In Part Two of my ANEW Insight conversation with psychiatrist–neuroscientist Dr. Helen Lavretsky (UCLA), we move from theory to practice. Below you’ll find clear, clinician-tested breathing protocols you can start right now—plus guidance on when to use each technique, how long to practice, and how breathwork supports trauma healing alongside traditional care.
Start Here: A 90-Second Reset (3–3–3–3 “Box” Breathing)
Best for: in-the-moment stress, emotional reactivity, meetings, parenting meltdowns
How to:
- Inhale 3 seconds → Hold 3 → Exhale 3 → Hold 3.
- Repeat for 3–6 cycles (about 1–2 minutes).
Why it works: Timed, paced breathing quickly shifts the autonomic nervous system toward parasympathetic tone, lowering heart rate and blood pressure. Even one intentional cycle can interrupt a stress spiral; several cycles create a fuller reset.
Pro tip for co-regulation: Caregivers, therapists, and parents—slow your own breath first. Mirror neurons help the other person’s breathing entrain to yours.
Build the Daily Habit: The 10-Minute Dose
Best for: lasting nervous-system change, mood resilience, sleep quality
How to:
- Aim for 10 minutes/day (in one block or split into 3–5 minute mini-sessions).
- Most people benefit from 4–6 breaths per minute (e.g., 5-second inhale, 5-second exhale).
Why it works: Consistency rewires reactivity patterns. In clinical studies Dr. Lavretsky referenced, daily practice produced measurable changes in brain function, immune signaling, and biological aging markers.
Sleep Switch: 4–7–8 (or 4–5–6) with a Longer Exhale
Best for: winding down at night, anxiety with elevated heart rate
How to (Option A): Inhale 4 → Hold 7 → Exhale 8.
How to (Option B, gentler): Inhale 4 → Hold 5 → Exhale 6.
Why it works: A longer exhale strongly stimulates the vagus nerve via the diaphragm, signaling safety and promoting the “rest-and-digest” state. Use 4–5 minutes in bed or after night wakings.
Grounding Before You Breathe: Anchor Visualization
Best for: racing thoughts, dissociation, being “stuck in your head”
How to: Sit or recline. Visualize an anchor dropping from your tailbone to the center of the earth, or roots spreading through the floor. Then begin your paced breathing.
Why it works: Gentle interoceptive cues (posture, contact, imagery) orient the nervous system to the here-and-now, making breathwork more effective.
Explore her work and connect through her social media channels below: https://drhelenlavretsky.com/ https://www.semel.ucla.edu/ , https://www.uclahealth.org/, https://bioscience.ucla.edu/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-lavretsky-846a3b20/
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Energy On Demand: Breath of Fire (Use with Care)
Best for: morning activation, “brain fog,” non-anxious fatigue
How to: Short, rapid exhales through the nose while rhythmically pumping the belly (2–3 pulses/second). Start with 15–30 seconds; rest; repeat up to 3 rounds.
Why it works: Mild, intentional hyperventilation increases arousal and alertness—like coffee without caffeine.
Safety notes: Avoid if you’re prone to panic, dizziness, fainting, pregnancy, uncontrolled hypertension, or migraines. This is activating, not calming.
Cool the System: Sītali (Cooling) Prāṇāyāma
Best for: hot flashes, heat, post-stress cool-down
How to: Curl the tongue into a straw shape (or lightly part the teeth if you can’t curl). Inhale through the tongue/teeth, then exhale through the nose. Practice 2–5 minutes.
Why it works: The moist, resisted inhalation plus slow pacing creates a noticeable cooling and calming effect.
Mood Breaker (and Kid-Friendly): “Frog Breath”
Best for: interrupting spirals of frustration, sadness, or rumination
How to: Eyes on the horizon, inhale, then pursed-lip, forceful exhale with a playful “frog” emphasis. Repeat several times; add a shoulder shrug on the inhale as a quick muscle reset.
Why it works: Novel motor patterns + audible exhale disrupt habitual stress loops. It’s also disarming and often produces a smile—physiology follows.
Trauma-Informed Practice: Gentle, Safe, and Titrated
Principles: Do less than you think you need, and keep the body safe, supported, and grounded.
Protocol (guided imagery + breath):
- Recline or sit with support; visualize a golden light sphere around your body.
