The breath — your calm button

Sanne calls the breath a “peace button”

Using the breath as a “peace button” is about making use of something you are already doing all the time — but in a more conscious way, so you can directly influence the body’s calming system.

When you are stressed, is it typically the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) that is active. In this state, breathing often becomes fast and shallow. Calmness and a sense of safety, on the other hand, are connected to the parasympathetic nervous system, which is activated in part through the vagus nerve.

The remarkable thing is that breathing is one of the few bodily functions you can consciously control — and through it, influence the nervous system.

When you breathe more slowly and deeply, you send a signal to the body that “there is no danger present.” In particular, making the exhalation longer than the inhalation has a calming effect because it stimulates the vagus nerve and helps the body release tension.

One very simple way to use this is:

• Breathe in calmly through your nose for 4 seconds

• Exhale slowly for 6–8 seconds

• Repeat for a couple of minutes

You will often notice that your heart rate slows down, your shoulders relax, and your thoughts become a little less hectic.

You can also combine this with body awareness — for example, by placing a hand on your stomach and feeling it rise on the inhalation and fall on the exhalation. This helps make the breathing deeper and calmer.

The point is not to “breathe perfectly,” but to use the breath as an anchor.

Every time you bring your attention back to your breathing and slightly lengthen the exhalation, you are, in practice, pressing the body’s own peace button and helping the nervous system return to balance.