Dear Stoics,

What’s invisible, completely free, and something we would all die without? It might sound like a generic “what’s…” joke, but the power of breathing is absolutely not a laughing matter! Today, we will explore what a great tool it is and why we should use it every now and then.

First things first: why do we breathe without thinking about it?

Breathing is something you’ve been doing since the moment you were born, approximately 25,000 times a day, and probably without even thinking about it.

Why? Thanks to the brainstem, a dedicated control centre in your brain, that keeps your breathing going whether you’re awake or asleep. It monitors the levels of carbon dioxide in your blood, and the moment those rise, it sends a signal to take a breath. No conscious input required.

Unlike your heartbeat or digestion, breathing sits at a crossroads between automatic and intentional. You can take over at any moment. And when you do, deliberately, with a bit of technique, great things happen.

What does the science say about conscious breathing?

Quite a lot, actually! A comprehensive review of 58 clinical trials published in Brain Sciences found that breathing practices were effective at reducing stress and anxiety in the vast majority of cases. Slow, deliberate breathing, where you pay attention to each breath, calms the nervous system by activating the parasympathetic response: your body’s built-in rest mode.

In other words, slow and conscious breathing tells your body that it's safe. And your body listens.

4-7-8 breathing

This is the technique we’d like you to try out this week. Developed by Dr. Andrew Weil and often called a natural tranquiliser for the nervous system, 4-7-8 is one of the most well-known and widely used breathing exercises for anxiety. It works by extending the exhale, which stimulates the vagus nerve and calms the body down. Here’s how to do it:

PS: If holding for 7 counts is too much, start shorter and build up. The ratio matters more than the exact numbers. And if you feel dizzy, that’s completely normal, just slow down. You can do this exercise anywhere, even on a crowded bus. Just try it and see if it works for you.

If you’d like a little more guidance, Stoic app has a full collection of breathing practices to help you explore at your own pace. Just open the app and head to the Explore page.

Here are a few great reads if you want to dive deeper into the subject:

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. A New York Times bestseller and an all-time classic. It travels through history, science, and some seemingly odd experiments to show how deeply breathing affects our health.

The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown. Practical guide to training your breathing for better energy, focus, and calm.

Light on Prānāyāma: The Yogic Art of Breathing by B.K.S. Iyengar. A must-read for all the yogis out there, beginner and advanced alike.

We hope this short introduction inspires you to give your breathing some attention this week. Notice what happens after. In moments of stress, remember: breathe in, breathe out, and chin up!

Yours truly,
The Stoic Team

You know that thing you’ve been putting off? The conversation you haven’t had yet, the task you keep pushing away? This week, we’re looking it in the eye.

Here’s what we know about the monster under the bed: it’s always scarier before you look. Our minds are very creative when it comes to building up worst-case scenarios, and not nearly as good at reminding us how often things turn out to be... fine, sometimes even great.

Each day until Sunday, a new journaling prompt in Stoic will invite you to examine the stories you’ve been telling yourself: where they came from, and what they are really protecting you from.