The Breathwork · NuShape × Soho House
The Breathwork
The breath is the only autonomic function you can consciously control. That single fact makes it the most direct door into your nervous system — available to you every moment, completely free.
Jessica Charles
Founder · NuShape · Certified Breathwork Facilitator
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The breath is the remote control for the nervous system. Slow it down, lengthen the exhale, and within seconds the body shifts from fight-or-flight into rest and repair.
The Chemistry of Breathwork
Serotonin
Mood · Calm · Emotional stability
Slow, rhythmic breathing directly increases serotonin synthesis. This is why a ten-minute breathwork session reliably shifts your emotional baseline — not metaphorically, chemically.
Dopamine
Motivation · Focus · Reward
Breathwork activates the dopamine system through voluntary control of the autonomic nervous system — the act of mastering your own physiology triggers the reward pathway. This is why it feels so good to come out of a session.
Oxytocin
Connection · Trust · The bonding hormone
Group breathwork — particularly with humming, toning, and synchronised rhythm — releases oxytocin. This is the neurochemical reason breathing together in a room feels meaningfully different from breathing alone.
Endorphins
Natural pain relief · Euphoria
Certain breathing patterns — particularly dynamic or circular breath — trigger endorphin release through the same pathway as vigorous exercise. The floaty, expansive feeling after a deep session is endorphins, not imagination.
I
The Science
Why the Breath Works — The Mechanism
Breathwork operates through two primary pathways. The first is vagal stimulation — the extended exhale activates the vagus nerve via baroreceptors in the lungs, shifting the body from sympathetic (fight or flight) into parasympathetic (rest and repair). The second is CO₂ management: slowing the breath raises CO₂, which improves oxygen delivery to tissues via the Bohr effect, while recalibrating chemoreceptor sensitivity over time — reducing anxiety and stress reactivity at a physiological level.
James Nestor's book Breath — one of the most thoroughly researched popular science works on the subject — documents how modern humans have largely lost the ability to breathe correctly, and the measurable physiological consequences: disrupted sleep, elevated anxiety, compromised immune function, and poor oxygen utilisation. His central finding is counterintuitive: it is not oxygen but CO₂ tolerance that determines breathing quality. Patrick McKeown's work in The Oxygen Advantage arrives at the same conclusion from a different direction — the nose, not the mouth, is the primary breathing organ, and most people have it backwards.
7s
Physiological sigh resets the nervous system
2wk
Daily practice measurably changes HRV
15×
Nitric oxide increase from nasal humming
For New Meditators · NeuroPulse Pro
Stepping your brainwaves down to where the practice lives
One of the most common frustrations in breathwork and meditation is not knowing whether anything is actually happening — whether you’ve arrived at the state you’re working toward. The NeuroPulse Pro addresses this directly through brainwave entrainment: it delivers PEMF frequencies corresponding to theta (4–8 Hz) and delta (0.5–4 Hz) brainwave states — the states associated with deep meditation, creativity, and restorative sleep. Used during breathwork or before meditation, it gives the nervous system a physiological cue to descend into those states rather than hovering at the beta surface. For anyone who has ever felt like they can’t quite get “there” — this is a meaningful assist.
II
Core Techniques
Four Practices — Tap Each to Go Deeper
Each works through a slightly different mechanism. All free. All effective within seconds. No equipment required.
The Physiological Sigh
Double inhale · Long slow exhale
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A double inhale through the nose — a full breath followed immediately by a short top-up — re-inflates collapsed alveoli in the lungs, maximising surface area for gas exchange. The long exhale that follows activates the parasympathetic nervous system almost immediately. Andrew Huberman at Stanford identifies this as the fastest known method to reduce physiological stress — effective within a single breath cycle. When you feel overwhelmed in the middle of something, this is the one.
◈ Andrew Huberman, Stanford Neuroscience Lab
Extended Exhale Breathing
Inhale 4 · Exhale 6–8
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When the exhale is longer than the inhale, heart rate slows and vagal tone increases. This is the mechanism behind every calming breathwork practice — from yoga pranayama to military stress protocols. Five minutes of extended exhale breathing measurably shifts HRV. Ten minutes produces effects comparable to meditation. The single most transferable technique for daily use — the exhale is always the lever.
◈ Referenced in James Nestor, Breath (2020)
Box Breathing
Inhale 4 · Hold 4 · Exhale 4 · Hold 4
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Used by Navy SEALs for stress inoculation and equally effective before sleep or a difficult conversation. The equal-ratio holds build CO₂ tolerance — the key metric Patrick McKeown identifies as the primary driver of breathing quality and anxiety resilience. The symmetry of the pattern simultaneously engages the prefrontal cortex, returning rational control during moments of high autonomic arousal. Five rounds is usually enough to notice a real shift.
◈ CO₂ tolerance framework — Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage
Nasal Breathing
Always in · Always out · Through the nose
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The nose filters, warms, and humidifies air. It produces nitric oxide — a vasodilator that opens capillaries and dramatically improves oxygen delivery. Nasal breathing engages the diaphragm more fully, activating the parasympathetic system with every breath. Mouth breathing bypasses all of this. James Nestor spent years documenting the consequences: disrupted sleep, elevated cortisol, compromised immune function, even changes to facial structure over time. Patrick McKeown's BOLT score (Body Oxygen Level Test) gives you a measurable benchmark — the longer you can comfortably hold your breath after a normal exhale, the better your CO₂ tolerance.
