BREATHWORK GLOSSARY

Autonomic Nervous System

The part of the nervous system that governs the body’s involuntary functions – heartbeat, digestion, breathing, immune response, and hormonal regulation. It has two primary branches: the sympathetic (activation) and the parasympathetic (restoration). Breath is the only autonomic function that can also be consciously controlled – which is why breathwork has direct access to this system.

Breath Awareness

A practice in which attention is brought to the natural breath without changing it. No instruction to slow down, deepen, or alter the rhythm in any way. The observation itself is the practice. Used at the opening of sessions and as an entry point for new participants – particularly those whose nervous systems benefit from a very gentle
beginning.

Circular Breath / Connected Breath

A continuous breathing pattern in which the inhale flows directly into the exhale, and the exhale flows directly into the next inhale – with no pause anywhere in the cycle. This is the defining feature of conscious connected breathwork. The removal of the natural pause changes the body’s breathing chemistry and creates the conditions for the practice’s distinctive effects.

Coherence Breathing

A regulated breathing pattern in which the inhale and exhale are of equal length – typically around five to six breaths per minute. At this rate, respiratory rhythm and heart rate enter a state of synchrony that amplifies the vagal signal. Documented to improve heart rate variability, reduce blood pressure, and support nervous system regulation. Used at the close of TEA sessions as a settling and integrating practice.

 Conscious Connected Breathwork

A breathwork modality using a continuous circular breath – inhale and exhale without pause – to sustain altered awareness and support emotional processing. One of the most widely practised forms of breathwork in the world.At The Exhale Awakening, it appears as fire breath –  the most activating of the four elemental forms – and is always facilitated gently, with full consent.

Contraindications

Circumstances in which a breathwork practice requires medical advice or additional caution before beginning. Standard contraindications for conscious connected breathwork include cardiovascular conditions, high or low blood pressure, history of stroke or aneurysm, psychosis or acute mental health conditions, detached retina or glaucoma, and pregnancy (with care). Named at the opening of all longer TEA sessions as an invitation to self-check, not as a warning.

Cortisol

The primary stress hormone, released by the adrenal glands in response to perceived threat or demand. In short bursts it is appropriate and functional. Sustained elevated cortisol is associated with immune suppression, sleep disruption, and cardiovascular risk. Research documents measurable reductions in cortisol following breathwork sessions, and after exposure to birdsong – which is one of the reasons TEA opens every session with birdsong.

Diaphragm

The dome-shaped muscle beneath the ribcage that drives breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing – breathing that engages the lower lobes of the lungs rather than just the chest – is more efficient, more settling to the nervous system, and involves a direct relationship with the vagus nerve, which passes through the diaphragm. Most people under chronic stress breathe too shallowly, using the upper chest only.

Earth Breath

A TEA breath form: in and out through the nose, connected at both the top and bottom of the cycle with no pause. The most grounding of the four elemental forms. Nasal breathing engages the diaphragm more fully, warms and filters the air, and activates the parasympathetic receptors concentrated in the lower lungs. Associated with rootedness and physical presence.

Extended Exhale

A breathing pattern in which the exhale is deliberately longer than the inhale. The extended exhale directly stimulates the vagus nerve and activates the parasympathetic nervous system – the body’s own signal that the threat has passed. One of the simplest and most effective breathwork techniques for immediate nervous system regulation. Used in TEA sessions and recommended for daily use.

Fire Breath

A TEA breath form: in and out through an open mouth, with no pause in the cycle. The traditional conscious connected breath. The most activating of the four elemental forms – associated with purpose, depth, and the work that tends to go furthest in a session. Named effects include warmth, tingling, altered awareness, and sometimes the surfacing of emotion. Always preceded by explanation. Natural breath always available.

GPBA (Global Professional Breathwork Alliance)

The international professional body for breathwork facilitators. Sets standards for training hours, ethics, and scope of practice for professional breathwork practitioners worldwide. The Breathwork Facilitator Apprenticeship at The Exhale Awakening is GPBA Accredited – meaning the training meets international professional standards and graduates are eligible for GPBA membership.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

The variation in time between successive heartbeats. A higher HRV indicates a more adaptable, resilient nervous system. Low HRV is associated with chronic stress, burnout, and cardiovascular risk. Regular slow breathing – particularly coherence breathing – is one of the most well-documented interventions for improving HRV. A key measure used in breathwork research.

