere.

By the end of this episode, you’ll understand how to:

• Use short breathing resets in stressful moments
• Commit to 10 minutes daily for lasting transformation
• Empower yourself to manage anxiety, trauma, and mood without relying only on medication
• Rebuild your mind-body connection and trust in your own body’s wisdom
  
  

Join Dr. Supatra Tovar and Dr. Helen Lavretsky for this inspiring, hands-on guide to breathwork that will leave you feeling calmer, stronger, and more in control of your well-being.

 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Box breathing (3-3-3-3) for grounding and vagus nerve activation
• The 4-7-8 breathing method for sleep and stress relief
• Energizing Breath of Fire for vitality and detoxification
• Cooling pranayama for hot flashes and heat regulation
• Frog breathing for joy, laughter, and mood release
• How breathwork supports trauma recovery and stored emotional release
• Daily routines: from one-minute resets to 10-minute sustained practices
• Why breathwork empowers patients beyond traditional psychiatry
  
  

📌 Resources & Links

📖 Read the book:

Thank you for joining us on this journey to wellness. Remember, the insights and advice shared on the ANEW Body Insight Podcast are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine. To learn more about the podcast and stay updated on new episodes, visit ANEW Body Insight Podcast at anew-insight.com. To watch this episode on YouTube, visit @my.anew.insight. Follow us on social media at @my.anew.insight on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads for more updates and insights. Thank you for tuning in! Stay connected with us for more empowering stories and expert guidance. Until next time, stay well and keep evolving with ANEW Body Insight!

Transcript

dr--supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:00

Welcome back. We are back for the second half of our interview with esteemed psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Dr. Helen Lavretsky. Dr. Lavretsky gave us some amazing insight into her extensive background, her research and how breath work dramatically changes our mental and physical health. I know you, uh, went over a few of them during your, um, talk at, uh, the APA conference. Give us an idea of some, some typical breath work practices that people can look into. That would take you to five breaths per minute, so it would be 12 second pair of breathing cycle. Inhale. Exhale. Withholding the holding is important for activation of vagus nerve.. So, um, I usually, especially, uh, older patients, um, I just ask them to put a, a clock with the second hand and follow the second hand, three seconds, three seconds, three seconds, three second, have a nice chime, uh, clock that tells you, you don't have to watch it, but it tells you to switch the breaths. Uh, uh, but I can count. Do you wanna practice? Like I, I would show you how I do it with patients, for instance.

squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:03

So, uh, close your eyes and I will count. Settle in your chair, feel grounded. That's another, uh, important component, especially if you are asking grounding. the, the best way I found to do it is to imagine anchoring, uh, sending an anchor from your tailbone to the center of the earth. And kind of grounds you or, uh, if you're sitting on the ground, uh, floor or grass, just imagine being one or having roots that would connect you to the Earth. And Mother Earth is what supports you. Your body is of the earth elements. And, uh, you could, uh, talk to the earth about, uh, feeding your needs, you know, like healing, you, exchanging nutrition and negative ions or whatever else makes you healthier. So that's an element of meditation that is absolutely necessary because we're so flighty now, uh, from all the anxiety and also electronic devices, electronic devices, um, and uh, electromagnetic field. Really, um, uh, disrupts our connection to the earth. And because we live in urban areas, we're so devoid of con uh, uh, connecting to nature or mother earth. So I send people to the beach to go barefoot. Or just imagine if you can't go anywhere you are in a meeting. Let's say you are anchoring yourself, visualize, uh, dropping an anchor to the center of the earth first, closing your eyes or not. And then I'm gonna count. Inhale, inhale, inhale. Hold, hold, hold. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Hold, hold, hold. Inhale, inhale, inhale. Hold, hold, hold, hold. Exhale. Exhale, exhale. Hold, hold, hold. Inhale, inhale, Inhale. Hold, hold, hold. Exhale, exhale, exhale.. Hold, hold, hold. So do you feel even three breaths kind of calms you down and you feel cooler? kind of grounds you or, uh, if you're sitting on the ground, uh, floor or grass, just imagine being one or having roots that would connect you to the Earth. And Mother Earth is what supports you. Your body is of the earth elements. And, uh, you could, uh, talk to the earth about, uh, feeding your needs, you know, like healing, you, exchanging nutrition and negative ions or whatever else makes you healthier. So that's an element of meditation that is absolutely necessary because we're so flighty now, uh, from all the anxiety and also electronic devices, electronic devices, um, and uh, electromagnetic field. Really, um, uh, disrupts our connection to the earth. And because we live in urban areas, we're so devoid of con uh, uh, connecting to nature or mother earth. So I send people to the beach to go barefoot. Or just imagine if you can't go anywhere you are in a meeting. Let's say you are anchoring yourself, visualize, uh, dropping an anchor to the center of the earth first, closing your eyes or not. And then I'm gonna count. Inhale, inhale, inhale. Hold, hold, hold. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Hold, hold, hold. Inhale, inhale, inhale. Hold, hold, hold, hold. Exhale. Exhale, exhale. Hold, hold, hold. Inhale, inhale, Inhale. Hold, hold, hold. Exhale, exhale, exhale.. Hold, hold, hold. So do you feel even three breaths kind of calms you down and you feel cooler? So, you know, if you are in a stressful situation, you uh, must control your emotions immediately, even like the three breaths would reset you, or one breath intentional. To reset,I need to take this breaths to slow down. but ideally 10 minutes a day. Um, sort of, you know, we're coming to the same conclusion that in order to sustain the effects of practice, you have to do it for, um, a minimum of 10 minutes at the time. You could split it during the day. Um, and you know, like for example, aerobic exercise has the same kind of finding where you need 10 minutes to. achieve a sustainable effect. Uh, but overall recommended 30 minutes a day, and then you could practice 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, and still, uh, still have that benefit. Similar comes to meditation or breath, uh, but even if you do it one minute, three minutes, five minutes, it would be effective in the moment just to have a sustained, um, effect on the system. Entire body. Uh, it, it requires a little bit of longer. Um, caregivers are very busy. People, we couldn't do, uh, yoga class with them or any kind of class. Um, but, uh, they committed to 11 minute meditation per day. Sometimes it required closing themselves in the bathroom from their family members who would cha uh, just follow them around So, you know, if you are in a stressful situation, you uh, must control your emotions immediately, even like the three breaths would reset you, or one breath intentional. To reset,I need to take this breaths to slow down. but ideally 10 minutes a day. Um, sort of, you know, we're coming to the same conclusion that in order to sustain the effects of practice, you have to do it for, um, a minimum of 10 minutes at the time. You could split it during the day. Um, and you know, like for example, aerobic exercise has the same kind of finding where you need 10 minutes to. achieve a sustainable effect. Uh, but overall recommended 30 minutes a day, and then you could practice 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, and still, uh, still have that benefit. Similar