A Beginner's Guide to Breathwork: Stress less & more Calm for Beginners
In today’s fast-paced world, where stress and anxiety seem to dominate, finding moments of rest and calm can feel out of reach. Enter stage left…your breath…seemingly automatic and just another bodily function - but actually a powerful wellness practice designed to help you slow down, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with your sense of grounded ease. Breath practices have been used for thousands of years across multiple cultures, lineages & disciplines - with or without a structured practice. If it’s worked for so long - why not give it a try?! For beginners, this guide provides everything you need to know to start your journey toward improved mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
Whether you’re seeking relief from anxiety, a way to reduce stress, or tools to embrace slow living - breathwork offers transformative benefits for women (& all humans!) at any stage of life.
What is Breathwork?
Breathwork is the practice of conscious breathing techniques to enhance wellbeing. It’s a powerful tool for nervous system regulation, helping you shift from stress and overwhelm to rest and relaxation.
Breathwork uses your body’s most natural rhythm—your breath—to anchor you into the present via this more ‘active’ mindfulness technique. It’s a beginner-friendly practice (especially for those who struggle to ‘still the mind’ in usual meditation practices) that anyone can do, anytime, anywhere, to experience and embody more calm and groundedness.
Side note: there are MANY different ways to practice breathwork and many of these can be categorised under headings of foundational / down-regulating / up-regulating etc. For those practices which provide ‘big experiences’ (generally the up-regulating ones) - this can be uncomfortable/transformative, and can also lead to re-traumatisation in certain cases so best to practice with experienced facilitators and allow for supported integration time.
The Wellness Benefits of Breathwork
Reduces Stress and Anxiety & Promotes Nervous System Regulation
When life feels overwhelming, breathwork can calm the "fight or flight" response and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (often called the "rest and digest" mode). This reduces stress hormones like cortisol and helps to quiet anxiety, leaving you feeling more rested and balanced, and with increased resiliency to daily challenges.Improves Sleep and Restfulness
Struggling to unwind at the end of the day? Breathwork exercises like the Bee Breath are ideal for beginners seeking better sleep. By slowing your breath and toning the parasympathetic nervous system (through vibration), you signal your body to relax, paving the way for deep rest.Supports Emotional Balance
Hormonal changes, stress, or life transitions can leave you feeling emotionally unsettled. Breathwork helps to stabilise your mood and process emotions, helping you find calm during moments of turbulence.Boosts Focus and Clarity
Breath practices can increase oxygen flow to the brain, enhancing mental clarity and helping you stay grounded in stressful situations. For beginners, this is a practical way to help feel centered and clear-headed throughout the day.Encourages Slow Living
Breathwork invites you to pause, slow down, and embrace the art of living intentionally. By focusing on your breath, you cultivate mindfulness and a deeper connection to yourself, which is essential for sustainable wellbeing.
Before you even get started - here’s 5 tips for breathing comfortably
Imagine you’re sitting down to do your first breath practice…you start a 5min timer, sit up straight and close your eyes. And then…for the next 2mins you agonise over how uncomfortable you are, start to get anxious about whether you’re doing it right or not, feel a tightness building in your chest, and find that a ‘full breath’ is NOT as easy as it sounds…and you give up. Yet again - trying to do something good for your body but it just feels impossible.
Here are some ways that you can make sure your first (and forever onwards) experience of breath practice goes a little more smoothly.
If you can’t…
sit in a cross legged position on the floor: Sit up on a pillow, in a chair, or lean up against a wall. You can also lay down.
close your eyes: Hold a steady/soft gaze towards the ground or towards something in the room.
Breathe through your nose: breathe through your mouth, no biggie :)
Things to remember: keep your belly relaxed, spine long (it doesn’t have to be ‘straight’ by any means), don’t breathe with force/fill your lungs to 100% capacity (aim for 80%), use slow progressions (increase the count of your breath slowly or not at all, etc)
It can be useful to make note of your ‘progress’: before each practice do a 2min ‘check in’ to see how your body, mind & breath is feeling in that moment before you start to ‘alter’ the breath. And then after your practice, repeat the check in to see how your practice has impacted how you feel. This helps to show you what practices are working, how your body responds to the practice throughout the day/month or during different periods of your life. This is your evidence for change and transformation!
Simple Breathwork Techniques for Beginners
Ready to experience the calming, grounding and regulating effects of breathwork? Here are three beginner-friendly techniques to try:
1. Diaphragmatic Breathing (Belly Breathing)
Place a hand on your belly. Relax your shoulders and chest.
Inhale, allowing your belly to rise. It’s important to keep the belly relaxed, even though you are ‘ballooning’ the belly out!
Exhale, letting your belly draw back in. Gentle drawing in of the belly button during this part, to ensure a proper exhale.
Repeat for 5-10 breaths (or 5-10 mins!)
2. Bee breath
Inhale naturally.
With closed lips, make a humming sound for the whole length of your exhale - breathing through your nose.
Repeat 3-5x.
3. Four-Six Emptying Breath
Inhale for the count of 4 (this could be in seconds, or whatever pace suits you)
Exhale through the mouth for the count of 6, while creating a ‘who’ sound (in a whisper). This is a more active way of exhaling and allows the body to disharge any stagnant air.
Allow the belly to relax on the inhale, breathing in naturally.
Repeat 3-5x, increasing the counts as you wish (but keeping the exhale longer than the inhale).
Incorporating Breathwork into Slow Living
Making breathwork part of your daily routine is key to experiencing its full wellness benefits. Here are some tips for beginners:
Start your day with 5 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing for a grounded, calm mindset.
Use the Four-Six technique during stressful moments at work to reset the breath and reduce anxiety.
End your day with Bee Breath to transition into a state of rest.
Transform Your Wellness Journey with Breathwork
Breathwork isn’t just a practice—it’s a lifestyle shift toward slow living, grounded awareness, and inner calm. At Active Rest Retreats we specialise in guiding women through beginner-friendly and ‘for-sensitive-people’ breathwork techniques that support nervous system regulation, reduce stress, and promote deep rest.
Whether you're seeking to ease anxiety, reconnect with a sense of wellbeing, or simply slow down and live more intentionally, breathwork can be the key to your transformation.
Take a deep breath, and let the journey begin.
Discover the calm within, one breath at a time.