- Breathe slowly into the heart/chest center for several cycles.
- Send the breath toward one tense or painful area; imagine the golden light bathing that tissue.
- On each exhale, gently release a fraction of the tension or memory—no forcing.
- Integrate self-forgiveness and compassion statements if they feel true.
Why it works: Slow breath + soothing imagery engages safety networks, allowing the body to process stored activation without overwhelm. Pair with therapy for PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
How to Choose the Right Technique (At-a-Glance)
- Acute stress at work or home: 3–3–3–3 for 90 seconds
- Bedtime / night waking: 4–7–8 (or 4–5–6) for 4–5 minutes
- Heavy brain fog, low energy: Breath of Fire (brief, with screening)
- Hot flashes/overheated: Sītali for 2–5 minutes
- Kids upset / quick mood interrupt: Frog Breath + shoulder shrugs
- Trauma processing (with a clinician or carefully solo): Golden-light grounding + slow chest-center breathing
Weekly Progression Plan (10 Minutes, 6 Days/Week)
Week 1:
- 5 min: 5-in / 5-out (≈6 breaths/min)
- 3 min: 3–3–3–3 cycles
- 2 min: Sītali cool-down
Week 2:
- 6 min: 4–5–6 (longer exhale)
- 2 min: Frog Breath + shoulder shrugs (break rumination)
- 2 min: Golden-light chest-center breathing
Week 3+:
- Keep 10 minutes daily. Add Breath of Fire in the morning (30–60 sec) only if appropriate; extend bedtime 4–7–8 to 5–8 minutes on high-stress days.
Frequently Asked (Clinical) Questions
How little is “enough”?
One intentional cycle can help. For measurable, durable effects, 10 minutes/day is a smart floor.
Can breathwork replace meds or therapy?
It’s a powerful adjunct. Dr. Lavretsky emphasized that many patients need multi-modal care; breathwork adds agency, co-regulation, and physiologic stability.
I dissociate when I slow my breath. Now what?
Open your eyes, keep breaths shallower and shorter, add grounding through the feet, and reduce total time. Work with a trauma-informed clinician.
Put This Into Practice Today
- Before meals (1–2 min): 5-in / 5-out to reconnect with hunger/fullness (great for emotional eating patterns).
- Afternoon slump (60 sec): 3–3–3–3 to reset focus without caffeine.
- Evening wind-down (4–5 min): 4–7–8 to cue sleep physiology.
- Weekly reflection (2 min): Golden-light visualization + three self-compassion breaths.
Continue Your Journey
- 🌿 Rebuild body trust and nervous-system regulation inside my step-by-step program: Deprogram Diet Culture course
- 📘 Go deeper on mindset, cravings, and sustainable health: Deprogram Diet Culture book (paperback, Kindle, and audio) — find it via the book page on my site
- 🎧 Listen to the full ANEW Insight episode featuring these practices and Dr. Lavretsky’s research
View here full podcast Transcript:
redooo2 Dr L part two
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: [00:00:00] Welcome back. We are back for the second half of our interview with esteemed psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Dr. Helen Lavretsky. Dr. Lavretsky gave us some amazing insight into her extensive background, her research and how breath work dramatically changes our mental and physical health.
We are learning so much. I, I know that there was a lot of science in the last, uh, episode, so if you need to go back and listen to it to understand it, go for it. But what we’re gonna focus on in this half is actually the practical. Application of breath work. So, Dr. Lavretsky, I would love for you to give us a few examples of some breath work exercises that people can start to employ.
I know you, uh, went over a few of them during your, um, [00:01:00] talk at, uh, the APA conference. Give us an idea of some, some typical breath work practices that people can look into.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Okay, so, uh, the easiest practice is just to. close your eyes. If you can’t close your eyes, just count your breaths maybe, or just follow your breaths uh, as the flow of air or oxygen, uh, going through your nostrils, uh, passing into your lungs, expanding your diaphragm, expanding your belly. Just consciously notice the flow and outwards.
And that alone, just putting an attention on your breaths would slow it if you want, uh, to more, uh, precisely control it. Um, there is a, the easiest breath is 3 3 3 3 breaths and that is three second inhale, three second hold, three second exhale, and three second hold. And I, I can take you through that.
