Breathing Practices For A Sensitive Nervous System - by Cathy Doherty

COURSE

Breathing Practices For A Sensitive Nervous System

With Cathy Doherty

In this 3-day course, you can gain both practical skills and scientific insight into how conscious breathing supports a sensitive nervous system. Each session blends gentle guidance with education, helping you not only feel the effects of breathwork but also understand what's happening in your body. You will learn and practice three foundational breathwork practices and develop tools to manage stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. You will experience a physiological shift from stress ( fight or flight) to relaxation ( rest and digest). The course will build confidence in using breath as a tool for grounding and self-regulation. You can expect to finish the course feeling calmer, clearer and more connected to inner resilience.


Meet your Teacher

Cathy is a Mental Health Nurse and Mindfulness teacher in training. Her work is guided by a deep appreciation for a sensitive nervous system and how the breath can be one of its greatest supports. Through both clinical experience and personal practice, she's witnessed how simple, compassionate breathing practices can ease anxiety, reduce overwhelm, and create a sense of grounded safety in the body. She intends to offer gentle, evidence-based practices that help people reconnect with their breath, soothe their nervous system, and find peace within their own natural rhythm.

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3 Days

18 students

5.0 stars

9 min / day

Anxiety

English


Lesson 1

Diaphragmatic Breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing encourages slow, deep breaths that expand the belly rather than the chest. This activates the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering heart rate and calming the stress response. By breathing into the diaphragm we send the body a clear message of safety, helping to ease anxiety, release tension, and restore balance to a sensitive nervous system.

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Lesson 2

Box Breathing

This session offers a gentle, science-based practice of traditional 4-4-4-4 box breathing, designed specifically for sensitive or easily stimulated nervous systems. Structured breath rhythms help reduce amygdala activation, increase vagal tone, balance CO2 levels, and improve heart-rate variability, supporting the body's natural parasympathetic (rest and digest) state.

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Lesson 3

4-7-8 Breath

This gentle 4-7-8 breathing practice supports a sensitive or easily stimulated nervous system by encouraging slow, regulated breathing and longer exhales. This helps activate the body's calming response, easing anxiety, overwhelm, and restlessness. It's important to move at your own pace, shorten the counts if needed and return to natural breathing at any time. This practice is an invitation to soften and restore.

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5.0 (2)

Recent Reviews

Tina

January 29, 2026

Thank YOU Cathy ❤️

Shauna

January 11, 2026

Educational and practical!

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