Are you holding your breath right now, in this moment? We live in world that has forgotten how to breathe. It is safer this way. A world where holding your breath feels safer than breathing beyond your collar bones. Where shallow, rapid breathing signals your brain that you are in danger. And that forever keeps the sympathetic nervous system on high alert. The cycle is reciprocal and viscious: stress causes shallow breathing, and shallow breathing reinforces the stress. High performers hold their breath. Shallow chest breathing means survival mode. Never fully exhaling means never fully feeling safe. A full exhale asks to completely let go, to surrender, to release control, to trust that the next breath will fill you up with fresh air. But we hold on to that last little bit as if no new breath was ever to come. The body eternally stays braced, ready, performing.