That would take you to five [00:02:00] breaths per minute, so it would be 12 second pair of breathing cycle. Inhale. Exhale. Withholding the holding is important for activation of vagus nerve.. So, um, I usually, especially, uh, older patients, um, I just ask them to put a, a clock with the second hand and follow the second hand, three seconds, three seconds, three seconds, three second, have a nice chime, uh, clock that tells you, you don’t have to watch it, but it tells you to switch the breaths. Uh, uh, but I can count. Do you wanna practice? Like I, I would show you how I do it with patients, for instance.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes, please.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: So, uh, close your eyes and I will count. Settle in your chair, feel grounded. That’s another, uh, important component, especially if you are asking grounding. the, the best way I found to do it is to imagine anchoring, uh, sending an anchor from your tailbone to the [00:03:00] center of the earth. And
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Hmm.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: kind of grounds you or, uh, if you’re sitting on the ground, uh, floor or grass, just imagine being one or having roots that would connect you to the Earth. And Mother Earth is what supports you. Your body is of the earth elements. And, uh, you could, uh, talk to the earth about, uh, feeding your needs, you know, like healing, you, exchanging nutrition and negative ions or whatever else makes you healthier. So that’s an element of meditation that is absolutely necessary because we’re so flighty now, uh, from all the anxiety and also electronic devices, electronic devices, um, and uh, electromagnetic field. Really, um, uh, disrupts our connection to the earth. And because we live in urban areas, we’re so devoid of con uh, uh, connecting to nature or mother earth. So I send people to the beach to go barefoot. Or [00:04:00] just imagine if you can’t go anywhere you are in a meeting. Let’s say you are anchoring yourself, visualize, uh, dropping an anchor to the center of the earth first, closing your eyes or not. And then I’m gonna count. Inhale, inhale, inhale. Hold, hold, hold. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Hold, hold, hold. Inhale, inhale, inhale. Hold, hold, hold, hold. Exhale. Exhale, exhale. Hold, hold, hold. Inhale, inhale, Inhale. Hold, hold, hold. Exhale, [00:05:00] exhale, exhale.. Hold, hold, hold. So do you feel even three breaths kind of calms you down and you feel cooler?
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: anxiety and stress goes away?
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes, that’s called the 3, 3, 3.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: breathing. 3, 3, 3. Three breaths.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Okay. I love this. And how, what is the, the minimum time that you recommend somebody participate in this or really any breath work session?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: So, you know, if you are in a stressful situation, you uh, must control your emotions immediately, even like the three breaths would reset you, or one breath intentional. To reset,I need to take this breaths to slow down. but ideally 10 minutes a day. Um, sort of, you know, we’re coming to the same conclusion that in order [00:06:00] to sustain the effects of practice, you have to do it for, um, a minimum of 10 minutes at the time. You could split it during the day. Um, and you know, like for example, aerobic exercise has the same kind of finding where you need 10 minutes to. achieve a sustainable effect. Uh, but overall recommended 30 minutes a day, and then you could practice 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, and still, uh, still have that benefit. Similar comes to meditation or breath, uh, but even if you do it one minute, three minutes, five minutes, it would be effective in the moment just to have a sustained, um, effect on the system. Entire body. Uh, it, it requires a little bit of longer. Um, caregivers are very busy. People, we couldn’t do, uh, yoga class with them or any kind of class. Um, but, uh, they committed to 11 minute meditation per day. Sometimes it required closing [00:07:00] themselves in the bathroom from their family members who would cha uh, just follow them around
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: they don’t have the space that they need, so they go to the bathroom for 10 minutes and do that. Same applies to many other scenarios, like having small children or whatever.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: I heard it. It just takes a a few minutes. Is it 10 minutes to activate the vagus nerve?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: No, no, it would be activated. It’s just whatever we have the minimum duration of that practice is around 10 minutes, or either mindfulness or breath breathing, you know, like we. Uh, but the effect will be there. It’s like automatic effect. That’s how your body functions. Evolutionally. If you step back, take one or three breaths, you will be in better space, if not, uh, than, than when you’re not doing it. especially if it’s habitual. If it becomes your tool and you know, [00:08:00] you’ll come down after taking three breaths, that’s what you do. Or even one breath, five minutes is fine, three minutes is fine. But what we have studied is 10 minutes.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: I love that. And just so you know too, I I, I, I’ve learned this as well and I think that this is all important for caregivers, since we’re talking about caregivers, when we are seeing people who are distressed. We actually, you know, we have these things called mirror neurons and we can either pick up their stress or we can help them calm down in their stress just by our breathing.