comes to meditation or breath, uh, but even if you do it one minute, three minutes, five minutes, it would be effective in the moment just to have a sustained, um, effect on the system. Entire body. Uh, it, it requires a little bit of longer. Um, caregivers are very busy. People, we couldn't do, uh, yoga class with them or any kind of class. Um, but, uh, they committed to 11 minute meditation per day. Sometimes it required closing themselves in the bathroom from their family members who would cha uh, just follow them around No, no, it would be activated. It's just whatever we have the minimum duration of that practice is around 10 minutes, or either mindfulness or breath breathing, you know, like we. Uh, but the effect will be there. It's like automatic effect. That's how your body functions. Evolutionally. If you step back, take one or three breaths, you will be in better space, if not, uh, than, than when you're not doing it. especially if it's habitual. If it becomes your tool and you know, you'll come down after taking three breaths, that's what you do. Or even one breath, five minutes is fine, three minutes is fine. But what we have studied is 10 minutes. I do this a lot in session where if somebody's really distressed, I consciously start to control my breathing. And just breathe slowly. And what I see in my clients is they start to calm down and their breathing slows as well. So caregivers out there, you can try to help control, say it's a, uh, you know, um, kid who's, you know, in distress or you know, you older parent that you're trying to help just by calming down your breath. By controlling the motion, you also activate vagal nerve. right. So, uh, the breath of fire is a technique, uh, that is present in numerous yoga practices. Uh, it's the opposite of calming breaths. It's actually activating breath, so it gives you more energy. Uh, it is a, a lot of hyperventilation, so you wouldn't do it in people who are overly anxious or sensitive to fainting, um, and hyperventilation. Um, and, uh, so you. it's a vol volitional control, and it's the opposite of diaphragmatic breathing, where it's more passive and you expand your diaphragm into your belly and the belly expands here, uh, it's the opposite. You are actually pumping the belly about two to three, uh, movements second. So it's a very rapid, hyperventilating breath. I'm taught to extend on my arms because this is actually working energy, energetic body, and covers your aura. It opens also meridians, but you don't have to do that. You could sit in a yoga pose with, uh, ian Mudra, which is common in meditative practices on your knees and activated through your nose. Most commonly, we're doing it, uh, through our nose out. right. So, uh, the breath of fire is a technique, uh, that is present in numerous yoga practices. Uh, it's the opposite of calming breaths. It's actually activating breath, so it gives you more energy. Uh, it is a, a lot of hyperventilation, so you wouldn't do it in people who are overly anxious or sensitive to fainting, um, and hyperventilation. Um, and, uh, so you. it's a vol volitional control, and it's the opposite of diaphragmatic breathing, where it's more passive and you expand your diaphragm into your belly and the belly expands here, uh, it's the opposite. You are actually pumping the belly about two to three, uh, movements second. So it's a very rapid, hyperventilating breath. I'm taught to extend on my arms because this is actually working energy, energetic body, and covers your aura. It opens also meridians, but you don't have to do that. You could sit in a yoga pose with, uh, ian Mudra, which is common in meditative practices on your knees and activated through your nose. Most commonly, we're doing it, uh, through our nose out. That's, uh, the breath to start in the morning. It's also highly detoxifying when you have to detox. Uh, you will do something like this in order to enhance detoxification effect of this breath. You might open your mouth and do it through your mouth with tongue open. So this is very intense, but Tanya is like this. So it's like dogs dancing. Dogs, you know, You could ex exhale through your tongue or through your nose. It really, uh, if you commit to it, yes, it could. It, you know, if you do it long enough for three to five minutes, you can get a brain freeze like you get from Slurpee's. like a straw effect your breathing through a straw. so the version of it for those who can't curl, uh, to, uh, curl your tongues is through teeth breathing through teeth. It has the same kind of cooling effect. Right? And the last breaths I'd like to inter uh, introduce, uh, that is a really funny breaths called frog brows. And it's essentially you imitate frogs. Uh, but we're using mudras with your eyes. So normally in yoga practices, you focus on eyes on something, you know, uh, they're usually closed, focused here, here or here, which would change activation or opening of the brain. In this particular breath pranayama practice, uh, you look to the infinity, to the horizon and straight up, you focus on horizon, and then you inhale and you imitate the frog. Like, uh, also purse your, yeah. More like, uh, forced exhale. Make a you do this. Do

