A Simple, God-Designed Way to Calm Anxiety

Last week, I shared how anxiety often isn’t random or irrational—it’s communication. A signal from the body asking us to pay attention.

While we are identifying root causes, waiting on test results, and implementing lifestyle changes, there is something powerful and often undervalued that can move the needle now: breathing.

It’s something I’ve used for years when anxiety unexpectedly surfaces.

Breath begins at the beginning—in the first verses of Genesis. The “Spirit of God” is the same word (Ruah) as “breath.” God used His breath to speak order out of chaos and then, in the next chapter, to breathe life into dust-turned man. Breath characterizes life.

We take breaths all day long, whether or not we are thinking about it. Justin Whitmill Early, in his book The Body Teaches the Soul, delves into the emotional impact of breathing. He explains that we take an average of 20,000 breaths a day, processing about 4,000 gallons of air. The number of molecules involved in just a single breath is somewhere around 25 sextillion molecules—that is twenty-five with twenty-one zeroes added.

Breathing, a function of the autonomic nervous system, stimulates the vagus nerve—the portal that affects the rest of the body. Slowed, intentional breathing sends a message to the brain and body to calm down. We have amazing control over our bodies through our breath. Learning to breathe intentionally when we feel anxious is a way to steward our bodies as a temple of God.

There are several different methods for intentional breathing. Here are three simple options:

1. Belly Breathing

Start with this one first. When we are anxious, we tend to breathe very shallowly. Breathing deeply into our bellies helps oxygenate our blood and calm the body.
You may want to practice this lying down. Place one hand on your stomach and one on your chest. Slowly inhale and exhale. Notice which hand moves. The goal is for the hand on your stomach to rise and fall while the hand on your chest stays still. If this feels awkward, that’s okay—try a few rounds and return to it later.

2. Box Breathing

Breathe in cadence: 4–4–4–4.
Inhale for four.
Hold for four.
Exhale for four.
Hold for four.
Repeat.

3. Pursed Lip Breathing

Inhale through the nose for two. Slowly exhale through pursed lips for four. Think about blowing out a candle—slow, steady, and controlled. Repeat.

Breathing is not Eastern mysticism. It is part of God’s intricate design of the human nervous system. He created our bodies to respond to intentional breathing to slow anxious thoughts. Practice deep breathing for three to five minutes once per day, gradually increasing to five to seven minutes, and adding additional minutes as needed throughout your day. Studies consistently show benefits for mental and emotional health.

If you want to take this a step further, you can incorporate breath prayers during your breathing practice. Any short phrase may work, but I often use the 23rd Psalm:

Inhale – “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Exhale – “I shall not want.”

Deep breathing will not magically make anxiety disappear. But slowing down to breathe and talk to the Lord helps us reorient around why our body and mind feel anxious—and gives us the space to take the next step toward healing.