◈ James Nestor, Breath (2020) · Patrick McKeown, The Oxygen Advantage
III
The Vagus Nerve · The Hum
The Simplest Free Biohack in This Room
The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body — running from the brainstem through the heart, lungs, and gut, connecting the brain to every major organ system. It is the primary highway of the parasympathetic nervous system. Everything we call "rest and digest" runs through it. Stimulating it shifts the body's baseline state.
The Vagus Nerve — Anatomy of the Parasympathetic Pathway
Why Humming Activates It
The vagus nerve runs branches through the larynx and pharynx. Humming creates mechanical vibration directly at those branches — activating the nerve without requiring any other technique. Jonathan Goldman, whose book The Humming Effect documents decades of research on self-generated sound, identifies humming as one of the most reliable vagal stimulators available to anyone, anywhere, at any moment.
The Nitric Oxide Effect
Research from the Karolinska Institute found that humming raises nitric oxide in the nasal passages by up to 15-fold. Nitric oxide opens capillaries, improves sinus drainage, and has antiviral and antibacterial properties. Patrick McKeown also documents how nasal humming specifically enhances NO production — making it one of the most biochemically efficient things you can do with 20 seconds of breath.
Ancient Practice · Modern Mechanism
This is why monks chant, why mothers hum to infants, why certain traditions built entire healing modalities around sustained vocal tone. The mechanism was unknown — the result was observed across every culture that ever existed. The science arrived thousands of years later.
IV
Optional Closing Sequence
How Today Could End
Joe Dispenza describes the space between thoughts as the only place where genuine change happens — where the body stops running its habitual programs and becomes available to something new. The closing sequence is designed to create that space, together, at the end of a day of learning.
01
Find a comfortable position — seated or lying on the mat. Red light running is welcome. Eyes closed. The room goes quiet.
02
Three rounds of extended exhale — inhale for four, exhale for six. Let your own rhythm settle. There is no rush. This is the practice.
03
One sustained hum — on the exhale, 20 to 30 seconds. Feel the vibration in your chest and skull. That resonance is the vagus nerve responding. It works whether you are alone or in a room of a hundred people.
04
Silence. Nothing to do. Nowhere to be. The most radical act in a modern life.
05
Return. The breath travels with you. It always has.
V
Take This Home
Three Things to Remember
The exhale is the lever
Longer exhale than inhale — always. Every technique, every tradition, every protocol that produces calm comes back to this. The exhale activates the parasympathetic. The inhale activates alertness. You choose which to extend.
Nasal breathing is the baseline
In through the nose, out through the nose — as often as possible. James Nestor spent years documenting what we lose when we breathe through our mouths. The nose is not just a passage. It is a pharmaceutical factory producing nitric oxide, filtering pathogens, and conditioning the nervous system with every single breath.
Five minutes changes the day
Two weeks of five minutes of daily extended exhale breathing produces measurable changes in HRV. Not months. Not years. Two weeks. The threshold for physiological change through breathwork is extraordinarily low — which means the threshold for not doing it has to be equally low.
You came into this workshop with every tool you will ever need for nervous system regulation already installed. The breath is the interface. Today was just the reminder of how to use it.
VI
Go Deeper · Resources Worth Your Time
A track to start with. Teachers worth knowing.
Featured Track · Vocal Toning & Breathwork
Start here — free on YouTube
This vocal toning and breathwork journey is a beautiful entry point for anyone who wants to feel what this practice actually does before committing to a longer programme. It combines extended exhale work with humming and toning — activating the vagus nerve through both the breath and the larynx simultaneously. The soundtrack is tuned to 432Hz, which carries a quality of depth and settledness that feels distinctly different from standard 440Hz music — worth noticing as you listen. Put headphones on, lie down, and give it your full attention.
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YouTube · Free
Vocal Toning & Breathwork Journey
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Three Teachers Worth Knowing
Kaya Leigh
The Sacred Breath Method
Kaya Leigh blends breathwork with vocal toning, sound healing, and somatic practice into something genuinely distinctive. Her Sacred Breath Method is one of the more musically and emotionally rich approaches in the space — particularly resonant if the sound dimension of today resonated with you.
kayaleigh.com →
James Nestor
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
Nestor spent years researching the science and history of how we breathe — and why modern humans have largely forgotten how to do it well. His book is the most accessible, evidence-grounded introduction to breathwork that exists. If you read one thing after today, this is it.
mrjamesnestor.com →
Eva Kaczor
PSYCHEDELIC BREATH®
Eva Kaczor founded Psychedelic Breath — dynamic breathwork set to electronic music designed to create visionary states and move people from pain to purpose. One of the more immersive and transformative modalities in contemporary breathwork. Online sessions, teacher trainings, and a dedicated app available.
evakaczor.co →
Continue Your Practice
NuShape · Wearable Brain + Nervous System
NeuroPulse Pro
Near-infrared + PEMF for nervous system recovery — stack with breathwork
nushape.com