I do this a lot in session where if somebody’s really distressed, I consciously start to control my breathing. And just breathe slowly. And what I see in my clients is they start to calm down and their breathing slows as well. So caregivers out there, you can try to help control, say it’s a, uh, you know, um, kid who’s, you know, in [00:09:00] distress or you know, you older parent that you’re trying to help just by calming down your breath.
I really love this. So that’s box breathing and the recommendation is around 10 minutes practice every day. But you can also just do it in the moment, even if it’s for a short period of time to calm yourself down. I love this Dr. Lavretsky. So can you give us maybe some of the more Eastern?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: let me just, um, uh, suggest another common very popular breath, 4, 7, 8
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: when you inhale for four minute seven, uh, hold and eight exhale longer. Exhale with more readily activate the go nerve..
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: it’s controlling, diaphragm holding and then slowly exhaling. That’s what, so the vagal nerve, uh, is connected to the diaphragm and, uh, regulates the, so it’s like both ways.
By [00:10:00] controlling the motion, you also activate vagal nerve.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes, and I’ve heard that the Army uses that technique to help them try to go to bed quickly, especially if they’re out in the field and they need to get, you know, rest immediately. They employ that breathing technique. I also like, uh, the. I have a four six technique. Really, it, it’s the important thing is to have the exhale longer than your inhale.
Breathing in for four, holding for about five, and then exhaling out for six. That works really well for me as well. So if you could give us some of the, uh, eastern
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yeah,
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: techniques that you have learned as well, we would love to learn these with you.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: right. So, uh, the breath of fire is a technique, uh, that is present in numerous yoga practices. Uh, it’s the opposite of calming breaths. It’s actually activating breath, so it gives you more energy. [00:11:00] Uh, it is a, a lot of hyperventilation, so you wouldn’t do it in people who are overly anxious or sensitive to fainting, um, and hyperventilation. Um, and, uh, so you. it’s a vol volitional control, and it’s the opposite of diaphragmatic breathing, where it’s more passive and you expand your diaphragm into your belly and the belly expands here, uh, it’s the opposite. You are actually pumping the belly about two to three, uh, movements second. So it’s a very rapid, hyperventilating breath. I’m taught to extend on my arms because this is actually working energy, energetic body, and covers your aura. It opens also meridians, but you don’t have to do that. You could sit in a yoga pose with, uh, ian Mudra, which is common in meditative practices on your knees and activated through your nose. Most commonly, we’re doing it, uh, through our [00:12:00] nose out.
Do this. Version, and, uh, inhale and pump your belly. So you might notice that you are, um, activating your, becoming more, uh, uh, blood rushes up.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: you are becoming more energetic. It’s like drinking coffee without drinking coffee. you are hyperventilating, so you’re infusing oxygen to your body, into your brain, and, uh, you are ready to go after that.
That’s, uh, the breath to start in the morning. It’s also highly detoxifying when you have to detox. Uh, you will do something like this in order to enhance detoxification effect of this breath. You might open your mouth and do it through your mouth with tongue open. So this is very intense, [00:13:00] but Tanya is like this. So it’s like dogs dancing. Dogs, you know,
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes,
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: dogs outside, you
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: my dog is looking at me right now, like, what’s going on Ma?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, to Cool, cool down. Uh, the opposite of this is Sitali Pranayama where you curl your tongue like you did and breathe through it. Slowly and deeply expanding your lungs completely and, uh, filling them up with air and oxygen as a straw. So this represents a, um, resistance, sort of you, so you have to force your breath.