dr--supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:18

Like every, every muscle just relaxed just by doing four or five of those breaths. But that's an like an instant depression reliever, instant anxiety reliever. Wow. Oh, I love this. Now, we haven't really touched too much on stored trauma in the body. I work a lot with the trauma survivors. Can you tell us how breath work like this and which breath work technique can help to release that stored trauma for trauma survivors?

squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:20

So this. the story with trauma, dealing with trauma and working with trauma, you don't want to overwhelm the body necessarily or flood it traumatic, uh, visions, flashbacks. So you approach this, um, carefully, according to everybody's tolerance. The easiest thing to do is relax them physically like they're lying on or reclining in the chair, grounding, anchoring to the center of the earth, feeling us being supported and, uh, starting to breathe normally. Uh, but also asking the breaths to go to the places in their body that are tense or painful. I ask people to relax ground and then start breathing through their chest, heart center, chest center. Sent several, uh, breaths through the chest center. Let me give you one other thing to do, and imagine yourself, uh, being inside of a solar disc sphere. lead up with golden liquid light, so your entire body is supported by this disc. Nourished, cherished. Loved and gets you ready on this journey of release, releasing your trauma, so that's a nourishing, supportive environment. You feel safe in there and protected. You could imagine another sphere in your heart and this outer sphere and your heart are supported and guided by this golden light. It's very healing, you are sending breaths through all of this. And then you send, uh, golden light and this breath and prana and oxygen to all places in your body from the top down s layer by layer, part by part to relax each cell, each particle of your bigness into this golden light and your breaths. Let's try a few dress to send to your tense parts. Anything in pain. Tense, out, feel nourished and supported and safe, grounded. And only in this space can you talk about traumatic events and send this healing energy, your breath to those events. It requires a lot of forgiveness for yourself and others to release those events. Unless you forgive them and recognize their significance in your growth, your evolution of your personal, personal evolution, those that are events you are learning from, this is the information, and now you are ready to let it go completely, deeply, permanently, with the breath release, all of it. You feel safe in there and protected. You could imagine another sphere in your heart and this outer sphere and your heart are supported and guided by this golden light. It's very healing, you are sending breaths through all of this. And then you send, uh, golden light and this breath and prana and oxygen to all places in your body from the top down s layer by layer, part by part to relax each cell, each particle of your bigness into this golden light and your breaths. Let's try a few dress to send to your tense parts. Anything in pain. Tense, out, feel nourished and supported and safe, grounded. And only in this space can you talk about traumatic events and send this healing energy, your breath to those events. It requires a lot of forgiveness for yourself and others to release those events. Unless you forgive them and recognize their significance in your growth, your evolution of your personal, personal evolution, those that are events you are learning from, this is the information, and now you are ready to let it go completely, deeply, permanently, with the breath release, all of it. Can you tell us how this type of breath work can enhance traditional psychiatric treatment, especially for those with anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD. You are, um, empowered to release this trauma. You know, nobody else is doing it for you, drug or machine or whatever, or another person. It's you. uh, you are in your power. To, uh, chart your own destiny and they release your trauma. Trauma is simply an information that was useful at the time when it occurred for you to learn from and grow from. And all of us have it, you know, so, and some deal with this more, some are more resilient and some are, are found this identity that is attached to trauma and don't have tools. So breaths and this practices are the tools that you need to release trauma and empower yourself.

dr--supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:25

I love this so much. I tell every client who comes in my door that by the end of treatment, I hope that they're their own best expert. And I really do think that we have gone into an age where we don't. Trust ourselves. We don't trust our bodies. We don't listen. We listen outwardly. We're trying to find the, uh, the expert who will cure us of this, this, and this.

squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:26

just wrote the book. It's been gonna be published. It's called Soulful. uh, this is about bringing back soul into, uh, mental health and psychiatry and psychology. This is something that we don't approach, right, and it's becoming so, uh, so important nowadays because it's the soul, your higher self that knows everything about you, including the role of trauma in your life. And it can inform you and guide you to release this. Uh, so the wisdom is inside you. It's your soul.

dr--supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: 0:27

Oh, Dr. Lavretsky, I love this, and we will have all of her links. You can find her at UCLA. She is just a preeminent psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and we're just so blessed and so lucky to have you on the program today. Thank you so much for joining me. Dictated by our anxiety producing world, we can create peace, calm, and quiet inwardly, um, if we just learn how to tune in. And Dr. Lavretsky helped us with that. So join us next time, and thanks again Dr.Lavretsky