What if Your Breath Was the Simplest Way Back to You?
- May 16
- 8 min read
Kajsa Rylander-Bellet is a yoga teacher and a Gaja Collective-certified Ayurvedic Health Instructor with 20+ years’ experience. Her heart-centred work, grounded in personal experience, guides women to reconnect with their true selves and become their healthiest versions while living life to the fullest through yoga, meditation, and an Ayurvedic lifestyle.
Women today are exhausted. Constantly rushing and multitasking. Caring for others and carrying the invisible mental load of work, home, and relationships. It’s a pace of life that leaves little space to pause or restore. This isn’t a lack of resilience. It’s a nervous system under constant pressure, without enough time to recover. Over time, this ongoing pressure shows up in something subtle but powerful, the way we breathe. Stress naturally creates shallow, rushed breathing. This keeps the body locked in survival mode. In Ayurveda, this directly disrupts prana, our vital life force energy that supports balance, clarity, and overall wellbeing. Maybe the exhaustion so many women feel today isn’t because we need to do more or try harder. Maybe it’s because we’ve become disconnected from the very thing that gives us energy in the first place.
Why modern women are stuck in survival mode and losing their energy
A survey by UNICEF Australia and Parents at Work found that nearly three-quarters of working mothers in Australia report feeling chronically stressed. It also indicated that stress among women carers increased from 51% in 2019 to 74% in 2024. But behind these numbers is something most women feel every day.
Women carry a significant emotional and mental load, often holding space for everyone else while trying to meet the demands of full-time work, family life, and everything in between. It’s an ongoing juggle that rarely allows time to pause or reset.
The pressure is real, and these statistics simply confirm what so many women already feel in their daily lives. Rather than improving, the load continues to increase, leaving many feeling stretched, overstimulated, and constantly “on.”
In today’s culture, there is little space to truly switch off. The expectation to always be available, productive, and managing everything can quietly build into chronic stress. Over time, this can affect sleep, nervous system regulation, and overall wellbeing, sometimes leading toward burnout.
Without moments of pause, it can feel like there is no real “off switch,” no space to step out of the cycle and return to a sense of balance, ease, and inner steadiness that so many women are craving.
Women are living in a constant state of survival mode, trying to keep up with a life that is moving too fast. But what if it could be as simple as stopping for a moment, taking a deep breath, and beginning to shift from just surviving to truly thriving?
Understanding your life force energy, prana
Ancient Ayurvedic wisdom recognised the importance of energy balance long before modern wellness trends began to explore it. In Ayurveda, prana is described as your vital life force, the subtle energy that keeps your body alive, your mind clear, and your emotions balanced. It is not simply air or oxygen, but a deeper intelligence carried through the breath itself.
“When the breath wanders, the mind is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed, the mind too will be still.” (Ancient yogic proverb.)
This is why breath is considered such a powerful gateway to wellbeing. It is the most direct and accessible way to influence your inner state, especially in moments when life feels overwhelming.
According to Ayurvedic teachings, we take in prana primarily through the breath, food, and sensory experiences. However, the breath is considered the fastest and most immediate way to shift your energy and state of mind.
When breathing is slow and deep, prana flows more freely through the body and mind. When breathing becomes shallow or rushed, prana becomes disturbed or depleted. This is often why, in moments of stress or emotional overload, your breath naturally shortens, and with it, your sense of clarity, energy, and ease can feel diminished.
Ayurveda describes prana as governing mental clarity and focus, the nervous system, emotional stability, and overall vitality. Within this system, there is a specific sub-energy called prana vayu, responsible for the inward movement of energy, particularly through the breath and the mind.
When prana is balanced, you tend to feel calm yet energised, focused without tension, and emotionally steady. When it is out of balance, it may show up as fatigue, anxiety or overwhelm, brain fog, or that familiar feeling of being “wired but tired.”
Modern research is now beginning to echo what these ancient teachings have long understood. A study published by the National Library of Medicine found that a single session of deep breathing can reduce pulse rate, perceived stress, and blood pressure while promoting muscle relaxation. The same study compared deep breathing with auricular vagus nerve stimulation and found that both increased vagal activity, with deep breathing showing even stronger effects on parasympathetic markers such as heart rate variability, RMSSD.
In other words, something as simple as your breath has the power to directly influence your nervous system and begin to shift you from stress into regulation, clarity, and calm.
The hidden ways modern life drains your energy
In today’s society, many women are unknowingly forcing their energy rather than cultivating it. Life moves fast, often too fast, pulling us from one responsibility to the next without space to pause and breathe. Rushing from A to B becomes the norm, with sleep often compromised and caffeine used just to get through the day, sometimes needing to be topped up repeatedly just to stay functional.
Layered on top of this are hours of screen time, working, managing life admin, and staying connected with family and friends, leaving little room for stillness of any kind. The emotional load builds, the nervous system rarely gets a chance to settle, and both body and mind begin to operate in a constant state of activation.
Even movement, which is meant to support energy, can become another demand. Exercise is often approached from a place of pushing through fatigue rather than restoring balance, which can leave the body feeling more depleted rather than energised.
This is where the breath becomes so powerful. Your breath is directly linked to your nervous system and communicates constantly with the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body, extending from the brain through the face, throat, lungs, heart, and digestive organs. It acts as a vital communication highway between the brain and the body, helping regulate breathing, heart rate, digestion, mood, stress response, and inflammation.
