BREATHWORK AND BROWNIES: Lee-Anne Breen's Recipe for Mindfulness

Guest: Lee-Anne Breen — Trossachs Wellbeing. Mindfulness, meditation, Reiki healing and holosomatic breath therapy practitioner. Available one-to-one, online and in group sessions. Also does workplace wellbeing and stress management.

Website: trossachswellbeing.com (TROSSACHS — for anyone who needs the spelling) Find her on: Instagram and Facebook

Note: Paul recorded this one-to-one in Lee-Anne's home therapy studio. Lee was unwell. He ate all the brownies.

Topics covered:

The mind-body connection

• Western medicine treats mind and body as separate — Lee-Anne sees them as one system. Thoughts affect physical health, physical health affects emotional state — you can't meaningfully separate them
• Her own journey: depression, anxiety, autoimmune thyroid condition — complementary therapies (Reiki first, then acupuncture) opened her eyes to how working with the physical body could transform emotional and mental health

Reiki explained

• Working with universal life force energy — known as prana in yoga, Ki or chi in Chinese medicine
• The energy centres of the body (chakras) can become overactive, underactive or blocked — Reiki brings balance and flow
• Lee experienced the same thing Lee did: feeling intense heat, pressure and movement from a practitioner not physically touching her
• It sounds woo-woo, it is woo-woo, and it works. You have to experience it to understand it
• The cake cabinet analogy: not every therapy is for every person — try things, find what fits, move on if it doesn't

Breathwork explained — the umbrella term

• Breathwork covers everything from gentle mindful breathing to intense circular breathing journeys
• Pranayama — the breath is actually the most important part of traditional yoga, not the postures
• Wim Hof brought breathwork into Western consciousness — very activating, focused on stamina and mental strength
• Tummo breathing, breath of fire — related techniques
• Holotropic/holosomatic breathwork — Lee-Anne's training. Conscious, connected, circular breathing (no pause between inhale and exhale). Can produce dreamlike states, emotional release, altered consciousness, or cathartic crying. Each session is different
• The key distinction: the deep circular breath work is for sessions. Day-to-day, nasal diaphragmatic breathing is the goal — not mouth breathing

The nervous system connection

• Every inhale activates the sympathetic nervous system (active, alert)
• Every exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and restore)
• Extend the exhale to calm down; focus on the inhale to energise
• Sighing and yawning are the body's own attempt to force an extended exhale and settle you down — it's not boredom, it's self-regulation
• The amygdala — the primal brain — is programmed to keep you alive, not make you feel good. When it's been switched on chronically (sustained stress, anxiety), it resists relaxation because hypervigilance feels familiar. Trying to relax can trigger more anxiety — you're not broken, you're just going through turbulence
• The prefrontal cortex (the learning, social, thinking brain) goes offline under stress — which is why actors forget their lines when nervous

The sleep tape / nasal breathing

• James Nestor's book Breath — strongly recommended. He spent extended periods with only nose breathing and only mouth breathing to measure the health impact
• Nasal breathing produces 80% of the body's nitric oxide — lowers blood pressure, filters air, improves sleep
• Can resolve snoring and sleep apnea
• Lee-Anne tried mouth tape, removes it in her sleep without knowing. She sent Paul home with some. He tried it that night

HeartMath biofeedback

• Software developed by the Heart Math Institute (30-year non-profit research body) that measures heart rate variability
• Clip onto ear or place finger on monitor — shows real-time nervous system regulation
• Jagged chaotic pattern when stressed → within minutes of gentle breathing practice, the pattern becomes a smooth sine wave
• Seeing the shift in real time motivates people to keep practising
• Brings together mindfulness, meditation and breathwork — gets you to a calm-but-engaged flow state rather than deep sleep or hyperarousal

Practical tips for busy people

• You don't need an hour — pepper breathwork throughout your day
• While the kettle boils: two minutes
• In the shower: two minutes
• In bed before sleep instead of doom scrolling: ideal
• Before a stressful meeting: 30 seconds, hand on belly, three deep breaths
• The goal is to make it habitual so it becomes your default response to stress
• Don't add it to your to-do list — filter it into moments that already exist

The brownie epilogue

• Completely gluten-free and dairy-free — Lee-Anne's family had a wedding cake bakery, she ran a catering business in France, now makes for cafes
• Paul is now in a brownie coma
• Lee did not get any brownies. This was referenced multiple times

One year anniversary

• This episode published just before Mind Cake's first birthday (1st November)
• 4,000 total plays, 400 Facebook followers, 800 newsletter subscribers
• Guests so far: Alastair Campbell, Jonathan Agnew (not yet out at time of recording), Arthur Smith and everyone in between
• Lee toasts with a Glen Goyne whisky from a distillery tour he took his godson Luke Mills and Luke's girlfriend Connie to that afternoon
• Paul toasts with a Travelodge paper cup

Referenced:

• Breath by James Nestor — highly recommended, covers nasal vs mouth breathing, holotropic breathwork, and the science of how we breathe wrong
• Heart Math Institute — heartmath.org — 30 years of research into heart rate variability, coherence and stress
• Wim Hof method — gateway drug for breathwork in the West
• Cam Cooney — previous episode, introduced the sleep tape concept to Mind Cake
• Shambhala Retreats, Sintra, Portugal — referenced in context of yoga retreat experiences
• Glen Goyne Distillery — Lee's afternoon trip with godson Luke Mills