Hi! Welcome. You being here means more than you know. Knowing it lands with someone like you keeps me going. I'm Lavena Xu-Johnson. I write about psychology for founders. Why? Because scaling a business means scaling ourselves first.
Dear founders,
I truly hope everyone stays safe, no matter where you are in the world.
In this time of uncertainty, we’re constantly keeping an eye on the latest news, filtering through reliable media sources to stay on top of everything so we know how to best navigate our safety and our businesses.
When we feel unsafe, it’s more important than ever to practice physical relaxation - mindfulness and breathwork have been shown in numerous studies as the best tools to slow our body down when we feel inflamed.
A few years back, I had a wonderful breathwork coach. She taught me two simple breathwork practices that blew my mind with how extremely effective they can be within minutes when we are under high stress.
After a few months of practice, I had a near pain-free natural labour - no pain killers, no epidural, no laughing gas. Without exaggeration, it was less painful than a terrible stomachache I had earlier that year.
I attribute that nearly pain-free experience to two breathwork practices.
Let’s break it down into simple steps you can follow, along with the science behind them, for your mindfulness protocol in these uncertain times.
🤝 This edition is brought to you by Bunch
Sorry, Sam Altman. Bunch already beat you to the punch.
Bunch is one of the first entirely AI-run companies, deploying different AI agents across departments to manage every aspect of operations.
They proved it works with their flagship leadership development app, which is used by 65k+ people, including managers from Google, Microsoft, and more. This AI-run efficiency is already producing eye-popping results, too, including customer-acquisition costs 100X+ cheaper than their lifetime value.
Next? Bunch will begin using this AI-CEO model to automate businesses across industries. Unlock up to 18% bonus stock as an early-stage Bunch investor today.
This is a paid advertisement for Bunch AI’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.bunch.ai/
The science behind the breaths (and how to practice them)
Breathwork is one of the more consistently studied ways to shift the body out of stress, quickly. A large meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found that breathwork interventions are associated with lower stress and improvements in mental health outcomes compared with non-breathwork controls.
Mechanistically, slow, controlled breathing (especially deep, slow patterns) can tilt the autonomic nervous system toward parasympathetic activity: the state linked with rest, recovery, and clearer thinking. This is one reason breath-based practices are often described as a direct route to reducing physiological arousal when you’re tense, vigilant, or overwhelmed.
When was the last time you had to make a tough call at work and felt this: a tight jaw, shallow breathing, and heightened sensitivity to loud noises?
Probably not long ago.
Breathwork is effective because it uniquely connects the realms of conscious control and involuntary physiology.
You can’t ‘think’ your way into safety when your mind is subconsciously convinced you’re under threat, but you can breathe your way into a calmer baseline, fast.
Practice 1: The 4–7–8 breath
When you’re ready, sit upright or lie down, relax your shoulders, and:
Inhale through your nose: count for 4 seconds
Hold your breath: count for 7 seconds
Exhale through your nose or mouth: count for 8 seconds
Repeat 4 times or until you feel lightheaded
Why this works:
Autonomic nervous system
When we inhale, our vagal input (or the parasympathetic pathway) to the heart decreases, allowing the heart rate to rise slightly. When we exhale, vagal input returns, which slows the heart rate. This inhale-exhale pattern is a basic physiological reflex and is one reason exhalation is associated with “settling.”
So when we extend the exhale, we’re extending the period where vagal influence is higher, and the heart is more likely to slow. Over repeated cycles, slow breathing (and especially slow, controlled exhalation) is associated with shifts in autonomic balance and tighter coordination between breathing and cardiovascular rhythms.
It strengthens the heart–breath rhythm (HRV / RSA)
Our heart rate naturally changes with our breath: it speeds up slightly on inhalation and slows on exhalation. That pattern is called respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). When our breathing becomes slower and more even, this pattern often strengthens, usually linked to better stress regulation and greater flexibility in how our body responds under pressure.
The hold builds tolerance for intensity
The 7-second hold matters because it changes how we relate to stress sensations. When we’re anxious, normal body signals can feel threatening - a tight chest, a fast heartbeat, a rush of heat. A short, controlled breath hold helps our body get used to those sensations without immediately reacting. Over time, it can make it easier to stay steady rather than escalate into panic.
When to use it: Before a high-stakes meeting. After an aggressive email. When you feel your brain switching into catastrophe mode. It’s a 90-second reset that can help you make decisions under threat.
Practice 2: The 20-20-20 breath
This one is a more intense breathing technique because the counts are longer:
Inhale through the nose: count for 20 seconds
Hold your breath: count for 20 seconds
Exhale: count for 20 seconds
Rest for 30-60 seconds with normal breathing between rounds.
When you feel dizzy (which is normal), return to normal breathing, and you’ll notice a sense of calm in your body.
Why this works
Slow breathing hits the “resonance” sweet spot.
There’s a well-studied effect where slow controlled breathing (often around ~6 breaths/min, though it varies person-to-person) boosts vagal-mediated HRV and baroreflex sensitivity - basically improving the body’s capacity to regulate blood pressure and stress arousal through rhythm.
Breath retention shifts your relationship with urgency.
Retention (holding the breath) introduces a controlled pause. The body learns CO₂ tolerance over time, meaning we become less reactive to the sensation that often triggers panic or urgency. This is one reason breath-based practices are studied in stress and burnout contexts.
Founders especially need this because our biggest problem is not just stress, but stress with urgency. Urgency is what makes us send the message you regret, make a decision too early, or overcorrect because we can’t sit with uncertainty for long.
The counting forces attention into one lane.
This is underrated. Counting to 20 pulls attention away from rumination and into a steady rhythm. It’s mindfulness with structure, which founders tend to prefer.
When to use it: When your nervous system has been “on” all day, and you can feel it in your body - tight chest, irritability, impatience, craving stimulation. This is a nervous system “reset to baseline.”
A 5-minute protocol for founders
Minute 1-2: 4 rounds of 4–7–8
Minute 3-5: 2 rounds of 15-15-15 (or 20–20–20 if it’s comfortable)
I assure you, these two practices will help you feel calmer within minutes if you follow through. And don’t worry if you don’t have childbirth coming up to test this breathing protocol, I’ve tested it for you ;P
PS. If you’re in the Middle East, including the UAE or any neighbouring countries affected, I’m with you. Write to me, and I’d be more than happy to connect.
Remember: in difficult times, we’re all in it together.
Love,
Until next week,
Lavena
How's the depth of today's edition?
P.S. If you want to get a founder feature about your own story, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.
If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.
✨ Insane Media is more than one voice
Dive into our other newsletters - where psychology meets the creator economy, e-commerce marketing, and Human resources.
