The Day Maya Breathed Again

Maya had always been the calm one. 

The dependable daughter. 

The reliable coworker. 

The smiling friend.

 But lately, something had shifted. 

She felt like a volcano

— quiet on the outside, but rumbling within.

She snapped at her mother over breakfast. 

She cried in traffic. 

She stared blankly at her computer screen, the anxiety too loud to think through. 

The shame hit hard. “This isn’t me,” she whispered to herself.

 But deep down, she knew it was her—just a version no one else could see.

One evening, exhausted and numb, Maya found an old photo of herself at seven years old

— laughing, barefoot in the grass, full of life. 

That girl wasn’t anxious. She was free. Something stirred. 

“What happened to her?” she wondered. 

The answer came quietly: 

life happened. Deadlines. Expectations. Unspoken grief. Many Bottled-up emotions.

She stumbled across a podcast of DPMP the next day. “Your body,” the speaker said, “isn’t broken. It just needs safety.” Maya felt a tear slip down her cheek. For the first time, anxiety didn’t feel like a flaw. It felt like a signal.

She began simply. Triangle breathing. Four seconds in, hold, four out. She hummed softly—Bhramari style. She closed her eyes and listened to her body, not her fears. Slowly, her nervous system began to settle. She wasn’t trying to “fix” her anxiety anymore. She was befriending it.

She started small: 

Havening techniques like Affirmational Havening, where she repeated calming statements while gently stroking her arms. Event Havening, where she revisited past stressful memories with safety and care. And Transpirational Havening, where she imagined releasing old emotions like smoke rising into the sky. She added gentle yoga stretches, mindful walks, quiet pauses, and deep breathwork.

With each breath, each stroke, each whispered word, she felt more anchored.

 Her emotions didn’t scare her anymore. But she learned something powerful—they weren’t permission slips for bad behavior.

And on one quiet morning, walking through a park, she breathed deeply... and smiled. Not the mask-smile. A real one. The kind that starts from the soul.

Moral:

Your emotions are valid, but your behaviour is not. Feeling deeply is human. Acting with intention is healing. Peace begins when we stop fighting ourselves and start listening with Mindfulness.