So let’s just try to breeze with that and
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Okay.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: the cooling effect.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Okay.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: You could ex exhale through your tongue or through your nose.[00:14:00]
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Wow.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: So I give it to, uh, women, men, menopausal women. It was hot flashes. Or
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Oh
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: of a fire and you, or you know, hot weather, this is something that would cool you down.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: wow. What is the me? Why does it cool you down? Why does curling the tongue,
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: and putting the, uh, breathing through the tongue. It’s like moisture and, and uh, wind, you know, when it, uh, dries up your tongue. Um, that is a cooling effectiveness. But also
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: wow.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: the oxygen, you know, like, uh, loading you up with a lot of oxygen and uh, through your tongue and moisture of your mouth kind of has this cooling effect.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: So it does, does it stop a hot flash?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: It really, uh, if you [00:15:00] commit to it, yes, it could. It, you know, if you do it long enough for three to five minutes, you can get a brain freeze like you get from Slurpee’s.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Wow. Well, it certainly was exceptionally calming.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Yes.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Like I feel much more grounded just after a couple of those breaths, and that’s called
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Sitali Pranayama,
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Sitali Pranayama.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: So not everybody’s capable of curling their tongues. It’s about one third of people who can do this.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: like a straw effect your breathing through a straw. so the version of it for those who can’t curl, uh, to, uh, curl your tongues is through teeth breathing through teeth. [00:16:00] It has the same kind of cooling effect. Right? And the last breaths I’d like to inter uh, introduce, uh, that is a really funny breaths called frog brows. And it’s essentially you imitate frogs. Uh, but we’re using mudras with your eyes. So normally in yoga practices, you focus on eyes on something, you know, uh, they’re usually closed, focused here, here or here, which would change activation or opening of the brain. In this particular breath pranayama practice, uh, you look to the infinity, to the horizon and straight up, you focus on horizon, and then you inhale and you imitate the frog. Like, uh, also purse your, yeah. More like, uh, forced exhale. Make a
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Wow.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: you do [00:17:00] this. Do
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Wow.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: you are breaking any kind of depression or negative? You know, when you do it in the group, people start laughing, you know, because it’s kind of a fri funny sounds and funny breaths when you do it with children. You could teach children that I can, I teach my granddaughters, um, to stop crying or demanding something by resorting to this frog breaths. And
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Oh my goodness.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: you’re a little frog, you’re running around and you start doing frog breaths..
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Well, I tell you, I, I felt just immediately, like my body was melting.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Mm-hmm. It really
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Like every, every muscle just relaxed just by doing four or five of those breaths. [00:18:00] But that’s an like an instant depression reliever, instant anxiety reliever. Wow.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: it out of your body. It, it does have a release. The one thing that, uh, also has a release is a shoulder shrug, and you could combine it with your, uh, breath inhale and shrug. So during your working day or when you’re stressed, this is like the easy release.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Oh, I love this. Now, we haven’t really touched too much on stored trauma in the body. I work a lot with the trauma survivors. Can you tell us how breath work like this and which breath work technique can help to release that stored trauma for trauma [00:19:00] survivors?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: So this. the story with trauma, dealing with trauma and working with trauma, you don’t want to overwhelm the body necessarily or flood it traumatic, uh, visions, flashbacks. So you approach this, um, carefully, according to everybody’s tolerance. The easiest thing to do is relax them physically like they’re lying on or reclining in the chair, grounding, anchoring to the center of the earth, feeling us being supported and, uh, starting to breathe normally. Uh, but also asking the breaths to go to the places in their body that are tense or painful. I ask people to relax ground and then start breathing through their chest, heart center, chest center. Sent several, uh, breaths through the chest center. [00:20:00] Let me give you one other thing to do, and imagine yourself, uh, being inside of a solar disc sphere. lead up with golden liquid light, so your entire body is supported by this disc. Nourished, cherished. Loved and gets you ready on this journey of release, releasing your trauma, so that’s a nourishing, supportive environment.
You feel safe in there and protected. You could imagine another sphere in your heart and this outer sphere and your heart are supported and guided by this golden light. It’s very healing, you are sending breaths through all of this. And then you send, uh, golden light and this breath and prana and oxygen to all [00:21:00] places in your body from the top down s layer by layer, part by part to relax each cell, each particle of your bigness into this golden light and your breaths. Let’s try a few dress to send to your tense parts. Anything in pain. Tense, out, feel nourished and supported and safe, grounded. And only in this space can you talk about traumatic events and send this healing energy, your breath to those events. It requires a lot of forgiveness for yourself and others to release those events. Unless you forgive them and recognize their significance in your growth, your evolution of your personal, personal evolution, [00:22:00] those that are events you are learning from, this is the information, and now you are ready to let it go completely, deeply, permanently, with the breath release, all of it.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Wow, that is so powerful. So just allowing them to slow down, breathe the surrounding themselves with that golden disc of light, finding where the pain lies in their body. Using forgiveness of self and others, allowing the light to go into that part of the body and then releasing it. Wow. Dr. Lavretsky, I think you’ve given us some amazing tools.
