I was chatting with a friend recently, and we were both moaning about the latest sagas in our lives. We figured that if we spewed our guts out, the sagas would finally be aired and we could forget about them or at least accept them and move on.
Except… although talking helps, my brain just hits repeat. I get the loopy loops. When I’m not concentrating on something else, I catch myself churning the same thoughts incessantly until I’m properly wound up again.
My yoga practice helps insofar as I’m aware of what I’m doing - I just haven’t reached the stage where I can stop doing it. Distraction helps: a walk, fresh air, nature. I make a point of noticing the trees, the leaves, the damp air on my frizzy hair, and just as I think “A trip to the hairdresser wouldn’t go amiss,” I’m back in the saga loop.
It’s like when your laptop goes rogue and keeps refreshing the same browser tab. No matter how many times you click the little x, new ones pop up until the whole screen is a mess of cascading chaos. And as every self-declared IT genius will tell you: the only solution is to turn it off and on again.
Time for a reset.
Not as a computer technician (I really haven’t a clue), but as a seasoned pro in obsessive replay and thought spirals.
Let me tell you about a remarkably simple tool that does exactly that - the physiological sigh.
What is the Physiological Sigh?
The physiological sigh isn’t a yoga technique. It comes straight from respiratory physiology, described in mid-20th-century research on how mammals maintain healthy oxygen and carbon dioxide balance in the blood. You’ll even see it in other mammals and in humans, especially during sleep and after crying.
It’s been popularised more recently by neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman and his colleagues at Stanford University, who’ve studied how this simple breathing pattern can regulate the autonomic nervous system, particularly in calming stress quickly without needing long meditation or pranayama sessions.
The Mechanics
A physiological sigh is a double inhale through the nose, followed by a slow exhale through the mouth.
The first breath expands the lungs, and the second, smaller “top-up” inhale inflates collapsed alveoli - the tiny air sacs responsible for gas exchange. These alveoli often deflate slightly during shallow breathing or stress. The extra breath reopens them, allowing trapped carbon dioxide to leave the bloodstream more efficiently on the exhale.
That exhale, when prolonged, signals the vagus nerve, the body’s main parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) response. Your heart rate drops, your shoulders release, and your brain receives the chemical message: “all is safe again”.
The Science Behind the Calm
When carbon dioxide levels rise, specialised sensors in the brainstem interpret it as a threat -a primitive suffocation alarm. This triggers faster breathing and anxiety. Performing a physiological sigh rapidly restores CO₂ balance and resets the nervous system’s baseline.
A 2023 clinical study from Stanford’s Huberman Lab found that even one minute of “cyclic sighing” each day, a pattern of double inhalations and extended exhales, improved mood and reduced stress more effectively than mindfulness or other brief breathing techniques over the same period.*
In short: it’s a direct line from breath mechanics to emotional state, a built-in biological circuit for calm.
When to Use It
Anytime you feel stressed, angry, or mentally cluttered. It’s effective in the car, before sleep, or mid-conversation when you can sense your pulse rising.
I use it whenever I catch myself mid-loop, when a saga starts replaying itself again. It doesn’t erase the story or prevent future loops, but it does break the current one. It gives me a moment of physiological clarity before my brain dives back into the swamp.
Athletes use it between sets. Therapists teach it to clients during moments of overwhelm. Soldiers are trained to use it in high-pressure situations. It’s one of the quickest known ways to return the body to baseline.
Why It’s Not “Cheating”
I used to feel like I was cheating as though anything this simple couldn’t possibly be profound. This reflex evolved as part of our survival system. It’s your body’s built-in safety release, a natural reset you can consciously trigger. Yoga reaches the same place through different doorways (pranayama, kumbhaka, bandhas), but the physiological sigh is pure nervous-system engineering, quick, accessible, and evidence-backed.
Try It
Inhale deeply through the nose.
Take a second, smaller sniff to top up the lungs.
Then exhale slowly through the mouth.
That’s it.
Notice what shifts in your breath, your shoulders, your thoughts.
You’ve just reset your internal system. No tech support required.
Closing Thought
The physiological sigh isn’t a magic wand that erases life’s sagas, but it’s a direct line to calm in the middle of chaos. It’s proof that we don’t always need a full practice or philosophy session sometimes the body already knows what to do. We just need to remember to listen.
* For those who like science: Huberman, A. et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal - PubMed
If you found this interesting maybe read: Yoga Flow Sandra - Love Your Stress | Yoga, Cortisol & Finding Balance and Yoga Flow Sandra - Ujjayi Breath
Photo by Silje Roseneng on Unsplash