Holiday Sanity: 3 Simple Practices to Stay Grounded Through the Season (PART 2)
Part 2 — The Shepherd’s Breath: A Parasympathetic Practice You Can Do in Public
This post is Part 2 of Holiday Sanity: 3 Simple Practices to Stay Grounded Through the Season. If you missed the first one — a quick sensory awareness tool to help calm your mind — you can read it here.
Let’s talk about breathing — but not in the “sit-cross-legged-on-a-mountain” kind of way. More like “standing in line at Target trying not to lose your cool” kind of way.
A client of mine once told me her social anxiety was becoming untenable. I taught her this simple breathing practice and joked that it’s perfect for “breathing in public” — because no one can tell you’re doing it. It’s called The Shepherd’s Breath, and it works because it directly activates your parasympathetic nervous system — the part of you that says, “Hey, you’re safe. You can relax now.”
How to Do It:
Visualize a shepherd’s staff. The kind that curves like an “S” at the top and runs straight down to the ground at the bottom.
Inhale slowly through your nose, imagining the breath moving up through the brain, then down through the throat, chest, and belly — tracing the staff’s curve downward toward your genitals.
Exhale just as slowly, following the same path back out — genitals, belly, chest, throat, brain, and out the nose.
Repeat this 3 times (or as many as you like). You can do it while talking to someone, sitting in traffic, or navigating a crowded store. Eyes opened or closed.
Notice what happens. Shoulders drop. Jaw unclenches. Mind slows.
Breathing is the body’s built-in “off switch” for stress, and this one’s subtle enough to use anywhere. When the holiday pressure builds, try this practice. You might be surprised how quickly your mind shifts when you stop trying to think your way calm and instead feel your way there.
If you find yourself tense in social situations — or just want to move through the holidays with more grace and presence — try this a few times a day.
And if you’d like to learn how to weave practices like this into your everyday life, I’d love to help you find what fits.
👉 Schedule a free consult call here
Catch the final post in this series next: Part 3 — The Shadow of the Season: A Jungian Journaling Practice.
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