When the nervous system is under chronic stress, this communication pathway becomes disrupted, making it harder for the body to shift into a relaxed state. This is when we feel tense, anxious, overwhelmed, and unable to slow down, even when we want to.
Many women recognised this state all too well. It feels uncomfortable, dysregulating, and exhausting. But the important truth is that there is a way to influence this system before it reaches that point. It begins with something simple, yet powerful, your breath.
Why breathing quality matters for stress, energy, and nervous system health
Breathing is something we do every moment of every day, yet most of us rarely think about how we are breathing. The quality of the breath matters more than we realised, especially in a world where stress has become a constant background rhythm.
When we are overwhelmed, rushing, or mentally overloaded, breathing often becomes shallow, fast, and chest based. Many women also shift into mouth breathing during stress or anxiety, which further reinforces a state of alertness in the body. This pattern quietly signals to the nervous system that we are not safe or settled, even when there is no immediate danger present.
Over time, this way of breathing can keep the body locked in a cycle of tension and fatigue. It becomes harder to fully rest, recover, or feel grounded in daily life.
In contrast, slow, deep nasal breathing has the opposite effect. It helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s natural calming and healing state. This supports improved digestion, emotional regulation, better sleep, more stable energy, and a greater sense of inner ease throughout the day.
When the breath is rushed or restricted, energy can feel depleted and scattered. But when we slow down and bring awareness to the breath, we begin to create space for balance, clarity, and vitality to return to both body and mind.
Research continues to support what ancient traditions have long understood. A 2026 study published in Psychology & Health found that slow paced breathing had immediate stress lowering effects on both perceived stress and physiological responses. It also highlighted that practices which feel comfortable and easy to integrate into daily life may enhance long term benefits, while reducing the risk of added stress or overwhelm from the practice itself.
This is where we begin to shift the perspective from simply “managing stress” to something deeper. A way of living that is less about pushing through and more about returning to natural rhythm and flow. In Ayurveda, this state is understood through the lens of prana, the art of living in flow.
Prana and the art of living in flow
Prana harmony is the state where your energy flows with greater ease, where the mind, body, breath, and emotions begin working together instead of against each other.
The beautiful thing is that cultivating prana doesn’t require perfection or hours of wellness rituals each day. It’s created through small, intentional daily practices that support the nervous system and help restore balance over time.
Ayurveda teaches that conscious breathing helps balance the doshas while supporting digestion, vitality, and emotional wellbeing. Yoga asana prepares the body so prana can move more freely, helping release tension and stagnant energy. Pranayama works more directly with the breath to build and direct prana throughout the body, while meditation creates stillness so the nervous system can settle and restore.
Simple daily practices can begin shifting your energy gently:
Taking three conscious breaths before getting out of bed
Pausing during the day to breathe deeply into the belly
Slowing the exhale before sleep
Breathing before reacting
Creating small moments of movement throughout the day
Because when we begin to understand prana and work with the breath in small, consistent ways, it opens the door to a very different way of living, one that feels more balanced, grounded, and in flow.
Five minutes a day to reduce stress and come back to yourself
Yoga, meditation, and breathwork have been a fundamental pillar in my life through some of my most challenging seasons. When life felt overwhelming, unpredictable, and completely out of my control, these practices became my anchor.
As a woman, mum, and wife, I know what it feels like to hold so much, to keep going even when your own energy feels stretched thin. I also know what it feels like to slowly lose connection to yourself in the process.
What I’ve learned is this, I don’t need more time to feel better. I need small, intentional moments that bring me back to myself.
Even short daily breathing practices have been shown to improve executive function and build stress resilience. Consistency and simple guidance can create long term shifts in wellbeing, not through intensity, but through repetition and presence.
This is the power of just five minutes. Five minutes to pause. Five minutes to breathe. Five minutes to reset, recharge, and come back to center.
This is why I created my 21 Day Balance & Reset Wellness Challenge for women just like you and me who are doing their best to juggle life, family, responsibilities, and everything in between.
It’s a gentle daily practice designed to help you reconnect with your breath, your energy, and yourself, one day at a time.
Inside the challenge, you’ll find:
Guided meditation
Simple daily rituals
Supportive structure
Practices designed for busy mums and women navigating full lives
No overwhelm. No pressure. Just a clear, supportive space to come back to yourself. Head to my website to find out more and join me. Discover how just five minutes a day can shift your energy, restore your balance, and help your life force, your prana, flow again.
Read more from Kajsa Rylander-Bellet
Kajsa Rylander-Bellet, Yoga Teacher & Ayurvedic Health Instructor
Kajsa Rylander-Bellet is the founder of Yoga by Kajsa, supporting women in creating balance, vitality, and a life that feels deeply aligned. After facing health issues in her early 20s, she discovered yoga and Ayurveda — practices that transformed her life. Passionate about helping others feel their best, she offers yoga, meditation, and Ayurvedic classes that celebrate each woman’s individuality and inner strength while cultivating focus, resilience, and a deeper connection to the true self. Drawing on her Swedish roots and years abroad, Kajsa blends international perspective with intuitive and accessible guidance. Based in Australia, her work is holistic and transformative, designed to create lasting change for body, mind, and spirit.