Hippocampus

The brain region central to memory, learning, and emotional regulation. Research shows that genuine silence promotes new cell growth in the hippocampus – a process that does not occur during stimulation or noise, regardless of volume. This is the neurological basis for TEA’s use of silence as an active, intentional element of every session.

Hypocapnia

A reduction in carbon dioxide levels in the blood, produced by sustained conscious connected breathwork. Hypocapnia is the mechanism behind the distinctive physical sensations of connected breathwork – tingling or numbness in the hands, feet, or around the mouth, a sense of warmth, light-headedness, and occasionally involuntary muscle contraction. These are normal physiological responses. They ease when the breath slows.

Integration

The period at the end of a breathwork session – typically involving silence, stillness, and a gentle return to the body – in which the nervous system processes and consolidates what the breathwork has opened. At The Exhale Awakening, integration is not optional or rushed. It is tended space. Participants are invited to journal, reflect, or simply remain still. Sharing circles (Hearth and Voices) follow.

Nervous System Regulation

The capacity of the nervous system to move between states of activation and restoration in response to changing conditions – and to return to a balanced baseline after each. A well-regulated nervous system is not one that never activates. It is one that can rise to meet what comes and find its way back. Breathwork, practised regularly, builds this capacity.

Ortha

An Irish word for a breath prayer – a simple phrase held in the breath during or after a breathwork session. Simple enough to carry. Quiet enough to whisper into the dark. Used in The Deeper Exhale sessions at the close of the breathwork. Not a mantra in the traditional sense – an intention held in the body through the breath.

 Parasympathetic Nervous System

One of the two primary branches of the autonomic nervous system. Governs rest, repair, restoration, digestion, and recovery. The parasympathetic system does not switch on just because activity stops – it responds to the presence of safety, not the absence of demand. Breathwork provides that safety signal deliberately. Sometimes called the rest-and-digest system.

Soft Fascination

The mechanism by which birdsong and nature sounds reduce cortisol and anxiety. Soft fascination describes gentle stimuli that engage the mind without demanding effort – allowing the prefrontal cortex to rest while the nervous system softens. Identified in research as the primary psychological mechanism behind the measurable effects of nature sounds on wellbeing.

Sympathetic Nervous System

One of the two primary branches of the autonomic nervous system. Governs the stress response – the activation of the body for threat, challenge, or demand. Often described as fight-or-flight, though the full range includes freeze, fawn, and flop. The sympathetic system is not the villain. It is ancient, intelligent, and designed to keep us alive. The problem is not that it activates – it is that modern life rarely gives it the all-clear to stand down.

Trauma-Informed Practice

An approach to facilitating breathwork that recognises the possibility that participants may carry unprocessed trauma, and which structures the session accordingly. Key features: full explanation of effects before they occur, explicit consent throughout, the natural breath always available as an exit, no pressure to continue, no instruction to push through discomfort. All TEA breathwork is trauma-informed. This is not a qualifier or a credential – it is the baseline.

Vagal Tone

A measure of the activity of the vagus nerve and its influence on the parasympathetic nervous system. Higher vagal tone is associated with greater resilience, better heart rate variability, and a more adaptable nervous system. Lower vagal tone is associated with chronic stress, anxiety, and difficulty recovering from activation. Breathwork, coherence breathing in particular, measurably improves vagal tone over time.

Vagus Nerve

The longest cranial nerve in the body, running from the brainstem through the heart, lungs, and gut. The primary carrier of the parasympathetic safety signal. Responds to slow breathing, the extended exhale, birdsong, humming, eye contact with someone felt as safe, and gentle massage of the area behind the ear. The vagus nerve is the physiological reason that what TEA does works.

Water Breath

A TEA breath form: in through the nose, out through the mouth. This pattern signals safety to the nervous system. Used specifically in moments when emotion is present and moving – not to suppress it, but to give the body the message that it is safe to let what is there continue passing through. Associated with emotional release and calming.

Window of Tolerance

A concept from trauma and nervous system work, describing the range of activation within which a person can function effectively – not overwhelmed (hyperarousal) and not shut down (hypoarousal). A well-regulated nervous system spends most of its time within this window. Breathwork, practised regularly, widens the window — building the capacity to meet more of what life presents without moving into overwhelm or shutdown.