The Night After: A Full-Circle Moment

The very next night, something unexpected happened…

We were playing “dentist” with one of my daughter’s friends. Her friend took on the role of the dentist, I played the scared and nervous patient, and my daughter was there to comfort me.

I decided to mirror the way she had acted the night before—breathing fast and shallow, fidgeting, pretending I couldn’t calm down.

She recognized it instantly.

Without hesitation, she took my hands, placed one on my chest, and started guiding me through the same breathing exercise I had walked her through the night before. Slow inhale through the nose. Slow exhale through the mouth. Again. And again.

She talked me through it with confidence, her voice steady, her hands reassuring.

In just 24 hours, she had gone from the one in need of comfort to the one offering it with certainty. She had felt the power of her breath, and now she was passing it on—without hesitation, without second-guessing.

It was one of those moments that stopped me in my tracks. She wasn’t just playing a game. She was showing me that she got it.

She understood.

And that—more than anything—was proof of just how powerful breathwork really is.

— C.W.