Can you tell us how this type of breath work can enhance traditional psychiatric treatment, especially for those [00:23:00] with anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Well, you know, so those who have all those symptoms have gone through every medication known to men, and gained some benefit. Hopefully some got better all the way or significantly better. But the existing treatments have really limited efficacy. You know, when we talk about depression, efficacy, it’s about 30% remission rate for a single drug.
Then you have to add drugs or combined drugs, or switch to another drug or other. Um, so the currently available treatments have limited efficacy. And they’re not empowering. So this practice is you are doing it yourself. You are grounded, you are using your own breaths. You are empowered by your higher self.
You are, um, empowered to release this trauma. You know, [00:24:00] nobody else is doing it for you, drug or machine or whatever, or another person. It’s you. uh, you are in your power. To, uh, chart your own destiny and they release your trauma. Trauma is simply an information that was useful at the time when it occurred for you to learn from and grow from. And all of us have it, you know, so, and some deal with this more, some are more resilient and some are, are found this identity that is attached to trauma and don’t have tools. So breaths and this practices are the tools that you need to release trauma and empower yourself.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: I love this so much. I tell every client who comes in my door that by the end of treatment, I hope that they’re their own best expert. And I really do think that we have gone into an age where we don’t. Trust ourselves. We don’t trust our bodies. We don’t listen. We listen [00:25:00] outwardly. We’re trying to find the, uh, the expert who will cure us of this, this, and this.
And I do think that if more people listened, use that interception and really. Like tuned in their body tells them everything. It tells you when you’re hungry. It tells you when you’re tired. It tells you when you need to have somebody listen to you or hug you. Um, and when we tap into our breathing and learn how to calm our bodies down, then our bodies work in conjunction with us.
It doesn’t work. Against us. You have given us some amazing, powerful tools, Dr. Lavretsky, and that’s what I wanna do on this podcast. I have goosebumps ’cause I’m just so excited by what we’ve just learned. Can you tell people how they can work with you? How they can find your research? What? What are all.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: just wrote the book. It’s been gonna be published. It’s called Soulful. uh, this is [00:26:00] about bringing back soul into, uh, mental health and psychiatry and psychology. This is something that we don’t approach, right, and it’s becoming so, uh, so important nowadays because it’s the soul, your higher self that knows everything about you, including the role of trauma in your life. And it can inform you and guide you to release this. Uh, so the wisdom is inside you. It’s your soul.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: I love this. When does this book come out? When can we read this?
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: on 2026, it’s going through edits and, um, I’m still working with the, uh, publishing company. So, um, um, I will be doing workshops once I release the book. Uh, based on it, it’s written as a, an outline for workshops to teach people skills. But what I showed you, especially with the golden light, is a portion of what I do with patients and, uh, besides them. Uh, the, what I’ve shown you, I also ask them to speak to their soul. You know, it’s the soul listening exercise.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: [00:27:00] Oh, Dr. Lavretsky, I love this, and we will have all of her links. You can find her at UCLA. She is just a preeminent psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and we’re just so blessed and so lucky to have you on the program today. Thank you so much for joining me.
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: Thank you so much for inviting me on. It’s been a delight. Thank you.
dr–supatra-tovar_2_07-23-2025_125653: Oh, and thank you everyone for tuning into the ANEW Insight podcast. I really hope you took away, um, some valuable tools. You realized, uh, that you are your own best expert. That you are empowered to release your trauma, to release your stress, and to have a little bit more control over this. We do not have to be, um.
Dictated by our anxiety producing world, we can create peace, calm, and quiet inwardly, um, if we just learn how to tune in. And Dr. Lavretsky [00:28:00] helped us with that. So join us next time, and thanks again Dr.Lavretsky
squadcaster-gf10_2_07-23-2025_125653: You are welcome. Be well.
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